Omaha Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Does anyone own rental properties (houses)?
We are thinking of renting our house. We are not prepared to sell it and would like to see how renting goes first. Does anyone have any experience with this? Anything we should know or think about first, before we make any decisions on our new house?
TIA!
Re: Does anyone own rental properties (houses)?
I don't own a rental and never have, but my cousin once did in Elkorn and HATED it. Her and her DH would do reference checks like crazy and would always end up with a ruined house and having to replace numerous things each and every time. They would also deal with late rent checks. They said getting rid of it was the best thing they ever did.
However, I have a friend that has a rental and typically doesnt have any problems besides a late rent payment here or there and she's been doing it for 5 years now.
Good luck on whatever you decide!!
The Money Matters board would be really helpful for you, I think. I seem to recall questions like this being asked. Some of the answers I remember reading were to hire a company to manage the property for you, and only do it if you have the income to support it and your primary residence; that you shouldn't assume the property will be rented and that the tenants will not totally trash the place at some point. The key here to have ample savings to support the rent and the potential damages.
Good luck!
Thanks for the heads up for that other board. This is definitely not a decision that will be made easily. Melgul001, that is the exact story that scares me. To me the stress is not worth it, but DH seems to think it's one of our top options.. I doubt I'll get to pull the "I didn't want to do it in the first place card?" though! Thanks again ladies.
I think the only way to avoid the stress is know you have the money to support your decisions. Don't do this unless you can afford the loss. Suze Orman would totally back me up here. Channel 42 right now.
EDIT: She also will answer questions on Facebook, and you can totally tell it is really her answering.
We rented our first house out.
It is okay but we have been lucky to have good renters.
You need to be able to swing 2 mortgage payments if you cannot keep it rented or if your renter does not pay.
I have 2 accounts set up where I have a rental savings account for this purpose. Luckily, I only had to pay 3 months of 2 mortgage payments. It is also important to have enough money to pay for repairs.
ETA- If you are a push over being a landlord isn't right for you (hire a management company). I had to listen to a lot of sob stories / bad credit stories / my kids need a place to live, etc.... It made me feel really icky to listen to these and tell these people "no". If someone wants to not pay a deposit or only give 1/2 then it is not a good sign upfront.
We are just looking at building. We are very far out from any major decisions, at least a year, but I am a planner and was curious about experiences.
We turned our first house into a rental when we didn't want to lower the price to sell it (when we built the home we are in now). It has been a very good thing for us. Cash flowing very well. So much so that we bought another one in the same neighborhood. In one, we had a 2 year tenant, and then a one year tenant who just renewed another year. In the other, we had a 2 year tenant who just renewed for one year.
I suggest:
-Talk to a lawyer and get a very good lease drafted. Also, set up a separate LLC for the business. Use a CPA or accountant for your tax return (they can help with depreciation schedules, write-offs, etc).
-Unless you have handy people in your circle of family/friends, repairs could be expensive. We have a contractor, a plumber and an electrician in our family. So the burst pipe and sprinkler system issues have been easy fixes (and cheap fixes) for us. Our most expensive repair has been replacing the A/C in one of our properties. And we had to deal with it on a Sunday. Of course.
-Budget appropriately and figure out a good price point for rent. The least amount of time on turnover (i.e., empty house) possible is best. Also, as pp said, you need to be able to swing mortgage payments (and tax, insurance etc) if you have the house unoccupied.
Let me know if you have more questions. I'm happy to give you more info about our experiences.