All Forum Posts by: Patrick Donovan

make sure the one that's up today hasn't already signed a new lease for another year otherwise they are there unless you buy them out of their lease. Also do your background checks and credit checks and everything. See who fits your criteria the best and stick with them if it doesn't matter which unit you're going to live in

You can ask you're accountant when they do your taxes what else you can look for to deduct and they might be able to find more things for you. Like miles you put on your car for the rental property and things like that

I like to look in neighborhoods my family could live in and still feel safe. Sometimes driving through neighborhoods during the day and nigjt , morning and afternoon and just seeing what the place is like. If you feel like you need a gun when you are there, probably a place to avoid

A couple of my cousins make good money. Way better than I do but they still rent. I think they just don't want to have to deal with things when they go wrong at their houses or don't want to be tied to a place in case of an emergency and have to move asap. For some people it just makes more sense to rent. Never for me though paying rent was one of the hardest things I ever did ! Pay for someone else to own a house and make.money ? That's just crazy! 

I definitely agree with the 'house hacking' route. Which is buy a diplex , triplex or quad and live in one unit. I am 21 years old, make about 30,000 a year and have about 10,000 in debt so I'm really close to your situation! I would also recommend you read the book on investing in real estate with no money down by @brandon turner.  That helped me find a way to do it! Good luck and can't wait to read your success story!

I agree I wouldnt want him as a tenant if he is causing problems  with current landlord. With a new guy coming in he might think he can get away with even more. I wouldn't even risk it. Let the old owner try and get him out. If he can't and the guy ends up staying, the first time he doesn't pay rent give him his notice and get him out of there! 

if you have some money laying around and you're going to be renting for the next year maybe look into buying a multi  family to live in and get the experience as a landlord and see if you like it. 

If you do, keep the property when you move on and rent it out. If not sell it and make back the money you would have lost on rent!

I created a second bank account in my personal name to keep the deposit and rent checka in. My reasons being 1) You are less likely to spend the money being saved for vacancy, cap ex, maintenance, propery management, ect, since it won't be linked to your personal account. 2) it is easier to keep track of how much you are spending on things like repairs and upgrades and such since you can put notes along with each transaction. 3) I just like to see a bank account number growing in size when I don't contribute my own money! 

Thank you josh! Looking forward to it!

 Can I at least tag people on the mobile site?