All Forum Posts by: Wendy Renae Bentley

@Shea Spinelli While I agree with both the other contributors as to cost and danger of a pool - My son has a home with an indoor pool that he rents on Airbnb & VRBO. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5...

While it is a pain - regulating chemicals it can also be a draw. They have done well with it.

@Salomon W. - I agree with all above - you need anyone over the age of 18 on the lease and to vet them. 

We have had several people divorce mid-lease, having both people on the lease has done a couple of things for us:

1. When the remaining tenant was unable to pay the rent - the other tenant kicked in to help, even though they were not living there

2. It makes both of them think twice about what they are going to do since it effects both or them equally - it's not like "well he's on the lease so it won't effect me" 

@Lee Burns - I totally agree with all the above - it doesn't take much to get into real estate but what it does take is action. If you find a place and don't have enough down (with a VA loan you should be good) get creative - ask for owner financing on part of the deal with a balloon.

There are all sorts of methods but the big thing is ACTION - take that first step then as an issue arrives - ask your questions about that specific issue you can get plenty of help and ideas here. 

Good luck!

I would reimburse - My number one goal as a landlord is the upkeep of our property. We have found over the years if we make the tenants pay for the small things, especially things to do with water, - we end up with a much bigger bill in the end because they don't tell us about the small things and once it comes to our attention it has become a HUGE cost to us. 

I would thank them for taking care of the situation until you have a chance to get to the problem and pay for the tape. 

Good job @Melba Chambers - that is no small feat! 

If it were me I would explore 2 options - like @Marc Winter mentioned I would do a multi-family of some kind - duplex or four-plex (not sure of prices where you are) 

The second option I would consider is STR - I know a guy that was heavy into flipping and decided to try 1 vacation rental just over a year ago he now has 12 and is considering quitting his full time job to continue doing it nationally.

Good luck on whichever route you take - and good job on getting started!

@James Free - All I can say is wow! 

I'm with Bob Marley on this one "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind"  -- not even the US Government

@Marshall Gerston - our first property was a house a block away from BYU in Provo.  We rented it to 8 girls - sold it later and got into our 2nd 4-plex.

Pros for renting individual rooms in a college town -

• Higher monthly overall rent

Cons

• You are dealing with very young kids - many who have never been away from home (we had girls/ maybe boys are different buy my husband refused to rent to boys because he was a college renter once and knew the damage that could happen inside a boys college rental.
• College towns have times when there are lots of kids there (Sept-May) and not so many (June-Aug) and even with year contracts we ran into issues of kids leaving and not paying rent
• When there are multiple people responsible (4 different contracts) no one takes responsibility. A possible work around could be if you have just one sign the contract for the full house rent and then he is the one that has to fill the rooms or pay. He is the one responsible for the residence - so he is the one policing the property

Pros and cons for a 4-plex 

Cons

• Less overall yearly rent 

Pros

• LOT less headache
• You are dealing with 4 people but just one person per unit - you know the responsible party.
• College towns are AMAZING investments - and married kids (I'm guessing you'll rent the 4-plex to marrieds and possibly students. 

We have 4 four plexes that we rent to marrieds - and there are only 1 or 2 that are not students. Students seem to have their eye on a goal - and at this point everything is costing them money - school, books, fees, housing, car - so the ones we have had - have budgeted for all this - they have paid on time and most take great care of the place probably mostly because they are never home.

If I were you I would go with the four-plex instead of the house. We kept our house way too long (I guess we are slow learners) but even with less cash flow all things considered the 4-plex made us more money - it appreciated quicker and it was a lot easier to manage. 

This is a great question! @Evan Parker this is happening in the neighborhood I grew up in - In fact my son bought a fixer upper in that very neighborhood - 

The interesting thing is that it WAS more of a middle class if not upper middle class neighborhood when I grew up and has become a middle to lower middle class neighborhood because of several different things:

• Age of the homes
• Styles of the homes (very 70s looking) 
• The ability of the aging generation to maintain the home. 

So now this has become a neighborhood of starter homes. As the elderly leave or die the homes are being bought, flipped and sold to young couples just getting started - BUT even with all the upgrades the neighborhood will never attain its previous "high middle class" station - because of the style and age of the homes. 

Another thing to consider - 

What my parents paid $70,000 for in 1978, my son paid $160,000 for in 2017 (well his is smaller) BUT there are a couple of other differences - 

• My parents - bought the home with a mortgage at the going rate of interest 14% - payment - $829
• My son - put in about 20,000 - refinanced the place at $180,000 (appraised value $280,000)   interest 4% payment $859

It's hard to compare the same neighborhood 30-40 years later without comparing all variables - BUT do I think we add to the issue - for most of us I would say no - what we do increases the value to everyones home. But I can't say that it NEVER applies - 

Once again great question - it drove me into introspection - very thought provoking. 

Lots of great advice here @Shawn O'Gorman - We bought our first rental at 23 - best decision we ever made. Now being on the other side of that 30 years later my advice is very different from what it would've been then.  

Now it would be:

• Get educated on the market (we were not)
• Don't over pay (we did) 
• Get your financial ducks in a row (ours were not) 
• Have a plan (we had none)  

But we did do one VERY important thing - and that was we just did it - we took ACTION.  While there are repercussions to not doing all the above - if you are determined to succeed AND you take action - you will succeed. It may mean you have to 

• subsidize your rental for awhile (we did), 
• you may need to refinance if rates come down (we did - our first loan was 12%)  
• You will have to get your own finances in check really fast - because of subsidizing your rental (we did this too)
• And the quicker you have a plan the faster you can grow (this took us years to realize) 

Real estate can be a wild ride - but like any other major move in your life there are things you can do to prepare - especially now with the internet.  There are issues/problems you can forgo by doing all the things my older self will tell you to do now - but not at the cost of ACTION - 

Another thing - buy a house or a rental? - our realtor gave my son the best advice ever - it was the same advice he gave his children. He told him to buy a duplex and move in - rent the other side while you fix up your side, then move to the other side and do the same thing. Then repeat the entire process a second time BEFORE buying a home for you and your family. By doing it this way you can take advantage of the lower down payment and lower interest and it becomes the base of your real estate holdings - from which you can grow your business. 

Good luck 

Christa,

I have a great one - but he's in UT:(