All Forum Posts by: Scott H.

Plenty of different avenues to invest in real estate. I would definatly advise you choose one of those over being a landlord.

I would not try to get through the road block, you will regret being a landlord if it is not something you can actually enjoy.

@Scott H.

I understand, I work as an engineer and originally when I started got caught in paralysis analysis.  Always looking for the math equation to confirm things are correct.  Unfortunately that is not how this works.

I ended up being a buy n hold investor.  Go figure.  I had heard all of the horror stories tenant calls in the middle night, police calls and whatever else you could think of.  I could not be anymore wrong.  This is a people business.  If you like people you’ll be fine.

Hire a property manager if don’t want to deal with the day to day.  I truly believe in order to manager your property manager you should do some yourself so you know what it takes.

You will be fine.  After the first one and you realize you made it through.  No scars, no bleeding, just great experience.

Good Luck.

I replaced an old aluminum window with glass block. I had no prior experience and it went well. HD sells everything you need. I also replace the wood trim with composite trim. That was you don't get the rottting. 

I think that you should seriously think about the lifestyle you want to have and what type of property will give you that return. 

In the case where you're a self recognized worrier you should not buy anything below a B class property and mostly turn key. Having nicer units in letter locations means they're more qualified tenants and less surprises. I will definitely echo @Christopher Lombardi in making sure all your paperwork is in order to protect yourself. 

Additionally you could always hire a PM as well to manage your properties so you have less daily responsibilities with the units themselves and create passive cash flow. 

if you still go ahead then by all means buy the top of the market were your tenant will have a better than 700 fico and a stable job .  do not buy lower end as those properties do take a lot of hand holding.. I mean you can pitch it all to the PM.. but you still have to manage the PM.. 

I would say, live close to the property you invest in so you can easily see things with your own eyes.  Make sure the property is in great shape, you have an attorney draft the lease and you thoroughly screen the tenants.  As long as you cross your T's and dot your i's there really isnt too much to worry about.  

I worked my entire professional life as a software engineer and I stuck with it even though it wasn't my passion because the job paid well and let me be part-time from home and because I was too risk averse. Now for the first time, I love my job-- I love being a landlord. The risk of being sued is always present (even as a home owner) but it can be mitigated by insurance, planning, and defensible business practices.  

When you own your own business, you find out what you really value because you get to decide how you spend your time and money.

I truly enjoy building financial security for my family while providing GREAT service to a market where even average service is hard to find. The fact that we actually respect our tenants sets us apart from many others operating in the affordable housing space. 

Your values rather than personality will play a bigger role in determining whether self managing properties is a good fit for you. Being a landlord isn't the right path for everyone and as others have pointed out, there are lots of ways to make money in real estate. But if self-managing buy-and-holds is the right path for you then don't let your fears stop you from realizing a dream. You might want to google risk and cognitive errors-- most people really suck at assessing risk.

you can always pay your current mortgage down without the expense of refinancing just send in principal pay downs every month.. my habit has always been to do this.  lets say my mortgage was 1500 a month.. I would set up my auto pay at 2000.. you be surprised how quickly this knocks down your principal and saves interest over the long term

also if you think your house could go up some more keep in mind the tax free 500k for married couple is extremely valuable at retirement age.