Another Newbie from Indianapolis, IN

[Lisa Dawson]

Hi All,

My name is Lisa and I'm a fairly new and reluctant landlord. I checked out Bigger Pockets because I would like to know a bit more about what I'm doing. I apologize in advance for my rambling post.

Here's the story. About 6 years ago I had an opportunity to buy a house in a neighborhood that was much better (safer, closer to work, larger house, bigger yard, etc) than what I was living in. Because the house belonged to a friend of mine, he was going to sell the house to me for an unbelievable low price. This was a price anyone in their right mind would never pass up.

Anyway, because I can't live in 2 houses, I put my house up for sale. No problem, right? Well, this was about the time the housing market in this particular area crashed, foreclosures like crazy, the catholic school in the neighborhood moved and there was a well publicised shooting about a mile from the house. Perfect storm? you bet!

This house sat empty and on the market for about 2 years. I lowered the price to where I was going to take a loss on it if someone purchased it. No luck. We are talking a $60,000 house, not really expensive. Foreclosures in the neighborhood were being snapped up in the $20,000 range, so no one ever wanted to look at my house and I couldn't afford to take a $30,000 hit. My insurance company decided they no longer wanted to insure a vacant house, and threatened to cancel my insurance.

Here is where the "reluctant" part comes in. I couldn't think of any other option than to rent the house out. It would solve a couple of problems and maybe then, the kids in the neighborhood would stop messing with the house. The very FIRST tenants I had, I had to evict due to non-payment of rent. The tenants I have in there now are a DREAM!

I wish I would have found Bigger Pockets sooner. This has been a wealth of information for me and I appreciate all of the advise you folks provide.

I have a doosy of a story about the first tenants and a question about my experience. I'll post that in the appropriate area.

Glad to be here,

Lisa