Anyone ever buy a home just to rent it back out?

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I've got some rentals and like any business venture, it's got ups and downs. For a decent website, consider mrlandlord.com; I believe he publishes books also.

He gave me one gem of advise: look for tenants who dress their dogs. Good luck

Said E your math is a little fuzzy: you're assuming the poster invests $100K to get $3600 in return; the joy of real estate: OPM (other people's money) Figure 20% down ($20,000) and some schmo at the bank gives you 80K to invest with. If this returns $3,600 then your getting 18% return (better than the bank) and in addition, you expence everything related to the property, depreciate the building and take a huge tax write off: $$ off your tax bill at the end of the year....Show more

I bought my first rental property about a year ago... Worst decision ever. Thanks to the fair housing act I was forced into letting a family of degenerate pigs into my newly acquired home. Luckily the law stated that I could kick them out after their 5th month of not paying the rent and putting holes in the walls....Show more

In renting property to college students is it always best to have their parents cosign the sign and sign personally for any damage their child may cause. Their parents know them best, if they wont sign for their child that ought to be your best warning not to rent to them. In figuring your return on investment, be sure to calculate interest. Ex. 100,000. mortgage at 6%. the mortage will cost you 6,000. per year. If the house rents for 900/month, you are only making 3600/year. 3.6%return. Banks pay better than that with no headache. Good luck...Show more

It could be a very lucrative business decision.......However, you could end up with very bad tenets. You could loose a lot of money on repairs and missed rent payments...Show more