I bought a condo before getting married. I bought my first condo (2bed/2bath) with the intention of getting a roommate to help with the mortgage. When we married, my husband already had a house, so I moved into the house, and we turned the condo into a rental. We had about $100 per month negative cash flow in the beginning. Many years prior to that, my then single husband bought a house in a suburb. Hated it, and bought another in the city and turned the suburban house into a rental. But, he remodeled the new house, ran out of money, rented out the house and he himself rented a small room to save money.... When he finally moved back into the newly remodeled home, he had many roommates to help with the finances. When we were first married, we built a mother in law apartment in the basement and rented that out. That helped with our expenses. We did not ask her to leave until my son was 2 years old. We then reclaimed the basement for ourselves. (You asked for stories and sacrifices...) We now have enough cash flow so not having rental income for a few months is not a big deal. This gives us the luxury of picking "good" tenants. We only pick tenants who are professionals with good jobs and stellar credit and rental record. The longest we have had vacant rental is about 3 months. We are also in an urban environment where many young professionals cannot afford to buy due to the housing price. Most houses in a suburban subdivision do not make a good rental, unless you can make the rent 1/3 or less than the monthly mortgage of buying the property. (now days, that may not be true because of the downpayment requirements have gone up for buying a home...) Like most everything else in real estate, it's location, location, location that determines the rentability, the amount of rent, the type of tenant etc. We have never needed to go to section 8 route. My condo is very close to the University and Medical school. We almost always have medical residents as tenants(currently dental student and the working spouse). We don't rent to undergrads. They have "no income" and do not qualify in our minds. Our suburban house is near many tech firms in the area, and we tend to get techies with well paying jobs living in the house. melle sacto, not only do you need to have enough money to get through prolonged vacancy, you need to be able to deal with unforseen emergencies quickly. These rentals are your investments. You don't want to do anything to devalue that investment. For example, we had a leak in a very old bathroom. We decided that it was a good time to update the bathroom rather than "patch" fix the bathroom when the tenants moved out. The tenants move out when they want to not when you have the money to fix the bathroom. Like any other business, you need to have available capital when you need it. In order to rent the property quickly, you need to make it look fresh with regular painting, yard maintenance, deep cleaning, etc etc. The most recent tenant turn over uncovered very old sliding glass doors that were not closing property due to age and settling etc. It was noticeable enough and would have detracted from the house from the potential tenants point of view. Again, we had to spend a few thousand $ to get them replaced. This is a regular part of being a landlord. We will probably get one more rental, either a duplex or a quadplex. (our next door neighbor probably has 10 houses/buildings or more) Anything larger than that, we are not willing to manage ourselves. We call trades people for just about everything that needs to be done. It is not worth doing it ourselves at this point. Initially, you will have to do everything yourselves, ie painting, yard work, cleaning, etc. If you and your husband are handy, you will spend less money versus calling someone in. Again, this is not on your schedule but the house's schedule. My brother has a dulplex that he rents out and also the house my parents willed to him. He too had to spend money when things happen. (both of our rentals needed new blower for the furnace this last winter.) We just laugh when these things happen.... Unlike calliope, I consider the risk I take with the rentals as a controlled risk. I actually think it is much less of risk than money I put in the stock market. However, a rental has little potential for huge growth as would in some stocks. To be a successful landlord, you also need to learn your market. In some markets, it is not a feasible business model. For example, I would not buy a rental in a rural area with high unemployment. But I would buy a rental in an urban environment with a large number of transient well paid professionals. Rental properties are a part of our entire portfolio along with other more and less risky things.

It's a sign of the times. More than likely the property will be coming up for renewal shortly and my guess is your company has had it's share of losses in the rental properties as well as primary residences. Insurance companies are going out and inspecting property's to reduce their risk for loss. Tree branches over a roof and gutters are a risk. High winds will snap the branches and can do damage to the roof and gutters. As a non owner occupied property the tenant does not have the same interest in your property as you do, damages can get worse if not attended to right away. The peeling paint, yes it a pride of ownership issue and generally not difficult to get around.

Well, living in retirement home there is lots the come straight from hospital to be cared for and recover until doctor says they can go back home and work for some of them. We had a very young guy that broke his ankle and was not allowed to walk on it and moved in for months and then left. And we get many different ones come for different lengths of time. So, that is a thought too but it costs and if need caregivers that cost too but whether its at an apartment or retirment you pay for those helpers to help out. One thing is meals here but if you can't make it to dining room, you pay $8.00 a tray. Oh, yes, you also pay for meals in dining room but you have things going on if you can participate with them. I found out the young guy did jigsaw puzzles to keep himself busy and we had kids that came here and he got involved with them and the kids love having him. And another lady but she says the doctors appointment she must go too takes up a lot of her time but she does try a bit if possible and chats in the dining room, she uses a walker to get around and is eager to leave and go back home where her husband is tending pets and land they have and live too far to come for visits. So, it depends on the care and money and what is available around him and can he care for himself? Shopping, meals, driving and all that?????

As mentioned, my MIL was in a nursing home for eleven years. My grandmother was also in for quite a few years - she qualified for medicaid because she didn't have any money, not because she protected her wealth. Neither of my parents were - dad died at 62 and mother at 84 still living reasonably independently in an apartment. We would be private pay if we end up in that situation. I originally thought it might be a good idea because we have no kids to help us stay in our own home. However I'm more and more convinced it's just not a viable concept - insurance companies can't make money on it without exorbitant rates and limited coverage to the point it's just not worth it. I think I'll stick with the life insurance as a safety net if we live so long in such bad shape we need that kind of care for too long. I just don't think that's going to be the case but you never know.