All Forum Posts by: Matthew Stallone

 Not sure how much maintenance I should account for. It was built in 2002, central ac and hot water heater are 2 years old. New wood vinyl all throughout house, it was just painted as well as new kitchen. Also, since it's a townhome I don't have to worry about lawn upkeep, roofing, or anything exterior with the home. Also, if I'm paying for them to find a renter that's another month rent every two years in commission. Is this investment not looking great now?

After doing some research and saving up for a little bit we decided to purchase our first place. We live on Long Island so it didn't make much sense to invest here. Taxes and properties are crazy high as well as not the most landlord friendly area. We have some friends down in the Raleigh, NC area and really love it down there. We looked at a bunch of homes this past week then made a bid on a townhome and it was just accepted.

Paid 157k for a 3br 2.5 bath in a highly sought out neighborhood with the best school district in the state. 

hoa fees are $98 a month and the home is move in ready with all new appliances.

It looks like we can get around $1300 for rent. 

Probably not the most amazing deal out there, but I think it's a somewhat safe bet for getting our feet wet. We are most likely going to use a management company as well as have them acquire new tenants. Once we tack that on it definitely eats away at our profit. Is it worth it to try and handle all of this ourselves or at least try and rent it ourselves to save the realtor fees for tenant acquisition?

How did we do?

Also, the average time to have one of these rented is 18 days in the neighborhood. Let me know if you guys need any other info, I'm just trying to ease some 1st time buyers anxiety.