re: Rental properties. How to start

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hard time finding tenants

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Interesting. Most articles I’ve read said the housing market is cooling off as far as buyers go, but rentals have been increasing in demand from people looking to lease rather than buy.

i have investors contacting me EVERY DAY wanting to buy my properties. i always tell them if you give me three times what i paid and then if i can buy 3 instead of one i will sell!

so the answer is a big fat no. sure they have all appreciated greatly but not 3x and with prices rising i could not buy 3 so i just as soon keep my cash cows. no point in selling.

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For those that have rental properties, how did you start?

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Gotta have some cash to really play. Some "house hack" and rent out rooms etc but I have a family.

I got 5 of them in the first quarter with 4% rates which I'm happy with and all are in premium locations/conditions. Hard to find.

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Seems that a guy w some cash could take advantage of some buying if properties in the next year or so due to higher interest rates and properties being a touch more affordable.

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The rate increases are more costly than any drop in price which I actually don't see happening (price drops.) It just won't appreciate 30-40% in a year like it has.

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What advice would you give a newb looking at a handful of properties.

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How much coin ya have to start?

A decent chunk. want to invest about 15 percent for real estate. Primarily for diversity and secondarily as an income stream. Just don’t want to lose. Would love 7-10 percent return

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(4) Screen tenants thoroughly.
Again, I am ignorant here. How do you go about doing that without screams of discrimination.

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Couple of things:
-when you list a property let all calls go to voicemail and make your voicemail greeting a description about the property. You can tell a lot about people just by their voice in the message they leave you. And you can reject all day long via text. When you get a few properties invest in a phone just for the properties or get a mirror number
-just because their credit is crap don't necessarily reject them, there's a reason they aren't in a house (credit is crap), if they have good rental history and your rent is <25% of their income welcome home
-see what their car looks like when they come to walk through the property - how they treat their car is how they will treat your property
-find them on facebook, etc and you can pretty much peg them for what type of renter they will be
-most counties post court/jail/etc records online, check all the adjoining counties

I could keep going but get on biggerpockets and do some studying, lots of screening tips on there

Just coming back into this thread.

The best way to protect yourself on future real estate investments:

1. Never be higher than 80% LTV. This is purchase price, closing costs, & repairs.

2. Your income (rent) should be 25% income over expenses (mortgage, insurance, taxes).

3. Find a local bank that will only require 10% down (MC Bank) and some others that require no money down (I can’t disclose, ha). This will help you keep cash on you for unexpected expenses.

Hope this helps.

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You know anything about selling notes?

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i dont mess with discount notes.

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A decent chunk.

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How much is this in dollars?

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Would love 7-10 percent return

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You'll get this, should be getting more.

I aim for a bit higher end rental property. I have zero interest in being a slum lord. It's weeds out most of the crap you hear about.

My cheapest rent is $1700. The others are $2500-$$3500

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We've tried doing a HELOC but they are a nightmare when it comes to investment properties.

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I've used my heloc on 4 rentals.

First Horizon