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.

Wow... The youngest 2- or 3-family rental property for sale right now in my area is 150 years old, so 200 years sounds normal to me for this sort of thing! Making the call on how much of a risk 200 years is has to do with what's been renovated when, and where you are: If the town was first settled 200 years ago, the builders could have done anything. Other places were built up and had some common building standards by that time. Whatever you do, DON'T buy it without having inspections and at least looking inside first. The basement will tell you a lot: the condition of the foundation (is the field stone still square?), and the stability of the sills... take along a pocket knife or screw driver and stab a sill or load-bearing floor beam. If it crumbles or feels like popcorn instead of wood, you are likely looking at some very major structural work. The basement and the attic will also tell you about water damage, whether the electric was updated since knob-and-tube wiring, and whether the house has any insulation to speak of (no insulation or horse-hair plaster makes for higher heating bills). I'd find a good inspector with experience in older houses, and make any offer contingent upon that checking out to your satisfation. Good luck!

At 21y/o ou are too young to take on a big 18 unit building like this. You still live with your parents and do not even know what it is like to live on your own, much less manage an apartment building while trying to learn to live independantly. The renters in this building are probably way more street smart than you, and they will take advantage of that fact. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders and a good work ethic. I commend you for having goals for yourself that will keep you financially stable. Start out with a duplex or triplex. It will be easier to manage and you can know your renters better. There will be less repair and maintenance issues and less turnover to deal with going with a smaller investment. Being a landlord to an 18 unit is a full time job and you already have one. Do you really want to be sitting around all day waiting to hear your case called in eviction court when you could be out making $XX per hour? Do you have time to run back and forth to the apartment for weekly repairs?

I'm installing laminate that looks like granite in my rental. I understand all the tradeoffs but there is one that I'm wondering about. I like the lighter granite look laminate even with white cabinets because it seems more cheerful and less likely to turn anyone off. But my handyman insists that dark is the way to go since I have white cabinets and stainless appliances and either color can work. He swears that the lighter color even multicolored granite looking laminates gets stained or discolored over time and are hard to make look right but that black or dark granite stays better looking and is easy to cover scratches and stuff. Does anyone have any experience with whether black is a more polarizing choice that certain renters won't like or any experience with upkeep of either of these colors in the granite looking laminates? These are the two colors I'm picking between (shown in white kitchens to get an idea): Any experience with which countertop would be best for a rental apartment for appealing (or not turning off) the widest range of tenants and if one is really easier to maintain over time or not given that they are both laminate? i need to decide fast.