Thread: 1st time investor

Start a Business of renting out offices if you can, I'm in California and seem to be doing very well.

But I do wish you the best of luck.
Homes are a hard deal right now.

Originally Posted by macster11

Help! thinking rental property
I was hoping some of the realtors could give me some advice, I am thinking of buying a home in my area (massachusetts) to use as a
rental property. There are a number of homes that sold three years ago
in to 185K to 230K range that I can get as low as 65K. these would be
single family homes.

My plan it to buy one, do the cosmetics, and rent it out for a period from
4-6 years and hopefully sell it for 30-40 % profit. This purchase would be done with a business partner (50-50)

I currently own my own home (but was a recent purchase)

My plan seems simple, I want to hear the positives and the negatives
any help greatly appreciated.

If you can pick up a $185,000+ house for $65,000 that just needs cosmetics ($5,000 or less) that you can rent out for 4-6 years and make that kind of money... I say what are you waiting for?

If you have talents or you carry of being a good investors, I think you don't have to need partner in business. Maybe considered time to invest but the worst of it is if you can't afford to buy this that's the time that you need a partner. Very complicated but it depends to you what is you choice. Good luck.

Forget what the homes solf for 2-3-4 years ago. The $185k figure is irrelevant - we may never see those price levels again. Question you need to answer is: what are these homes selling for now AND can you buy at a discount to THAT level? So If such houses sell for $90k now and you can buy for $65k, then that's a good deal.

Next question should be, how much can you rent them out for? What will be your cashflow? If you buying solely for appreciation, you may be in for a rude awakening a few years from now when the market hasn't bounced up. Buy for cashflow - make sure you are getting a good return on the money you are investing.

I agree with Jared! If you can swing that kind of deal and have the patience to hold on to it.

Nowadays too, it is fairly simple to handle the management of the property with all of the resources available to you.

And if you buy something in an area you are already familiar with, it makes things that much easier as well.

Good luck to you on your venture.

Just be sure there're demand in order to rent it. Well, in the worst case, it

I've always tried to focus on the return I expect to make on a rental property, rather than the actual dollar figure.

In my experience, if you can't generate at least a 10% return (revenues less expenses, insurance and taxes) then something is wrong. You can't rely on appreciation to pick up the tab 5 years later when you plan to sell.

Smaller towns, within 30-45 minutes of a city are usually the best bet. Look for towns with one or two colleges, and a growing infrastructure.

Also, if you put all of your eggs in one basket (a single property), then having an extended vacancy can kill your numbers.

Best of all - buy with cash! Otherwise you're just making money for someone else.

This s a great way to get started in real estate investing make sure the property will cash flow after all expenses and make sure you consider all expenses taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, etc. and keep repeating process make sure you can afford monthly payments in the event it ends up being vacant. Jdara50>

Originally Posted by macster11

Help! thinking rental property
I was hoping some of the realtors could give me some advice, I am thinking of buying a home in my area (massachusetts) to use as a
rental property. There are a number of homes that sold three years ago
in to 185K to 230K range that I can get as low as 65K. these would be
single family homes.

My plan it to buy one, do the cosmetics, and rent it out for a period from
4-6 years and hopefully sell it for 30-40 % profit. This purchase would be done with a business partner (50-50)

I currently own my own home (but was a recent purchase)

My plan seems simple, I want to hear the positives and the negatives
any help greatly appreciated.