It's official...we're landlords!

[Cody Lindstrom]

It's official. Our journey started in August of 22 with research and education, home searching and decision making. It is a difficult time to buy based on the interest, but on May 31st, we were able to finance a nice ranch style home in our area at 5.75% with a VA and keep our existing home to rent out, which I believe, qualifies us as official landlords and RE investors!!

The new home is a '76 ranch style in a great area right down the block from a grade school, and across from the golf course and a recreation facility. It's currently a 4/1 with an unfinished basement, with each floor offering about 1150 sqft of living space. We will live in and remodel the new purchase over the next two years. We plan to do most of the work ourselves. This will give us time to work out kinks, determine costs, timelines and develop skills and experience in remodeling. After we are finished with the project, we will decide if we want to sell or rent this first property.  My hope is that the rental market is still as strong as it is today. Wish us luck on Property #1! 

Thanks for all the education BP Fam! 

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Cody Lindstrom:

Congratulations! Now the hard work begins. ;)

Have you ever seen someone shoot a deer on a warm fall day and then lose all the meat because they don't process it fast enough? That's what happens to Landlords that wait until a problem exists before they try to learn how to deal with problems. Start educating yourself now and you'll be so thankful you did.

I recommend you buy "Every Landlord's Legal Guide" by NOLO. Written by attorney investors, it's full of practical advice pertaining to management of investment property, has sample forms that can be edited, and - most importantly - they tell you what your primary state laws are and where you can read them. It's updated every year and is the best $40 you'll spend as a Landlord. 

Brandon Turner also has a good book on Managing Rentals in the BP bookstore that includes a lot of sample forms.