All Forum Posts by: Anne M.

Thanks for clarifying! It sounds much faster than I had thought and good to know it doesn't disturb the tenants.

How does one know when it's time to replace the roof? Is it due to leaking? I honestly can't recall that I've ever heard of anyone replace a roof here. And we lived in a neighborhood with single family homes for about 20 years. 

This is what a typical roof here looks like -

I chose this picture because it shows what it looks inside too. They usually come without the roof damage ;) 

Welcome aboard! I'm new here too and this is truly an awesome resource and a very friendly and helpful community!

Let's say you have a tenant in your rental but the time comes for replacing the roof. What do you do? Do you have to wait for them to leave and do this "between tenants" or do they suffer through the process and get compensated somehow?

Sorry if this is a stupid question! I don't live in the US and frankly, I don't get the whole roof "thing". Over here, you keep the same roof for decades. You can fix a tile here or there but even that doesn't happen to often. I don't know much about American roofs (sorry! I know it sounds silly!) I just keep hearing people say that the age of the roof is important when you buy a house because you're going to have to replace it sometime. 

Thank you, @Clayton Mobley! I'm going to need a lot of help, that's for sure. 

We're not that young, alas ;) We're in our mid-forties. The good news is that we are what I consider semi-retired. That is to say, we are both self-employed and do things that we enjoy doing, including taking long breaks for traveling. We are financially independent enough for that. 

The goal is to become financially independent enough for DH to leave his current business (which ties him down locally), so we can become digital nomads with me working "wherever" and him just hiking and having fun ;) We'd like to still live comfortably and keep safety margins with our finances, so we think that's going to happen about a decade from now. Basically, I'm hoping to diversify our portfolio with real estate cash flow, to reduce the risks even more.

I guess there's insurance for pretty much anything short of actually murdering a tenant on purpose? And yes, you're right @Todd Fithian costs are going to be higher investing from overseas and that needs to be factored in as well. 

There are no specific circumstances as of yet. I'm just looking into investing in REI and trying to assess all of the possible risks.

If you buy and rent, what's the very worst that can happen and can insurance always protect you from that?

Can a tenant sue you for something where you have some sort of personal liability? Living out of the country, being subpoenaed to a US court would be a major hassle for me, for example. 

Even worse, can end up owing someone millions in compensation or going to jail? 

I understand monetary/financial risks. Trying to find out what kind of risks exist beyond that.

Interesting thread. Thanks for bringing up this topic. I'm not an REI investor but hoping to become one in 2017 (after I spend more time learning about this). My partner doesn't really care putting so much time and effort into learning this, so if this will happen, it's going to be me in the lead.

I wonder, do you gals/guys think there are some US markets where it would be easier (or harder) for women to become successful players? Maybe some areas are more conservative than others? 

It's been repaired already. It's a turnkey property in that respect, with a tenant too.

 Thank you so much for your offer! Much appreciated! I'll contact you via PM.