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.

I congratulate you and want to add that its a win win win situation. You have the love of a child (which is priceless), she has the love of a powerful father figure in her life and her mother is doubly blessed to have a happy husband and a happy child. I think that in your list of problematic areas #1 is tops. In reading many posts here, it is so redundant to read ...she's like her mother, her mother doesn't make her clean up, her mother lets her stay up..... etc etc. Once you realize that this child has been reared in a certain way for a great many years ... also realize that this child has also been the product of your spouse's input or lack of. Of course, the child will take on characteristics of his / her prime caretaker. Sometimes I see it as a tug of war where the step is trying so hard to be better than the the bio, that they are destroying their own marriage. Its not a contest. The sooner you reach the point of acceptance and mutual respect, the sooner peace and quiet will be restored to the home. Unfortunately, since it takes 3 0r 4 rational adults to make for a peaceful life, one looney one can sure rock the boat and that's where the problems enter in. It takes a very special person to be a step parent. Just because you love a man or woman does not necessarily mean that you will like (much less) love their children. There are some pretty nasty kids out there and knowing that I have little tolerance for it, I would never become a step mother to anyone. Problem is that there are still people out there living in lala land that think that love conquers all. If it did, there wouldn't be as many divorces as there are - especially in second marriages. You have found the knowledge and made it work in your life. Best wishes for a lifetime of being her "friend".

Christine Yup, I love that picture --though I would have made the susans at least an inch bigger in diameter and maybe more so they snugged close to the posts. I can't do mine like that, though, because the posts are in the front corner. In one of those flashes of imbecility, I thought I could use pie cut susans around the post. DUH. It wouldn't even START to turn. But I can get nearly 17'' diameter susans in those dead corners, which will be a huge improvement over the unreachable depths behind the post. I just thought of something. In corner shelves like those pictured with no center post, if the susans are made as large as possible and then D cut in a straight line from post to post, access to the contents would be better because protruding shelves above and below would not obscure a rotated shelf. I REALLY wish I didn't have those corner posts!! Anyway, this is an EASY project. Just cut a plywood circle, screw in 4 screws to attach the bearing, and it's done--except for your fav. chore, painting. But there is no need to paint the bottom, and I'll put cushy cupboards lining on the top, so only the edges need painting.

Im installing new plank and herringbone American walnut hardwood floors. Im trying to figure out how to best finish them. If you’ve successfully installed walnut, can you tell me your process, products, coats, stain, etc? Bonus points for sharing an image! Thank you!