Any Residential Landlords?

[dstig1]

True in general, but there are exceptions. Maybe Ultra can unload even one or two properties this way. Never hurts to ask and look into it... Just one possible option.

 

[Eagle1]

Bought my first house rent to own. Never missed or was late on a payment. High interest rate with some vicious (yet understandable clauses) because we had messed up our credit by being stupid (no excuses). Refinanced when the rates were good and by then real equity in the house.
Landlord and us were both happy with the turnout.

 

[ultrarunner]

Glad I don't live 'out west' anywhere. None of that applies here and if it did, I'd liquidate all 3 and invest the proceeds elsewhere. I really don't like being a landlord but it is what it is. I had a chance to purchase the homes on both sides of the farm years ago when prices were actually reasonable so I did, plus another just down the road from me so all 3 are within walking distance of the farm, plus I did that to control who owned them and/or lived there as I don't like neighbors anyway. We are basically loners out here and I like being a hermit and so does my wife. Told my wife if any of them were destroyed by fire or natural disaster, I'd just level them, shove the debris in the hole that was the basement (all have full basements) bring in a load of topsoil and plant them to hay and call it good. I actually prefer an unobstructed view out here. We live smack dab in the middle of row crop country and I like it that way. I can look for literally miles around and see little in the way of homes or people.

I have a rental across the street from my home…

20 years in and no issue… never advertise and on my third tenant.

My neighbors continue to thank me saying it’s wonderful having 3 nurses as neighbors… mom RN I work with 16 years now, her husband and their 2 LVN daughters working towards their RN licenses.

I started this thread because a lot of small time very good Landlords are getting out and it’s not tenants driving them out… it’s trying to operate in increasingly restrictive regulatory environment with limited and costly options to remove a bad tenant or ending up with tenants that never filled out an application or business use never contemplated…

Lots of chipping away at property owner rights while expanding property owner responsibility.

My current eviction and the only one going back 12 years played the system to the hilt…

In January I knew he had to go but it took until July 15th with the tenant having exhausted all legal maneuvers for the Sheriff to execute the unlawful detainer…

I helped quite a few become established as Housing Providers but I no longer encourage it… just too many pitfalls with little recourse.

 

[5030]

IMO, this is not the time to even consider a new home purchase as the housing bubble is about to break. Homes in general are commanding inflated prices and when it comes (breaking bubble), lots of would be owners will be left holding the bag so to speak.

In our situation, all of our rentals are paid for except one and that one is a fixed rate mortgage which is something rare today. I would never even consider a variable rate mortgage on any real estate, especially today. Lets just say, the one with a note due on it, the finance rate is well below the current rate today. I could pay it off tomorrow but why bother as everything associated with it is tax deductible and like I've said in the past, we need all the deductions we can get. I dislike giving the government any money as they are a very bad investment today. Have to be the poorest managers of money there is.

 

[5030]

I have a rental across the street from my home…

20 years in and no issue… never advertise and on my third tenant.

My neighbors continue to thank me saying it’s wonderful having 3 nurses as neighbors… mom RN I work with 16 years now, her husband and their 2 LVN daughters working towards their RN licenses.

I started this thread because a lot of small time very good Landlords are getting out and it’s not tenants driving them out… it’s trying to operate in increasingly restrictive regulatory environment with limited options to remove bad a bad tenant or ending up with tenants that never filled out an application or business use never contemplated…

One thing I always did was run a background check on any potential renter. My attorney does it. I don't. You have poor credit or garnishments or late pay, I'm not interested and your app goes in the round file. I am very particular and always have been. The farm which is incorporated btw along with the machine and fab shop, has an excellent credit rating as both of us have. Always in the 800's on both major credit rating sites. In fact my personal credit rating is exactly 4 points under the max credit rating on both sites. My wife is 5 under the max and the farm and ancillary business is about 10 under.

One thing we were both taught by our parents was to pay your debt on time, every time and we do.

Most of my farm related equipment is always purchased on a handshake, how it plays out here in 'Flyover Country'. Same applies to the shop and I take good care of my employees as well though having employees is always a PITA but necessary for me. Why we have an accountant on retainer and he does the payroll and issues their paychecks as well. I take nothing from the company or the farm for income as I don't need any personal income, anyway.

 

[ultrarunner]

Have you approached the tenants about potentially buying their places? If you are willing to self-finance, you can spread out the tax hit over years. Might be a win-win, if you can pull it off. Self-financing is not for the faint of heart, but my uncle did it twice when he got old and wanted out of his rentals. One of them defaulted and so he ended up selling that one twice...

Yes… on several occasions…

No takers for various reasons… number one is not planning to be here long to why own and tie up capital when I can have the freedom being a renter and no repair expenses.

I have one tenant that asked about buying and I let emotion get in the way…

It’s a small cottage that buying would cause her monthly to increase 250%

She is 69 with no family in California and working same employer 19 years and would qualify being a little creative but too trusting when it comes to having work done… she greatly overpays for her car repairs and such simply not knowing.

 

[ultrarunner]

IMO, this is not the time to even consider a new home purchase as the housing bubble is about to break. Homes in general are commanding inflated prices and when it comes (breaking bubble), lots of would be owners will be left holding the bag so to speak.

In our situation, all of our rentals are paid for except one and that one is a fixed rate mortgage which is something rare today. I would never even consider a variable rate mortgage on any real estate, especially today. Lets just say, the one with a note due on it, the finance rate is well below the current rate today. I could pay it off tomorrow but why bother as everything associated with it is tax deductible and like I've said in the past, we need all the deductions we can get. I dislike giving the government any money as they are a very bad investment today. Have to be the poorest managers of money there is.

I’m hoping we don’t see a repeat of 2009-12 when every city block had at least one foreclosure… most did strategic defaults saying not worth it and moved on… so often saying just a business decision “Giving” it back to the bank.

 

[2manyrocks]

What I remember was not much strategic decisions of giving property back to the bank. Instead, people who used to have good jobs somehow lost them and then couldn't make their payments and couldn't find buyers for their homes so they ended up in foreclosure even though this wouldn't have happened to them in normal economic situations.

Today, there are a bunch of corporate landlords who have lengthy lease agreements with numerous addendums and charges for all sorts of things. One corporate landlord was asking tenants to have cosigners with income 5x the monthly rent. They seem to think they've got the upper hand over tenants who can't afford to buy houses at the current inflated real estate prices, and don't seem shy about sticking it to their tenants. Worse than bankers...........

 

[dstig1]

Supply and demand rules. Places like where Ultra are made so many rules and restrictions and made it so expensive to build anything that prices shot up for what was actually available. Put the blame where it belongs ...

 

[ultrarunner]

What I remember was not much strategic decisions of giving property back to the bank. Instead, people who used to have good jobs somehow lost them and then couldn't make their payments and couldn't find buyers for their homes so they ended up in foreclosure even though this wouldn't have happened to them in normal economic situations.

Today, there are a bunch of corporate landlords who have lengthy lease agreements with numerous addendums and charges for all sorts of things. One corporate landlord was asking tenants to have cosigners with income 5x the monthly rent. They seem to think they've got the upper hand over tenants who can't afford to buy houses at the current inflated real estate prices, and don't seem shy about sticking it to their tenants. Worse than bankers...........

Picked up 3 new tenants 2009-12 and all walked away from their homes while income not affected when I did background checks.

One literally owned the home across the street from where he rents from me since 2010.

They were paying $3,300 month for PITI to be home owners as property values dipped up to 80% from high of 500k to low of 100k

By renting from me they cut 2k off the monthly expense plus no repairs.

Many of my brothers clients in well to do areas did strategic defaults and these are lawyers and doctors and CEO types.

My brother sold a Sports Lawyer a foreclosure for 1.1 million in the same neighborhood where they owned and as soon as settled in to the new place he stopped paying on his 2.4 million home that was now worth half.

We had dramatic value drops in the SF Bay Area… up to 80% and for many it was no longer worth it.