Soon to be a Snowbird...

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Good advice. Air Conditioners that have backed up condensation lines can wreak havoc and cause all kinds of damage if the sensor doesn't kick in and shut the entire a/c down. My uncle who snowbirds had his upstairs bedroom flood that way - $16k damage due to a bad sensor and backed up condensation line.

Have heard of water/flooding problems at other homes here in FL where PVC lines leak and caused major flooding while snowbirder was north.....gotta turn off the main h20 source.


Where I live, there are several home watch services. This past summer I paid for that while RVing for 3 months from FL....$10/week wasn't a lot in my opinion to collect mail, check the house for major issues (flooding, leaks, etc). I never need mail forwarded - all bills are auto or electronic.

Broken hoses to the washer can also be a common source of leaks and these are expensive.

[AlaskaErik]

Originally Posted by Willistonite

Can I ask approximately how much the camera's cost each?

Samrtcams are about $90 now, at Costco.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Westcoasters

$36,000/$300,000 = 12%/year, if I correctly understand your comment. How do you achieve 12% per year income on a $300,000 without speculative investments?

I don't consider income props as 'speculative' (if bought right). I have been buying with my IRA LLC, all are fully financed by my accts ( I get a 'bank income' + rental income = high annual earnings fed back into IRA, ~ $22k on <$150k capital expenses). ($75/ yr 'custodial fee' for the LLC which owns multiple props).

12% (annual + potential appreciation) is not a problem in areas that have reasonable priced RE and high rents (in my case - income tax free energy states, there are 4 of them). I too, domicile in an income tax free state (thus my RE investments are also located ONLY within income tax free states)

My Left Coast props only yield 7-9% annually, but have much higher appreciation (10% - 15%+ historically). Entry costs are too high on the left coast, at current inflated market prices. (I don't expect to acquire additional left coast investment props, and actually liquidated a few this yr due to high valuations = too much property taxes!!! = low performing income vs. investment.)

My 'energy states' props yield the highest annual returns (tenants are used to paying high rental rates, cuz of boom or bust employment, fewer 'energy workers' BUY props. Too risky to buy a property and have your JOB change to another state / region / go off-shore). I have had only ONE 30 day vacancy in 7 yrs (multiple props / energy state). The Left coast I have rented props for 28 yrs and had total of 3 months vacany - not too speculative, Any of the props I could sell tomorrow for huge profit. (all are view props on acreage = high demand)

I will be adding some more commercial RE, as I prefer it to renting 'bedrooms'.

A 94yo friend gets $100k/yr off a single investment of $700k he made 14 yrs ago. It is a commercial prop with NNN, he has never even seen or visited the property (it is 3000 miles away, but in a high rent / low property cost commercial area that has a very solid and growing economy). Eventually his estate will sell the prop for likely 2x his purchase price. All the while he has been collecting the $8k monthly dough.

Works for me, and enables / encourages me to 'snowbird' to desirable locales. (in season)

[Westcoasters]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I don't consider income props as 'speculative' (if bought right). I have been buying with my IRA LLC, all are fully financed by my accts ( I get a 'bank income' + rental income = high annual earnings fed back into IRA, ~ $22k on <$150k capital expenses). ($75/ yr 'custodial fee' for the LLC which owns multiple props).

12% (annual + potential appreciation) is not a problem in areas that have reasonable priced RE and high rents (in my case - income tax free energy states, there are 4 of them). I too, domicile in an income tax free state (thus my RE investments are also located ONLY within income tax free states)

My Left Coast props only yield 7-9% annually, but have much higher appreciation (10% - 15%+ historically). Entry costs are too high on the left coast, at current inflated market prices. (I don't expect to acquire additional left coast investment props, and actually liquidated a few this yr due to high valuations = too much property taxes!!! = low performing income vs. investment.)

My 'energy states' props yield the highest annual returns (tenants are used to paying high rental rates, cuz of boom or bust employment, fewer 'energy workers' BUY props. Too risky to buy a property and have your JOB change to another state / region / go off-shore). I have had only ONE 30 day vacancy in 7 yrs (multiple props / energy state). The Left coast I have rented props for 28 yrs and had total of 3 months vacany - not too speculative, Any of the props I could sell tomorrow for huge profit. (all are view props on acreage = high demand)

I will be adding some more commercial RE, as I prefer it to renting 'bedrooms'.

A 94yo friend gets $100k/yr off a single investment of $700k he made 14 yrs ago. It is a commercial prop with NNN, he has never even seen or visited the property (it is 3000 miles away, but in a high rent / low property cost commercial area that has a very solid and growing economy). Eventually his estate will sell the prop for likely 2x his purchase price. All the while he has been collecting the $8k monthly dough.

Works for me, and enables / encourages me to 'snowbird' to desirable locales. (in season)

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't realize that you were including capital appreciation in "income," so that's a completely different situation.

[ndcairngorm]

Originally Posted by WellShoneMoon

Renting is NOT "throwing money away" -- it's paying for a place to live. What is really "throwing money away" to me is paying interest on a mortgage. People always seem to forget that if you get a mortgage to buy your house, you're throwing buckets of money away in interest payments to the bank.

I agree. I never get mortgages for property I buy, so my earlier rationale was based on that.