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Like so many people on the forum I too am thinking of moving to NC. Currently, I own a condo where I am living and am thinking about leasing it out once I move. I can expect a pretty good cash flow and figure it might be the way to go. But this would be my first time doing this so I have mixed feelings about it. I want to get someone in here who will take care and not wreck my property. This is a transient area and I don't want someone in here who is here today and gone tomorrow. I would require references and good credit to begin with. I also would get info on them including job, salary etc to make sure they qualify. I work in the financial world anyway so I do have some understanding of that aspect. There are plenty of realtor companies who would take care of all of this but should I really pay them 10-20% to do this job? Also, since I will be living over 200 miles from the property I won't be quite close should I need to go by for whatever reason. All this to say if anyone has any advise or has experience being a landlord I would really appreciate any and all comments you may have. Thanks!
Like so many people on the forum I too am thinking of moving to NC. Currently, I own a condo where I am living and am thinking about leasing it out once I move. I can expect a pretty good cash flow and figure it might be the way to go. This would be my first time doing this so I have mixed feelings about it. For one, I want to get someone in here who will take care and not wreck my property. This is a transient area and I don't want someone in here who is here today and gone tomorrow. I would require references and good credit to begin with. I also would get info on them including job, salary etc to make sure they qualify. I work in the financial world anyway so I do have some understanding of that aspect. There are plenty of realtor companies who would take care of all of this but should I really pay them 10-20% to do this job? Also, since I will be living over 200 miles from the property I won't be quite close so I need to go by for whatever reason. All this to say if anyone has any advise or has experience being a landlord I would really appreciate any and all comments you may have. Thanks!
I am a landlord although very recent.It simplified my life to have a property managment company rent it out.They screened, ran the credit check, advertised etc. I do collect rent myself and only used them to rent it out because i live 10 miles away.Since you will be living 200 miles away if it were me, i'd rely on a property managment company to look after it.Your too far to worry about it. Besides, if the property managment company has a list of vendors they use for services why do you want to hasle if you need to get something fixed right away. Or if they move out, you'll have to go back to the home and deal with it.You'll have to hire your own cleaning people,painters etc.To much to deal with and to far.Just my little old humble opinion
I have owned several single family dwellings that were rentals and helped family manage a couple of small apts. Your landlord experience will depend largely upon preparation on your end which sounds like you are doing your research and ultimately on the tenant. I have been extremely fortunate, for the most part, regarding tenants in the single family dwellings. When it came to the apt's I had more issues. If you are in a transient area, I would strongly consider some type of management person/company, especially since you will not be local to keep an eye on it. I even still have one in florida though I live in NC, yet I am pretty lucky and have had the same tenants for almost 3 years. I have found if you respond to their needs as a tenant (fix things quickly when they are broke, etc) then you getter a better response from the tenant.
My best of luck to you.
Since you will be that far away it only would benefit you to have a prop. management company. If everytime someone did not pay rent you would have to fly back to start the eviction process fly back to go to court fly back to meet the sheriff at the house so on and so forth. I would however look around and compare rates. Here is anywhere from 8-12% for collected rent.
Why would you have to fly back every time something happens? 200 miles = 3 hours driving time. Big deal.
I live in D.C. and I own two properties in NC which I manage myself. By manage I mean I do everything - advertising, renting, screening tenants (I have a subscription to a website that lets me run credit checks), painting, repairs, etc. I also work full time and I'm a part time student. As long as you're not lazy and know how to drive, 200 miles is nothing.
I am not lazy but unfortunately I am not the best handyman. I was kind of thinking I might employee the management company for the first year and then take it from there. Perhaps the 2nd year I will have a feel for everything and be able to guage what I am dealing with maybe without the management company. Care to elaborate a little more on your screening process and what site you are able to pull credit bureaus from?
Last edited by citydweller; 02-07-2007 at 10:08 PM..
Reason: add info
I have 2 rental houses. One in the city where I live and another 100 miles away. Personally I would rather handle it myself rather than give a percentage to a management company. Try managing the property yourself, if you find its too much to handle turn it over to a management company. I dont think it would be a problem to turn over a property that is already leased but am not sure.
I too have joined one of those websites that will do a background check for about $30, for criminal, credit, and rental histories. Just google the keywords and you will have several to choose from.
A couple of things I do is, Have applicant pay background check and if they pass I deduct cost from the 1st months rent. If the tenant postmarks the rent before the last day of the month they can deduct $25 off the rent. That insures I receive the rent on time.
If you ever plan to sell, dont forget you can skip capital gains taxes if the property was you primary residence for 2 out of 5 years! So keep that in mind. I hope the democrats don't eliminate that tax break!!!
Here is a link from MSN the other day about being a landlord:
Don't worry - they won't eliminate that tax break. It is something that too many Americans benefit from.
The site I use is CitiCreditBureau.com but there are many others. Some of them only work with management agencies or professional landlords (you must have an actual office), but some like CitiCreditBureau work with part-time landlords based out of a home office as well. The screening process is easy and each credit report is $9.95; they also had background checks too.
Once you rent the place to a good responsible tenant there is little in the way of management. Make sure you replace little things that could wear out before they move in, stuff like toilet flappers and old dying light fixtures. I would also recommend finding a tenant who is somewhat handy so they won't call you for every little thing.
You can always have a management company take over at any time. They will always be happy to take a percentage of your rent!
Like so many people on the forum I too am thinking of moving to NC. Currently, I own a condo where I am living and am thinking about leasing it out once I move. I can expect a pretty good cash flow and figure it might be the way to go. But this would be my first time doing this so I have mixed feelings about it. I want to get someone in here who will take care and not wreck my property. This is a transient area and I don't want someone in here who is here today and gone tomorrow. I would require references and good credit to begin with. I also would get info on them including job, salary etc to make sure they qualify. I work in the financial world anyway so I do have some understanding of that aspect. There are plenty of realtor companies who would take care of all of this but should I really pay them 10-20% to do this job? Also, since I will be living over 200 miles from the property I won't be quite close should I need to go by for whatever reason. All this to say if anyone has any advise or has experience being a landlord I would really appreciate any and all comments you may have. Thanks!
Couple of things for you to consider.
What are the rents for your style home going for?
How much did you purchase for?
Say the rents are going for $1200 per month and you paid less than $120,000 for it (100 times rental rule) then you might want to keep it as cash flow should be ok. Rent times 80 is even better, etc.
Is the property value going up or down where you are at? Is this a forever property, are you going to keep it forever? Do you see yourself moving back there?
If it were me, I'd sell, take any profit free of capital gains and buy a home in NC. Considering your property is a condo and not a stand alone SFH, there is no way I could recommend keeping it, unless you bought it a long time ago, for very little money.
There will many who disagree, but most parts of the country are declining in value and I'm here to tell you housing will be negatively effected most anyplace for those that have bought within the last 2 years.
I'm no fan of long distance landlording, been there done.
Money where my mouth is, I've sold off all of my rentals within the last 6 months and my primary residence closes at the end of this month.
Good luck with whatever you decide, personally I'd say think twice about renting, but hey that's just my perspective, the other guys and gals on here most likely will disagree with everything I've just said.
Tony
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Some landlord experience
