Investment house | Imamother

amother

Olive

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 8:25 am

Do you mean in Lakewood?
It’s hard to know if now is the right time to buy. Prices are high but mortgages are low.
We bought in 2005 when prices were super high in Lakewood and our property is not even back to that price. It’s not the norm but happened in a few areas of Lakewood.
Make sure the rent you will get will cover the home plus repairs
If you plan on renting to multiple tenants the neighbors may put up a fight. Someone did that in our neighborhood and we did contest it and he lost. And if you want to move into the home one day your neighbors may hate you.

We own real estate out of Lakewood
- some months vacant
- section 8 inspects and insists on costly improvements yearly
- repairs (appliances, roof, etc)

We have a few homes so between all of them we make something but almost every year at least one home loses money.

watergirl

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 9:00 am

amother [ Olive ] wrote:

I've rented for many, many years and from all types of landlords and management companies. In my experience, the owner/landlord who does not truly understand what they are getting into when they do into this are the worst ones I've ever had. The money on the investment house that comes in annually is a nice thing, but the real money from the investment hopefully comes in when you sell the house. Anything like this is a gamble. Its when the owner wants to make money during the lease period that the issues arrive. Those are usually the ones who refuse to fix things or who give the renters a hard time about fixing, etc.

Re: your point about the neighbors hating an owner - there is a frum guy who owns a house across the street from me and has rented it out for the last 15 years at least. I bought my house only 2 years ago but have already seen his tenants come and go and treat the house like a joke. This owner lives in Brooklyn; we live many hours away from there in another state. I only know who the owner is because the contractor who was brought in to repair the many serious damages from the last tenants let it slip to me. I looked them up on the state property list and found him. I am tempted to call him, but I was told by a friend who used to deal with him that he does not care about the tenants, the neighbors, etc. He just wants his check. I don't blame him for never showing his face on our block! He finds as many people as he can to rent this house to make as much money as possible. Its really horrible who he finds.

A owner/landlord has to go into this with the tenants and neighbors in mind. There is humanity to consider, not just a check.

OP, wishing you hatzlacha in this. Its not a pretty business. Please have the best intentions in this business and if you cant, please don't do it.

amother

cornflower

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 12:27 pm

I worked for a Lakewood Property Management Company and there were some landlords who made money but plenty who were losing money every month. Most likely you will not get the full rent toward the mortgage every month. There are always repairs needed, especially in the old investment houses. Some tenants are great, pay on time and don't complain,and some are horrific, calling every day with problems and never paying on time. You can get lucky, but you can also get screwed. You will have months between tenants and there will be a lot of work to do to make the house ready for the next tenant, so keep plenty of money in savings to cover the mortgage in these circumstances.
Good luck.