LANDLORDS FOR A LIVING

How many of you are actually landlords for a living.
What I 'd like to know is when did u start investing, how many properties do you have and how much true cash flow do you live on. And what is your main strategies you use to buy properties, how do you find the down payments.
I would like to excluse people who were born with money or given money or real estate. Only self made investors for this thread.
And more specifically buy and hold, landlords, not rehabbers, flippers or wholesalers..

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:34AM

Myka M.

Real Estate Investor · Dayton, Ohio

145 posts
1176 Influence
5 Awards

Icon_minipost Nov 18 '09, 08:04 PM

You may find that there are a lot of people on here who do a combination of all of these. For instance I am a landlord but I mostly wholesale. I am really more of a part timer so I do about 1200 a month cash flow and the extra comes in from other ventures (BTW I'm in Ohio if you are wondering why so little). I take pictures of properties as well as flip. I am doing the research to branch into rehabbing commercial properties but I haven't quite "broken the mold" so to speak on that yet.

I wasn't given anything, although some people may have silver spoons here, Don't reject advice from these guys. Even though they may or may not have had it given to them it takes a certain type of person to do this job.

Just because it may have been inherited, doesn't mean they would have no good advice. Think about it... when someone gives you something and you blow through it you become someone with nothing to talk about. On the other hand, if I give you a property and you flip it, rehab and hold it, rent it out or do any number of things that will allow you to make money off the property, you become someone with something to share.

I would like to excuse people who were born with money or given money or real estate. Only self made investors for this thread.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:34AM by Myka M.

Michael Seutin

Real Estate Investor · Vallejo, California

114 posts
989 Influence
3 Awards

Icon_minipost Nov 19 '09, 05:29 AM

Hi,
I don't know your first name above but thanks for your post and you do make a good point regarding people who were lucky enough to be born into money or real estate, and no I will then not reject any advise from anyone.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:35AM

Michael Rossi

Real Estate Investor · Ohio

4587 posts
14256 Influence
14 Awards

Icon_minipost Nov 19 '09, 06:35 PM

Hi Michael,

I make my living as a landlord. I have several dozen rentals and make a nice living doing so (which obviously means a 6 figure income - I won't say how much). I don't have a main strategy for buying rentals, except that I always buy from DESPERATE sellers. Most of my rentals were purchased with bank financing, but I have also bought via lease option, owner financing, sub-2, etc.

I bought most of my properties at HUGE discounts to market value (on average about 50% LTV). I have an excellent relationship with my bankers and was able to do many of the loans without a down payment. For others, I used money from cash flow; from my own money; from credit cards, used cross collateralization, etc.

To succeed in this business, you MUST work hard and be willing to sacrifice, especially the first 2 or 3 years.

Good Luck,

Mike

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:35AM by Michael Rossi

Michael Seutin

Real Estate Investor · Vallejo, California

114 posts
989 Influence
3 Awards

Icon_minipost Nov 20 '09, 05:49 AM

Great info Mike,
keep it coming guys, I am sure there are more full time landlords on this site, I love motivational stories..

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:36AM

Thomas Jones

31 posts
182 Influence

Icon_minipost Dec 05 '09, 06:12 AM

bump for a good thread. First time landlord here just purchased my first 4 family and have the dream of going into realestate and not having a day job!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:44AM

Nick J.

SFR Investor · Scottsdale, Arizona

2806 posts
27916 Influence
21 Awards

Icon_minipost Dec 05 '09, 06:18 AM

A little plug here for MikeOH. We're not best friends and I'm certainly not getting paid for this.

MikeOH has a book on landlording that may or may not cover everything you're looking for but I can tell you that for the money, it's worth the purchase. I wrote a detailed review of the book in my blog here on BP, check it out and see if it's something you're interested in. I did enjoy reading it myself and I learned at least one thing that will save me 10 fold the price of the book.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:44AM by Nick J.

Stephen Leblanc

Banker · sydney, Nova Scotia

93 posts
191 Influence
2 Awards

Icon_minipost Dec 05 '09, 12:05 PM

I'll second the plug for mike's book...sorry to take this a little off topic.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:44AM by Stephen Leblanc

Aly L

Real Estate Investor · Middletown, New Jersey

636 posts
2707 Influence
6 Awards

Icon_minipost Dec 05 '09, 09:55 PM

A third thumbs up for Mike's book. I bought his Section 8 book and it's been very helpful.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 10:44AM

Adam Washington

· sunrise, Florida

3 posts
-18 Influence

Icon_minipost Mar 23 '11, 05:08 AM

I am in need of someone who would like to buy the home im renting that is up for Short Sale! I just opened a buisness and on PAPER it does not look like I have enough to own this home...I DO THOUGH! I have a large down payment to the investor interested and will pay High interest until i can get my "Paper Trail" right to buy this home with a LEGIT Loan....The home is in Broward County Florida! Please let me know if you are interested!

Rob Gillespie

Wholesaler · Valley City, Ohio

920 posts
7118 Influence
8 Awards

Icon_minipost Mar 23 '11, 05:21 AM

The most homes I owned at one time was 42. Although I prefer flipping, I do own some property. In my opinion, positive cash flow is often arrived at with what I like to call "perfect math". I do not believe in making a living off of rentals that have mortgages on them. I have learned this through the years from not only my experiences, but also through many of my friends with rentals.
The best way to really make a living off of rentals is to buy in less than desirable areas, pay cash, and make sure they have a lot of bedrooms for big rental payments from the governments section 8 program.

Example A. My first rental was a 2 unit, paid 76k and made about 200 per month cash flow in a perfect world. A couple repairs and a month of vacancy later, all of my cash flow was gone for the year!!!

Example B. A close friend of mine bought a home for 9k, put about 9k into rehab. so he is all in for 18k. No mortgage, and made it into a 7 bedroom 3 bath cash cow! He is getting a section 8 check every month for around 1200 bucks!!! And the tenants pay all utilities, even water!

I am sure I will have a ton of folks on here telling me I am wrong, but it is what works for me. If you want to talk further PM me, and I can pass you the BP member that I used in example B.