The wife and I own a townhome that we got in 2020 @ 2.87%

Looking to buy a bigger home and rent out the townhome - our mortgage is 1600/month and looks like we could rent it for 2500/month

I've never been a landlord and not much of a DIYer although I've improved in that area since being a homeowner

Have heard good things and some horror stories - my goal is to have a portfolio of 3-5 rentals that can act as retirement income since I'm trying to get to FIRE in my early 40s (currently 36)

dont relax ...if you catch my drift

I have 2 commercial rental properties and the people are always going out of business and into debt with me and I have to see them in court or I just take the loss if theyre not total ass holes

thats a different situation than what im talking about but appreciate the insight

I did what you're planning on my 20s...it's not bad having rentals aside from the occasional deadbeat

we live between two large military bases in the DC area so I'm hoping we could vet out scumbags

I've got 23 rentals. Local people are not the people I rent to. Traveling workers with a per diem is my market. 2, 3 or 4 guys share a 2, 3 or 4 bedroom house. It's $250 a week per person. It takes 3M talent to manage the properties. Mechanic. Magician. Mindreader.

If anyone asked me if they should get into the rental property business, my answer would be NO.

i stopped much effort in once I got quite a few and that when i got my first deadbeat. this blonde white girl that acted nice and was a nurse. then she stopped paying and wouldn't move. neighbors said she was going in and out at all hours of the night with men (black dudes). she left the kids at home with no power or water and when i went in to clean up saw they had shyt in trash bags. blunt wrappers all over the place and ash. and oddly enough in her piles of crap she left was like a battery powered dildo thing with a square base that would make the dildo thrust at different speeds or spin

Come on, according to the misc everyone is a landlord and making massive profits. Where are they all?

As suspected, the people who are actually landlords are the first to tell people don't bother. It's a risk situation with a big asset.

I don't get this - has to be an niche location. What city?

I was collecting rent around 5:30 one evening from a group of 11 pipefitters when they asked me if I wanted to stick around and see the show. I asked What's the show. They said Every day around 6:30 this lady comes by and lets us fuch her with a cucumber. I said No way, do you have any pictures. One guy pulls out his phone and shows a video of her naked on a bed in that house surrounded by guys getting fuched by a cucumber wrapped in a condom. I collected the rent and told the guys to have a good evening as I was leaving. I ran into that lady in 2 other houses in the next 12 months.

Coffeyville Kansas. There is a refinery here. 90% of the people I rent to are traveling welders, pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians or inspectors. 90% of them come from Texas or Louisiana. 90% of them make about $3000 a week.

I had a 3br 2ba house I rented out for about 12 years and it was hit and miss. Profit was definitely there overall though. If you get good renters it makes up for bad ones if you're right with your investment/rent ratio. I was making over $600/month profit, but the Memphis market is kind of shyt and I wanted out for a better market. I sold last spring for a HUGE profit and bought a condo across the street from the beach in Gulf Shores, AL. So far, it has underperformed, but I made some improvements for this season and we're optimistic.

I pay half the amount in rent what I would if I owned the same place. I have no problems with much lower overhead and zero stress.

We just got warm weather and had some ants show up. Exterminator was here a day later.

should bring in about $535 profit a month based off those numbers.

got the same goals here - get some rental properties and someday retire off of them.

what makes you think you can rent it out for nearly 900 more? you also got to take into fact property tax and home insurance. cuz than in reality profit is only a few hundred a month. youre gonna let total strangers into your home and risk it for a few hundred dollars profit a month?

if you get amazing tenants its great but 1 bad one can ruin months/years of profit and can even bankrupt you if it goes real bad.

also 3-5 properties is not enough to retire on. it only would be a good side income. my mom owns 2 quadplexes at 1-1.3k each suite. and she aint balling outta control. in fact she got ripped off heavily over covid (no evicitions allowed - ppl wouldnt pay). the courts are still backed up 8-10months.

also renting to family isnt always great either cuz they will play the family card on why rents late or whatever bull**** they put you through. try to take advantage.

its not an easy gig just sittting back collecting money until you have dozens of properties and can pay other people to handle all the drama.

for a bit more money you could rent out levels (main/basement) or even a step further and do individual rooms. but again more people = more drama.

I paid cash for my first rental...then paid cash for my primary home. Kept saving all profits and paid cash for. 3rd home...so on and so forth. this made it extremely easy because i had no mortgages to worry about. my living expenses for a month including food were under $1,000/month which allowed me to save for further properties

Nice figured there had to be a story behind it.

Lol, no way he will respond to this

But such is life for larping aspie timmies who delete 20k posts yet can still accumulate over 17k posts in that time

If 1 bad tenant makes you go bankrupt you had no business being in the landlord game periodt. You need to think about this OP. Make sure you have the ability to pay the mortgage for 6m-1y if you get no income. I think 3-5 properties could actually be enough to retire on if the properties are paid off, and they're not low income places. But, no, renting to friends/family is a no go.

Covid was a completely unprecedented scenario and I feel for any landlord who lost in that. I was lucky in that my tenants at the time were here for grad school (family of 5) and had their money in loans and grants already approved through covid and never missed a payment. They were my last and best tenants by far and I profited $18k off the house in the 2.5 years they were there. And when I sold it they were in it and the buyer bought w/o any contingencies or inspection. It was absolutely perfect for me.

My family owns about 30 properties, and my father has managed them all with a small group of people for my entire life. He's in his early 70s and still comes into the office every day because he has no friends and nothing else to do. It has been his entire life for so long.

My recommendation is to hire a company to manage for you(at least after a couple years). If the numbers don't work and the only way you can turn a profit is by self managing, it's probably not the right business for you.

For 1 property? 1 is very easy as long as it's ltr. STR, like my beach condo, is a different story.