Dave_Mc

yeah. I think the thing is- don't try to make money out of it. It's a house, not an investment. You don't buy a car hoping to make money out of it. if it does make money, that's great, but don't go in trying to make money- and really don't buy into the guff estate agents (that's our word for realtors ) try to tell you. Don't buy a house you otherwise don't like because you think it might make you money. Buy a house you're willing to live in if the worst happens (i.e. if the bottom falls out of the market and you can't sell)- it's sorta like musical chairs and you need to watch you're not stuck with something you don't like if the music stops.

the main thing is not to get into negative equity. which normally means not borrowing too much. Take what the bank is willing to lend you, and divide it by like 4.

You'll never get rich my way, but you hopefully won't be destitute either



i'm also going by the rent rates, here- here rent is high enough that it'd more or less pay your mortgage. I think i remembered reading somewhere that renting here cost you something like a couple of hundred grand more than buying- and that didn't take into account the fact that you had a house to sell when you bought!

that sucks you got bit, by the way



yeah- i generally don't like combos either, I wouldn't buy a combo that cost too much money (though obviously being cheap increases the chance it won't be built well ). the excelsior was pretty cheap, and the black pearl was cheap enough that i was willing to take a chance (I think i noticed a little rattle when i turned the black pearl up, but it was pretty minor ).



haha thanks greg

the worst thing is i knew this'd probably happen. I should've just asked for a replacement.

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tubetime86

It all depends on your area and your exact situation these days... It's not as cut and dry as it used to be. For my wife and I, what we pay in rent is probably about the same as a mortgage payment on something suitable for us... But then we'd have taxes and upkeep. Not to mention the fact that I want to move out West in a few years. It just doesn't make sense. I love renting honestly. Problem with the house? Call the landlord and it's fixed in a day for free. We can't handle a bunch of unexpected expenses right now.

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Arby911

I live in Texas.

I rent out a house I own in Wyoming.

I make pretty good coin doing so.

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DeathByDestroyr

Flipping, yeah, not a bad time to make a big investment though.

I am teh financial advisor.

Arby knows whats going down, that's what you do; get a couple of big houses and rent them out. Partition that shit up into a couple apartments if you really want to.

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gregs1020

that's the key.

if you own it, not the bank, you.

then you are in pretty good shape anywhere.

renting a property you have no mortgage on is a no brainer, you'll make money every time.

if you have a note at the bank for it, that's another whole Oprah show.

tubetime86

The owner of my house apparently moved out West somewhere. He uses a property management company to deal with us, so it's just a matter of collecting his check at the end of the month. (Though I'm sure by the time it's all said and done he's probably not collecting much, but at least it's zero effort required on his part.)

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mmolteratx

New stuff day.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/foru...72#post30714272

And not using a property management company is a total PITA. Pricey, but it's worth the convenience. And is a necessity if you can't be there yourself.

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Dave_Mc

you're a bamf though

i didn't mean you wouldn't make money- i meant it would be awkward to check on it etc. etc. etc.

i mean if you're willing to do that, that's great.

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tubetime86

Ya that's what I thought. Our property managers are awesome. They've got great service people on call and are just generally great to deal with. I've rented direct from owners a few times and it was a nightmare. If you can afford it without taking a loss I'd say that's the way to go, and honestly if you can't afford it without taking a loss then you're probably not in a good position to rent anyway... Time to sell.


Just depends on the tenants. If you luck out with good tenants then it should be easy... If you have bad luck and get a string of one shitty tenant after the next then ya that'd suck.

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Dave_Mc

^ yeah

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TNfootballfan62

Yeah.



I think rent is probably going to end up being comparable to more expensive than a mortgage payment for me, but I'd have to actually get serious about this before I could figure that out for sure.





Dan, I think you sort of answered what I was going to ask Arby. Seems like it would be a lot of trouble managing a property from so far away? Apparently not.



Yeah, I hear ya.

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Dave_Mc

^

though now that i think of it, the negative equity thing might be less of a problem in the USA- isn't there some law that if the shit really hits the fan, that you can just hand back your keys and walk away? you can't do that here.

(don't quote me that you can do that in the USA, that might be total BS, that's just what I've read )

EDIT: to clarify- you still don't want to be in negative equity, lol. that really is worst case scenario. you don't want to be handing back a house which you have $200k of equity in, lol. But if you only have $20k of equity, and still owe say, $150,000 on a house which is only worth $100,000, it's the lesser of two evils.

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Arby911

Agreed. I've been lucky in that the market where I'm renting has very limited rental properties available, and a LOT of willing renters. We do a comprehensive background check, require a minimum of a 1 year contract and get 1st, Last and a deposit equal to 1 months rent up front.

People who ante up that kind of coin either don't trash the place or can afford to fix it...

In the last 10 years the longest it's been empty is a little over a month one time, and that's because we decided to put in new hardwood floors between tenants, and we already had a contract with a new tenant even then.

I'll agree that sometimes it is a PITA, but isn't that the case with most anything that you get a return on?

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tubetime86

Remember to factor in unforseen repairs... For me an expected expense is manageable but the unexpected ones can cause serious problems. The security of knowing that I won't have to put a new furnace in tomorrow (as an example of course) is worth a fair amount.

That's the whole thing; with rent the terms are clearly stated and are fixed, not so much with buying.


Not at all if you use a property manager. I think the owner of our house literally just collects a check. As far as I know he hasn't been involved in anything, not even the process of finding us.

That's if you can afford it though. If your mortgage payments make this no longer an option then yes it can be a nightmare. My mom's parents left her and my aunt some properties that were rented and they've been major headaches. Those are all in the same town too. I can't imagine if they had been a couple hundred miles away.


Wow first, last and security?

You can luck out for sure. One of the places mentioned above is currently rented to a friend of mine and he's an absolute pleasure to rent to. He loves projects so he does a lot of work himself rather than calling, and he even put in a really fantastic garden in the back. I think he's pretty much what landlords hope for; pay the rent, and don't bother me.

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CECamps

Zoom H4n arrived today.

Can't wait to start using this thing!

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mmolteratx

Holy crap. Creambacks are awesome. Little more aggressive in the highs than the Greenbacks, more like my old Blackbacks. Though that might just be because they're new and haven't been broken in yet. Much stouter in the bass at high volumes than Greenbacks too. They never get flubby and the low end is a bit larger. The Splawn cab helps too. Very oversized.

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tubetime86

Anyone else feel like they react to coffee like most react to cocaine? I have a cup every couple weeks and every time I'm amazed at how much the caffeine affects me. I just drank a cup and I'm completely wired now.

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TNfootballfan62

All good advice, guys. Thanks for being a sounding board.

I guess I need to decide how to go about seriously looking into this.

I plugged some numbers into a calculator to see how much money I could be loaned very roughly, and it's WAY too much. No wonder people get into trouble buying houses.

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LaidBack

Funny that I pop into this conversation (even momentarily). I'm seriously considering dumping the "buy a house" plan and just finding a place to rent. The hard part is finding (good) roommates. There's always the option of living with the gf but she's not in a place financially to move out. Most of my friends are either too unreliable to live with or it would be inconvenient for one of us. Or they are complacent at living at home.

gah

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