I saw a single family home in West Haverstraw, NY (Rockland County) that, to me, looks like a good property for single family rental (I'm still doing my research). My questions are, if I buy it, should I set the rent higher than the mortgage payment? Make them responsible for all maintenance, other than major repairs? To me, they may as well buy a house if they are paying for almost everything. And does anyone know about the demographics in this area like are there a lot of blue collar families? Is it a good place to rent single family homes? I did a search on redfin but saw nothing for rentals in this particular area.
2. Get your finances in order. Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save. The idea that you can build wealth without putting any money into it is a recipe for disaster and the sales pitch of gurus trying to steal your money. A wise investor will not try to get rich quick with shortcuts. If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing. Check out my personal favorite, Set For Life by Scott Trench , or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
3. As you read these books, watch the biggerpockets podcasts. This will help clarify and reinforce what you are reading. You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.
4. Now you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them. Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum. There is a handy search bar in the upper right that makes it easy to find previous discussions, blogs, podcasts, and other resources. Biggerpockets also has a calculator you can use to analyze deals and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy. If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up. Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice. It doesn't take long to learn how to spot a good deal.
5. Study the market. You can learn to do this on your own or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way. I highly recommend a well-qualified REALTOR that works with investors and knows how to best help you.
6. Jump in! Far too many get stuck in the "paralysis by analysis" stage, thinking they just don't know enough to get started. The truth is, you could read 100 books and still not know enough because certain things need to be learned through trial-and-error. You don't need to know everything to get started; you just need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.
You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months. How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone. Once you're ready, create a goal (e.g. "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it. Real estate investing is a pretty forgiving world and the average person can still make money even with some pretty big mistakes.
Look at rentometer and see what rent for a comp would be. The market sets the rent price. Whether it is a good rental or not depends on what market rent is relative to your mortgage and other costs. For mortgages, get the longest term you can (eg 25 years) as it will lower the payments.
As for what the tenant is responsible for, it is normally maintaining the yard (eg cutting the lawn). Any repairs, you pay for.
In most cases it is cheaper for people to own than rent, but people rent for many reasons: new to the area, move every couple of years, don't want the responsibility of home ownership, don't have the down payment for a house or can't qualify for a mortgage.
Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH & Cleveland OH · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
4y
@Sean Fraser Check rent comparables in the area and rent it out accordingly. If the mortgage is more than rent comps suggest you could get then you won't be able to rent it out for more than the mortgage.
2. Get your finances in order. Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save. The idea that you can build wealth without putting any money into it is a recipe for disaster and the sales pitch of gurus trying to steal your money. A wise investor will not try to get rich quick with shortcuts. If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing. Check out my personal favorite, Set For Life by Scott Trench , or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
3. As you read these books, watch the biggerpockets podcasts. This will help clarify and reinforce what you are reading. You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.
4. Now you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them. Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum. There is a handy search bar in the upper right that makes it easy to find previous discussions, blogs, podcasts, and other resources. Biggerpockets also has a calculator you can use to analyze deals and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy. If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up. Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice. It doesn't take long to learn how to spot a good deal.
5. Study the market. You can learn to do this on your own or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way. I highly recommend a well-qualified REALTOR that works with investors and knows how to best help you.
6. Jump in! Far too many get stuck in the "paralysis by analysis" stage, thinking they just don't know enough to get started. The truth is, you could read 100 books and still not know enough because certain things need to be learned through trial-and-error. You don't need to know everything to get started; you just need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.
You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months. How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone. Once you're ready, create a goal (e.g. "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it. Real estate investing is a pretty forgiving world and the average person can still make money even with some pretty big mistakes.
Look at rentometer and see what rent for a comp would be. The market sets the rent price. Whether it is a good rental or not depends on what market rent is relative to your mortgage and other costs. For mortgages, get the longest term you can (eg 25 years) as it will lower the payments.
As for what the tenant is responsible for, it is normally maintaining the yard (eg cutting the lawn). Any repairs, you pay for.
In most cases it is cheaper for people to own than rent, but people rent for many reasons: new to the area, move every couple of years, don't want the responsibility of home ownership, don't have the down payment for a house or can't qualify for a mortgage.
Rental Property Investor · San Francisco Bay Area · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
@Sean Fraser I have a SFH rental in the Indianapolis metro area and I found that the comps provided by my agent were accurate. My rent was right in the range of the comps. When I looked on Rentometer, it overestimated my rent. My property manager who also owns duplexes and an apartment building said that Rentometer isn't always accurate - it can be under or over. For another property in California, I think Rentometer is underestimating it according to my realtor but I'll find out soon when I get tenants in (not listed yet). I also looked on Zillow Rents and rents were all over the place but it helps with getting a wide ballpark range of what you could get for a property in similar condition.
