All Forum Posts by: Andrew Garcia

@Andrew Garcia, I would take a look at rents for a similar size (square feet and bedrooms) property so I’d have an idea of what the income might be.  Factor in vacancy.  In fact, use the calculators on BP so you don’t forget anything.  When I look for my next property, I work on cleaning up credit, so my scores are as good as I can get them.  I look for a highly recommended mortgage broker and see what interest rates and mortgage products they have.  Then I look for properties that fit my parameters…and I always ask for owner financing…even though I might use that mortgage broker.  

There is the negotiating step, and the closing step, followed by the moving step.  Now for the house you are leaving behind…I like to have this one freshly painted, and take action on any maintenance items.  You’ll have to decide on property management or dig in and learn about managing tenants on your own.  I started out by hiring out management and then learned to do it myself.  The last house I put on Zillow and that worked out well as several people were pre-screened by Z.  A local lawyer approved lease worked for the tenants I chose; I took in rents on Apartments.com.  

Yeah, I don't really understand what you are asking here. It's pretty simple. You leave and you put your home up for rent with a realtor (smart move) or on your own (bad move). The better questions in everyone's comments are why are you moving out of your home? Where are you going? What's the long-term plan?

So, if you were moving far away, I wouldn't keep the home just to have an investment property because if you own in NJ and bought more than 2 years ago you should have groundswell of equity to move into a better cash flow property.

Are you relocating? Or are you planning on renting rooms out (house hacking) while you still live there?  

Hi Andrew! Each town is a little different, some require you to do a landlord registration and/or will want to do an inspection before you put a tenant in (calling the town would probably be the easiest, or they may have the info right online). NJ also now requires landlords with homes built before 1978 to get a lead-based paint inspection before a new tenant moves in. Once the municipal/state requirements are all set, do a thorough screening for any prospective tenants, have a solid lease ready to go, and take move-in pictures to have on record for any security deposit deductions after they move out. Our property management company works with a lot of first-time landlords - I'm happy to help with any questions! 

No problem! There's often more turnover than a typical long-term rental, usually they'll stay at a property for 1-3 years. Also keep in mind that it's a lot of their first times living in a house without their parents, so they can sometimes need a little more handholding. 

Usually by sophomore year students are looking to move off-campus and will stay off-campus through graduation. It's often cheaper, more space, and more freedom for the students, so once they realize that in the dorms freshmen year it's a no-brainer. We don't rent by the room, we'll rent the entire apartment/house to whole groups on one lease per unit. We see when it's a group of friends they usually keep each other accountable with paying rent, but we get their parents information in case it's needed.