How much does an acre of land go for in your area?

[grsthegreat]

Not to get too far off topic...

I know young couple just starting out that have had no problems buying homes...

Just to give you an example.

They are married and 25 years old... she is a Registered Nurse making 135k and he is a Police Officer making 110k... almost a quarter million between them...

As a side bar... thousands of Bay Area Nurses are striking as I write this... the typical nurse at the 800 nurse Children's Hospital earns 135k per year... and yes, they are striking because management wants the employees to give back paid sick days and contribute more for Health Insurance.

I hope the Nurses didn't misjudge public support... the strike affects 33 Hospitals.

I know a specialty nurse working two jobs bringing in 200k... she works three twelve hour shifts and one Hospital and weekends in another.

Yeiks...

I have been thinking of buying some houses here and renting them out. There are entire subdivisions of 2-3 year old houses on 1/4-1/5 acre lots that used to sell for 180-220K, now going for about 100K cash sale.

I thought of bying a few and renting them out as side inclme, but have second and third thoughts of the damage a tennant can inflict on the house. Still looking though...who knows. Banks WONT loan on these houses, but cash is king.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yeiks...

I have been thinking of buying some houses here and renting them out. There are entire subdivisions of 2-3 year old houses on 1/4-1/5 acre lots that used to sell for 180-220K, now going for about 100K cash sale.

I thought of bying a few and renting them out as side inclme, but have second and third thoughts of the damage a tennant can inflict on the house. Still looking though...who knows. Banks WONT loan on these houses, but cash is king.

All depends...

The first questions would be is it worth your time and do you have the temperament to be a residential landlord?

The price of some of the homes around here are well below the cost of replacement, Labor, Material, Fees/Permits

I would think being a Landlord where you are has to be much more straight forward then in a large urban area with Rent Control plus other issues. Many starting out here quickly run afoul of compliance issues which gets very expensive real fast.

Start with a clean sheet of paper and figure your expenses vs income... take into account vacancy factor and maintenance allowance. When done, compare the rate of return to other investment opportunities.

Many have done very well over the years buying when the market was down, holding by renting and then selling and taking capital gains later.

Tenants will make or break you in this business.

The problem I was seeing is many were no longer treating income property as a business... they banked everything on appreciation and didn't care that rents came no where close to break-even.

New tracts in outlying areas are having some of the biggest problems... too many similar properties in foreclosure and then becoming rentals which pulls and area down.

A very young 96 year old lady friend of mine told me years ago... take care of the property and the property will take care of you.

She owns huge old Victorian home in Alameda CA... during the war years, they converted the ground floor into 4 apartments and she continues to live upstairs... She loves every minute of being a landlord... it has been her life since she lost her husband during WWII...

 

[brin]

Just remember , all it takes is one tenant from **** to do $10K or more damage...easily, it does not take much to reach that number..and you will never know until they leave in the middle of the night some time....be careful and like ultrarunner said, get that blank sheet of paper ...run the numbers and examine your own tolerance for fools and then make your mind up ..it is not an absentee business.

 

[beppington]

Yeiks...

I have been thinking of buying some houses here and renting them out. There are entire subdivisions of 2-3 year old houses on 1/4-1/5 acre lots that used to sell for 180-220K, now going for about 100K cash sale.

I thought of bying a few and renting them out as side inclme, but have second and third thoughts of the damage a tennant can inflict on the house. Still looking though...who knows. Banks WONT loan on these houses, but cash is king.

I think you have to just let it go & hope the deposit you collected is enough to cover the repairs

 

[clemsonfor]

Not to get too far off topic...

I know young couple just starting out that have had no problems buying homes...

Just to give you an example.

They are married and 25 years old... she is a Registered Nurse making 135k and he is a Police Officer making 110k... almost a quarter million between them...

As a side bar... thousands of Bay Area Nurses are striking as I write this... the typical nurse at the 800 nurse Children's Hospital earns 135k per year... and yes, they are striking because management wants the employees to give back paid sick days and contribute more for Health Insurance.

I hope the Nurses didn't misjudge public support... the strike affects 33 Hospitals.

I know a specialty nurse working two jobs bringing in 200k... she works three twelve hour shifts and one Hospital and weekends in another.

Holy *****. Thats crazy money! Now i realize after watching all these house hunting and redoing shows on tv how yall do it in those big cities!! I never in my mind realized that kind of money was bing paid!!! I live here in SC in a rural area but even in columbia and greenville the 2nd and 3rd or something largest towns in the state a nure might make 55K-60K if shes about 25 less if she lives in my area , which is rural. A 25 yr old cop with a college degree would be lucky to make 40K here!

 

[Mousefield]

Just remember , all it takes is one tenant from **** to do $10K or more damage...easily, it does not take much to reach that number..and you will never know until they leave in the middle of the night some time....be careful and like ultrarunner said, get that blank sheet of paper ...run the numbers and examine your own tolerance for fools and then make your mind up ..it is not an absentee business.

You are right BRIN. I have had good tenants and some REAL bad one's. If we could we would get rid of the two rental mobiles on our property. While it can be a good business it can be very stressfully as well. You will find "nice" people who are con artists and real good at lying. It only takes a few weeks for them to do many thousands of dollars in damages. Up here we have a government tenancy branch that does not do a lot for landlords. I know one person who was not paid rent for 4 months and the tenancy branch still would not let the landlord evict them. He finally went over with a few friends and physically removed the tenant and his belongings. It can be a very tough go at times but if you get some half decent tenants it can be rewarding. Good luck if you do become a landlord, you just might need it.

 

[Dargo]

Holy *****. Thats crazy money! Now i realize after watching all these house hunting and redoing shows on tv how yall do it in those big cities!! I never in my mind realized that kind of money was bing paid!!! I live here in SC in a rural area but even in columbia and greenville the 2nd and 3rd or something largest towns in the state a nure might make 55K-60K if shes about 25 less if she lives in my area , which is rural. A 25 yr old cop with a college degree would be lucky to make 40K here!

Well, I don't know if that's crazy money, but there are no nurses or police in my area that make that sort of money either. I'm not about to say they aren't worth it, and not implying you are saying that either, but the market just won't bear even half those wages in 'fly over country' like where I live. I don't think our mayor makes what that nurse makes. There again, she's probably worth 10X what our mayor is! LOL

 

[ultrarunner]

Holy *****. Thats crazy money! Now i realize after watching all these house hunting and redoing shows on tv how yall do it in those big cities!! I never in my mind realized that kind of money was bing paid!!! I live here in SC in a rural area but even in columbia and greenville the 2nd and 3rd or something largest towns in the state a nure might make 55K-60K if shes about 25 less if she lives in my area , which is rural. A 25 yr old cop with a college degree would be lucky to make 40K here!

It really does boggle the mind...

I don't have the city salaries in front of me...

My high school buddy retired with credit for sick time and got his 30 years in... he never made it too chief... but worked his way up... his pension at age 51 is 186k per year with lifetime medical...

Who would have known? Some of my other high school friends had dads in law enforcement... they were always working side jobs with permission because money was tight... never a new vehicle.

 

[Pete Judd]

I think that the only way to make money as a landlord is to have several rentals, so you can average it out over the year. I have a horror story as well with the renters, and use a good agent to act as your interface with the renters as well. They will know how to get rid of them in a legal way, and will only charge you 10 percent plus costs. They can also run the credit checks, and background checks before renting them out. It is nice to have an broker to buffer you from the day to day.

 

[mjarrels]

Some of the best advise I ever heard was to look inside the potentional renters car when they are looking at the house. IF the car is trashed inside/out... DON'T rent to them.

mark