Exactly, it blows. And stresses the hell out of me, so I’m totally good with lower $ but solid tenants. Nice seeing you here btw, bud. Things well? :)

Nice!! I can’t believe it’s paid off! Means so much more profit in the future now – way to go!! I’m sure it’s a nice relief too – even though I reckon you have another mortgage still on the new one? You little empire ruler, you :)

“I’m really just over it and trying to plan the best escape at this point.” – Haha… I hear ya, brotha. I’m sure you’re in a much better financial situation than you were back then too – so hopefully your escape dream comes true soon :)

Sounds like a plan to me – I probably would have done the same thing to be honest with you :) I’m super conservative with major money decisions – unlike 6 yeas ago when I bought a house on a whim (*shakes head*).

I like the sound of that! Imagine how many more things you can flip online too :)

I hate the new tenant or roommate search. I think for me it’s dealing with the unknown whenever a new person moves in. I agree, property in general is a long term play. I’m barely breaking even. I’m just hoping for the best in the years to come.

The worst part of finding a new tenant is the chance that you won’t find a suitable tenant or roommate in which case unoccupancy is expensive.

It’s always the dead of winter in Chicago……Agreed it is a concern, the lease will be ending the last day in October. We took a couple things into consideration, while October isnt the ideal month, this is a very good renter and the possibility is still there to sign another extension. The property shows well and is in a very good neighborhood. The decision ultimately came down to do you want guaranteed* money for 7 months with someone you know and have a history with or risk the vacancy and strain of going through the application process and potential good/bad tenant. We took the 7 month option and guaranteed money*

Side note we also live in the multi unit building and have a built in cushion of making decisions not based entirely on money.

I joke that she’s my 12 year plan. :) I can do the stay at home dad thing! House would be clean, dinner would be made, I’d get to the gym more… One can dream, right?

Writing that out, it seems like we are pushovers, but here’s the breakdown for 2013:

Total expenses (repairs, maintenance, etc.): $1150
Insurance: $1200
Property Taxes: $2400
Mortgage Interest for Jan-April: $300
Mortgage: $2000 if you don’t consider the payoff or $27,000 if you do
Total income (rent collected): $14,400
Total profit or loss for 2013: $7350 profit without payoff or -$17,650 if you do consider the payoff

We’re happy enough with this one, 1750 sq. ft. home that we are considering buying another one. Our own mortgage plus insurance, prop taxes, etc comes to around $2000 a month, so it’s not completely covered by the $1200, but it’s close since we get another $600 a month from roommates…

I think if I were renting out a house that I didn’t live in my feelings on the matter would be different, but right now my roommates/tenants drive me a little crazy and since I live with them. I think if I went back to when I bought my house and I just rented for a few years I would have realized that I don’t like roommates so much and would have bought a smaller place for myself.

The one thing that I’m starting to realize is that I need to sometimes think of my roommates as tenants and my house as a business. Raising rent is just part of life, costs of HOA fees, utilities, and life in general go up with inflation. So having rent keep up with it all makes sense. Being nice because you don’t want someone to leave or you feel bad works for some people but for me, I must be doing something right since most of my roommates are here for spans of about 3 years or so. I also think that after 7 years of being a landlord I’m really just over it and trying to plan the best escape at this point.

I also know that where I live is probably a lot different than housing in Virginia so what applies here might not there.