All Forum Posts by: Heidi Kenefick

Yes I could come up with the $400 but I’m single and make $58k plus another $12k a year from house hacking. I travel around the world regularly, have a gym membership, and eat out more than I should. My only debt is my mortgage and my student loans. But if I had kids I imagine my lifestyle would be very different. I have health insurance through my job. But I also think that it is rather naive not to have health insurance AND disability insurance that is not through your job. And telling others to skip out on health insurance is really playing with fire if not down right ignorant. My sister who is 36 and perfectly healthy was transitioning between jobs and so had no benefits when she had a sudden brain bleed and was in the ICU and inpatient rehab for 19 days. Luckily her health insurance was through her husband but she did not have disability insurance and so ended up having no income for more than 6 months until she could work again. You absolutely never know when you will get sick or injured and so everyone should get both health and disability insurance, and get it outside of your job. If you are too sick to work, you can lose your job and your insurance will go with it! The number one cause of bankruptcy in the US is due to medical bills. Don’t fall into that trap!

@Roy Gutierrez yes I was worried about the whole professional scammer thing too, but I have never had that problem. I would say that the majority of my guests are travel nurses and so I know they are coming for a defined length of time. Plus, I live in my home, and have no problem kicking someone out if they tried to not pay rent. They could sue of course, but the hassle probably wouldn’t be worth it for most people. And you can always call Airbnb if you do have a problem and they can cancel that persons account, not to mention that writing someone a bad review on Airbnb will probably abruptly end their ability to keep scamming. 

I have been doing AirBnB for 2.5 years and stay 90-100% booked. I tend to take travel nurses or other visiting professionals who come for 3 months at a time, but my longest gets guest was for 8 months. I find the key is great reviews. Photos are important too but people really do read your reviews so making sure that you have some good reviews will help. You may have to have lower prices at first and then raise them after you get reviews. I keep my prices low, but go for a monthly rate which I think it better because it stays booked that way. Every market is different but if you get solid reviews and are the same price as other rentals, earn Superhost status, and have good pictures you won’t go wrong. :)

@Andrew Kerr Thanks for the advice about the financing. I did not realize that the number of units makes a   difference in the type of financing available. :-)

oh dear, that sounds incredibly scary!! Perhaps it would be better to stick to the suburbs...

Hi All! I'm new to this community and very excited to learn from all of you.

I am moving to Connecticut in a few months to start my first job as a pediatrician, and would like to buy an apartment building in the Hartford area using the money I will get from selling my house in North Carolina as a down payment. Then live in one of the units while renting out the others, until I save enough to buy a property just for me. 

My only experience as a landlord is renting out my spare bedrooms in my house to travel nurses via AirBnB. It has been really lucrative for the past 2.5 years, but I am ready to jump into the "big leagues" once I move up to Connecticut. I realize that AirBnB and a 4-6 unit building are very different, and would like to learn as much in advance to avoid making a huge financial mistake. 

Any advice on how to use a realtor to buy an apartment building (or names of good ones)? Anyone in that area know areas to avoid purchasing vs good areas to buy? Any recommendations on buying a brick 6 unit building vs a house style 3 or 4 pled? 

I've found some on Zillow that seem like good deals, but sometimes I wonder if things are just too good to be true (i.e. sellers stating cash flow in the ranges of 30-60K/year)

Thanks guys! -Heidi