Only Buying Homes For Rental Purposes

[Sean McKiernan]

My name is Sean. I have been in sales my whole life as a stockbroker and now insurance but my heart is now on real estate. I have so much I need to learn but I have a big vision in real estate so I am eager to make the first steps. I am only interested in buying homes/condos/apartments to rent. I make all of my money in insurance in New York and Connecticut but I live in Delray Beach right now. I hope to buy a small place up North and a small place in South Florida possibly in 2016. I never want to rent again. All the money I have thrown away renting over the years makes me sick if I think too much about it. I should already own a few places but unfortunately that's not the case. I am excited to meet with others who have similar interests in buying homes for rent and learning whatever I can from those with some experience. Kind regards, Sean. 

[Jason Arcuri]

@Sean McKiernanthis is an amazing community to learn a lot from. You seem like a really intelligent person so I kind of want to give you a little counter intuitive piece of advice. Don't over think it. Learn the ropes and figure out what you really want to see from an investment. Cash on cash return, CAP rate, vacancy rate, etc. But don't go overboard and think I want X% in a great neighborhood, with low vacancy rate, with an awesome growth rate in the area. At least in my experience, people get too far down the rabbit hole looking for this home that meets ALL the criteria they want and they end up missing out on solid investments.

Besides that, as far as rentals go, I LOVE multifamilies.  Every one has their own taste and my preference is for a multifamily.  If one renter moves out or doesn't pay you have 2 or 3 more that are paying and you can still cover your mortgage.  My ultimate long term goal WAY down the road is to have a multifamily in just about every city that I like to visit.  Where there is a studio room on the top floor that I can leave vacant and go visit any time I want.  

That being said, every market is different.  In the town I grew up in, multi families rarely sell because the sellers want a high price like 200k for a house that make $2400 a month.  BUT in that same town condos are selling between 60k and 80k and rent for 1000-1200 a month.  Meanwhile, 20 minutes away in New Haven, CT I can buy a house for around 200k that makes $3000+ a month.  That's generally where I like to find properties because I can get a cash on cash return between 10 and 20%.  I'm big on cash on cash return because they way I look at it, the faster I get that money back, the sooner I can buy another property.

Hope this helps.