I dunno about in the real world, but I live in a college town and it's wicked good money to buy property and rent it out. Think about town houses/condos/small houses that can be rented out by four roomates or something. Then make the total rent the same amout/more than as your monthly morgage. If you live in an area with alot of young people/ college students and the place is decently nice (i.e. not falling apart or in a bad neighborhood) it will deffinatly rent out easily.

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Originally posted by enferno where i live is in a similar situation, more people are trying to move in than out. however, i have enough cash to make it so i wont have mortgage payments

Good, you can afford to be fussy with your tennants then. Young people are ok provided they work and married couples are even better, share housing with students and stuff, keep well away from. Basically a lot of them are first time out of home, have no respect for anything and terrible with money.
They also never mow the damn lawns
Pick good ones who'll stick around for awhile, don't stuff them around when things need to be fixed and they generally won't mess you around either.

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Originally posted by Lilith I rent out 4 places, it's a handfull and I do my own books which cuts down on the real estate agent overheads, not sure if thats a good idea if you have a full time job or business already. Biggest risk really is the flat spots in between tennants where you have to soak up the cost of morgage payments for a few weeks sometimes. Right now theres a real shortage of rental places where I live so every time someone moves out I can bump the rent up and someone will take it anyway regardless... its good being evil Aside from rates, insurance and taxes its generally the safest way I've found to make 'some' money and accumulate assets which will see you far, along with a bank manager who is understanding. In short, do it.

what she said. i own 1 property, and its a pain in the arse, but as long as the rent is coming in and house prices are rising (which they always are) youre set. one of my best friends is now a millionaire from doing just this (admittedly the boom helped a lot) but the basic premise is: people always need somewhere to live, and house prices ALWAYS go up in value, if youre looking at the longterm. as soon as i get enough equity ill be borrowing again and buying another place.

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Originally posted by enferno where i live is in a similar situation, more people are trying to move in than out. however, i have enough cash to make it so i wont have mortgage payments

i own 1 property in manhattan - brownstone with 14 apartments

If you can pay off the mortgage outright, then you're only monthly overhead is the real estate tax and insurance. Utililities should be provided by the renter so you might have to get the rental up and running for the basics.

You're safe zone will be to estimate the mortgage return over how many months at the given market rate per square foot. Well maybe not so much in other areas just in NYC, space is a luxury so we go by sq foot and then apt attributes.

Generally renting is safe but like lilth said, if you have a day job/career and you are doing this as a side you might want to invest in a real estate agent, lawyer, and a carpenter. Those I think are the essentials to owning property. Be prepared to be called upon when renters have needs that exceed their ability to fix, ie: heat is not working which can be a building problem but that's where you're carpenter/super of the building comes into play.

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