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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3782 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 27, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Has anyone here ever purchased a rental property? I'm considering purchasing a single-family home and I'm curious how someone selects a specific property and a specific neighborhood/location.

Selecting the property itself seems fairly straightforward: work with a realtor to find a house within your budget and make sure it doesn't have any major issues. I know what I'm looking for: a house that is move-in ready and doesn't need a whole lot of fixing up. Obviously, there will be upkeep costs and I'm realistic about that. What I really don't want is to purchase a 200k house and find out I need to replace the entire foundation for another 50 grand. This seems like something a realtor can help me with especially if the house has publicly available inspections.

I already have a general idea of the location where I want to buy. I have family who live close by and they would be able to help me manage the property. But even within a 5-10 mile area, I'm thinking there must be criteria for selecting a better neighborhood than others. Obviously cost comes into play here as well, but without spending a lot of time on the ground, I'm unsure how I would select a location where the house *at least *retains its value.

Any input from those with rental properties, especially those who own in a different state, would be appreciated.

I'd think hard about buying multi-family property rather than single family. Or at least be eying the time when you sell your single family properties to buy a small complex. Unless you're in an area where there are permanent reasons why multifamily can't be built (zoning, historic buildings etc). It's more costly to get started, but you can probably invest in public real estate firms while acquiring the capital.

In the US, I think the money in single family housing is in buying a place that needs a little TLC and doing some of the work yourself.

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