All Forum Posts by: Pete Barrow

>Would this make sense?

I can see a whole lot of personal and financial situations that could make this turn really bad. If anything, maybe your friend could buy the place from them and rent living space to them. Even that could get ugly. Your friend does not need to be financially entangled with a compulsive gambler for any reason. 

Ask around locally. You will probably have to go along with what is customary in your area, or adjust price accordingly. 

Where we are (Indy) tenants generally expect appliances. There are a number of businesses here that specialize in selling good used appliances very cheaply...mostly to landlords. 

I don't quite follow your story, but real estate and all sorts of other disasters often boil down to one simple thing: not enough money in reserve. Keep saving, and may your next venture be a success. 

For me the issues would be:

1) AirBnB might cease to exist.

2) AirBnB might cease to be legal where you are.

3) AirBnB involves having dozens of tenant relationships per month, instead of one every year or so.

4) There have been some horror stories about people AirBnB'ing houses just to throw massive destructive parties. 

If it pays more, that might be because there's more work or more risk. 

It shouldn't be this way, but most people have real trouble looking at a place that's in rehab, and picturing it ever being any other way. I know if you are selling a place, realtors will strongly caution against showing it before it's 100%. Probably the same for renters. 

That's a question you'll have to answer locally. Call the city. But I wouldn't be at all surprised. Tacking an upgrade like that on as the condition of another upgrade might be the city's way of making sure that eventually, everyone has a hardwired alarm system. 

It's not just ok, it's essential. You have to listen to what the market is telling you to do. No one can thrive by just making a plan and sticking to it regardless of what happens in the meantime. 

That's what I call an "accidental flip": rehabbing a house to rent and then noticing it's appreciated too much to keep. 

"...now all I need to get you started is that credit card number." 

Everyone will tell you. "You can't time the market", and everyone is right. What you can do is have some standard of how good deals/returns have to be, and just don't buy if you can't find that. 

Going by that principle, we've had years where we bought 30-some doors for ourselves, and other years, like 2019, where we bought...three. 

The market will tell you when to buy. Unfortunately if you're just starting out and have nothing, you feel you're getting left behind. Might try to find out what the smart old guys who've been doing this for years in your area are up to. Around here a lot of them are quietly selling off their stuff.