Two Family House | Imamother

amother

Thu, Jan 16 2020, 12:35 pm

I'm looking for some input regarding buying a two family house as a first home. We are currently renting and looking to buy. We don't live in the NY area and the homes where we live are relatively affordable, however we are thinking it may make financial sense to buy a two family to have another source of income. We would be able to afford the mortgage without the rental income BH and the rental market seems pretty good where we live because lots of people move here for college. The only issue is that both me and DH are not very assertive people and we're not sure if we are cut out to be landlords. We're concerned how we would be able to handle non paying tenants and other issues. Also DH values privacy and is leaning towards buying a single home, but I feel that the extra income is worth it. Additionally, we can deduct half of our mortgage interest and real estate taxes against the rental income. Also, in the future, if we are able to we can have the option of moving to a single house and keep the two family as an investment. I'm looking for opinions on this and if anyone has had a bad experience being a landlord and wishes they bought a single family or is it worth the inconvenience for the financial benefit? TIA

amother

Floralwhite

Thu, Jan 16 2020, 12:50 pm

We are very nice people and can be assertive if we need to. Our 1st home was a 2 family because we couldn't afford it otherwise. Being a landlord SUCKS! This is with tenants that paid on time. I can't imagine what a nightmare it would be if they wouldn't pay.
We were so relieved to sell, move away and buy a single family home.
It's very annoying to have to deal with other people and their issues.
I'd stay faaar away from taking a tenant especially if you can afford it without.

tweety1

Thu, Jan 16 2020, 2:18 pm

I say go for it. We did that. We had to learn to be landlords but we're very nice. We learned to be tough on tenants who failed to comply with the no smoking but we're extremely nice to our paying tenants. We take care of issues timely. My tenant even bought me a gorgeous gift for a certain occasion. I don't regret at all buying a two family home.

amother

Ruby

Thu, Jan 16 2020, 2:20 pm

We bought a 2 family home as our first home. Our tenants don't always pay on time, and we're not assertive. However, they're good people and always pay eventually. We could afford the mortgage without their payment. Everything is peaceful and calm.

amother

Coral

Sat, Jan 18 2020, 6:11 pm

We bought a 2-family home as our first home within a few years of getting married. Everything went well, except for the tenant who smoked on a rear wooden porch because we didn't allow smoking inside. So I increased the amount of utilities they had to pay, and they decided to move. Instead of continuing to rent the unit, we used the space for our expanding family, and I loved having an extra kitchen. We still own the house. We're glad that we paid off the mortgage early, it freed up money to use elsewhere.

pleaseandthankyou

Sat, Jan 18 2020, 11:27 pm

We're landlords to two renters in Brooklyn, so far we're having no regrets. One is a family of 7 children living on top of us. It can get noisy at times, but they are such a nice undertaking family. The other one does not live in the same house as us, but again very nice people that always pay their rent on time bh.
I know being a landlord can be tough at times and there are tenants that can make your life miserable. Thank God we got lucky, and I hope I'm not naive by saying that hopefully majority of healthy people try their best to be upright and nice.