The Successful Landlord Blog

Property to buy….then rent out.

So, readers of this site have been asking, for a while now, what types of properties to buy in order to rent them out. Well, I’ve finally gotten around to building a page that shows a bunch of properties under $100,000 in different parts of the country. These properties vary widely. You’ll see everything from condos in Florida to abandoned apartment buildings in Philly going for a song. Somewhere in there you should be able to find a property in your area to rent out.

The list will change periodically as properties are bought and sold but you can get a decent idea of what properties are selling for in different parts of the country. Take a look at the new Rental Property For Sale page and  let me know what you think. Cheers!

Setting a Lease Option Future Sales Price

There are three schools of thought when setting a lease option price:

1.    Use current value

2.    Use estimated value at time when contract is to be exercised

3.    Set the price at future market value

To be quick and easy, you can use option 1 by finding today’s value for a similar property, or by using the positive cash flow with some notion of a current cap rate. Read the rest of this entry »

Down markets create amazing opportunities for the investor.  However, a landlord who is sitting on one or several properties might be real estate rich, but cash poor, and unable to tap into those current market buying opportunities.  In those situations landlords would traditionally sell one of their properties and apply that money to a new purchase, preferably one that offers a higher return than the property previously sold. The only problem is, as mentioned before, the down market might be forcing you to sell your property for less money than you originally expected, or worse- for a loss, and neither of those situations is ideal.  What’s an investor to do? Read the rest of this entry »

Up to the point I purchased my first property, the few experiences I had with real estate agents led me to believe the group was only slightly more trustworthy than snake oil salesmen; a fact which led me to learn everything I could about buying, selling, and managing property on my own.  I read everything I could get my hands on concerning real estate including law books, state codes and statutes, blogs, and websites. I learned about analyzing income and expenses, cap rates, appraisals; it was all so interesting.  I even went so far as to get my own agent’s license; and that’s when I realized I didn’t know as much about real estate as I thought. Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a guest post by Clint Darby of Rentals Done Right.  Check out his blog when you get a chance.

Allow me make a confession to you – I am a conservative Real Estate Investor.

I don’t make apology for it, it is what it is. That doesn’t mean I do not take risk. On the contrary, if you asked my wife, I believe she’d tell you she has to reel me in from time to time. Though I do not mind risk, my conservative nature forces me to mitigate risk as much as possible. I do that by trying to be prepared.

Let’s face it – regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, the economy smells worse than a gut truck. America is hemorrhaging jobs, incomes are down, foreclosures are up and real estate has tanked. Read the rest of this entry »