Real Estate Investing?

[Annette]

DH and I were thinking of doing this eventually. I know there was an old thread on WC but it was so long ago, I forgot the details.

How did you go about scouting a property that would generate rental income or where most people would rent rather than buy?

Is homeowners insurance more expensive on a rental than your own property?
Would the rental be on the same policy or separate?

How do you figure out how much rent to charge? Do you break even or make a profit each month?

Do you pay utilities or have the tenants pay those?

What about lawn care and other yardwork and maintenance?

How much downpayment?

Thanks!

[laura]

We are actually currently discussing doing this. Our situation is a little different b/c we are considering buying rental property out of state. Since we don't currently own, I can't answer the tax, etc questions, but I can address some of the others.

Scouting an area - We are considering buying in the area where I grew up, so fortunately I (with the help of my parents) already know the area pretty well. We are considering buying an apartment building, but we are also considering new construction duplexes. We are currently at the stage where we are trying to figure out rents on duplexes vs. the amount of people buying their own duplex in the same area.

Rent - One of the big reasons I would like to do this is to help out my dad, who is nearing retirement age with a list of health problems and very little retirement savings. He would be the "superintendent" of the units for us, and we would let him live in one for free or for very cheap. This aspect makes our situation a little different, and means that it's possible we won't make a bunch (if any) money at first. I would like to make ~$500/month to start, but I will settle for just breaking even if it helps my dad. Taking him out of the equation, we would expect/hope to clear $1K/month or so. For awhile anything we clear will go into a separate account to cover any repairs/issues with the rental property, which is why we would LIKE to clear something if possible. Figuring out how much rent to charge for the other units is highly dependent on the market you're buying in. We're trying to determine this by checking area newspapers for comparable units, as well as talking to real estate agents and other people renting units in the area (small community).

Utilities/lawn/etc - Tenants will pay all utilities. If we do the duplexes, we will consider some sort of "condo fee" type fee that will go to snow removal and lawn care. We will then hire that out. Actually, we will definitely do that, it's just still unclear whether we will make it an actual separate "fee" or just include it in the rent. If we do an apt building, we would probably just charge an extra $10-$25 or so per month to provide these services, depending on the size of the property.

Down payment - We are prepared to put down 20%, if need-be, but I would rather put down closer to 10% if we can. We haven't worked out the logistics of this yet, and it will depend on the size/cost/type of property.

[jennylou]

How did you go about scouting a property that would generate rental income or where most people would rent rather than buy?
Actually, if I can buy something that will make money in neighborhoods where people would rather buy to live than rent, I would. However, there are most certainly neighborhoods that are definitely high rental home areas. We know our county pretty well to know where those high rental places are.

Is homeowners insurance more expensive on a rental than your own property?
Would the rental be on the same policy or separate?
You can have so many attached to your same policy, depending upon what they are. For example, we have two duplexes and one SFH attached to our house. We also have a commercial policy that we ended up having to get after so many properties and because of the type of building one was classified as (light commercial/residential). We also have one property that is in need of rehabbing that we have not finished and is sitting empty. We pay WAY more insurance on that because it is empty. An important note on insurance is that only the structure type stuff will be covered, none of your tenants belongings would be covered.

How do you figure out how much rent to charge? Do you break even or make a profit each month?
Check the local classifieds before you EVER buy. You need to know what basic rents are going for in your area. Heck, I'd say to go as potential tenants and check out the units in your area. I won't lie to you, it's often tough when you are new to the business. Right now we have 11 units, last summer we had 3 rented, one of which was late every month on their rent. We didn't make a profit last year. If you don't have enough of a reserve or available credit to get you through if you are faced with a situation like this, it could be a bad situation.

Do you pay utilities or have the tenants pay those?
We pay water and trash at every place but one duplex. The reason we pay water and trash is because there is an ordinance in our city that says the water and trash bill always belong to the house. So, if I told the tenant to put it in their name and they didn't pay the bill and it was up to say $500 and they moved out? I'd be responsible. So, instead, we pay the bill. This also works to our advantage because we are more aware if there is a leak (the water will sky rocket). Gas and electric we always try to have the tenant pay the bill. We own a triplex that was originally only one gas meter. Gah, that first winter was horrible when we were getting gas bills nearly as high as what we were bringing in in rent. We've remedied the situation since and now the tenants are responsible for their own.

What about lawn care and other yardwork and maintenance?
I'd love for the tenants to do their own yardwork. Unfortunately, that only happens at one duplex and one SFH. The others we do the yardwork at.

How much downpayment?
We've bought several on a land contract (the owner holds the note and you pay him). Usually the down payment is more flexible on these. The first one we put about 8% down, the second, about 4% and the third 0%. The ones that we have bought using a bank, we have put 5% down.

Landlording can be a very rewarding business. Most people I know who break into the business have a tough time in the first few years. Some people get out as quick as they got in. You will be called during the most inopportune times. Holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, during times of extreme grief and you have to be able to juggle what needs to be done. Sometimes, people don't call with emergencies and you can push them off for a day. But sometimes they are emergencies and you have to rush out or call a repairman when it might cost way more than a normal Monday through Friday repair. Remember that it's a business....you have to treat it that way. I suggest to anyone thinking about it that they get a hold of their local landlords association and attend a meeting or two.

[Annette]

Laura - Thanks for your input. Good luck finding a place to rent out.

Jennylou - Thanks for the detailed response. Do both you and DH have full time jobs on top of landlording?

[thedoorchick]

I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this to chat with fellow landlords and landlords-to-be. Great minds!

Hi Jennylou! *waves*

Here's my take on your questions:

How did you go about scouting a property that would generate rental income or where most people would rent rather than buy?
We consider the areas a lot. There is a wide gap in the value of real estate in Dallas vs. Ft. Worth and everywhere in between. Our realtor is a great help, and her website is set up so that we can save searches and I get an email notification when a property goes on the market that matches the specifications we've set. As to finding areas where people would rent rather than buying, I don't know that we give that a lot of consideration. Actually I don't really care that much. If we get a good deal for the area and for the rents we could charge, I don't care if it's the only rental on the street or one of many.

Is homeowners insurance more expensive on a rental than your own property?
Would the rental be on the same policy or separate?
Generally it is more expensive to insure a non-owner-occupied property, but not dramatically so. However, this varies widely by area. Insurance in TX is out of control because of the black mold issue. For a long time many companies wouldn't even write the policies, for any amount of money. The hardest part of buying real estate in this state, IMO, is getting insurance. We currently have all our policies, on our home and the rentals (these, by the way, are usually referred to as "fire policies" or "fire and dwelling" policies), with the same company. Additionally, you can expect to pay a higher intersest rate on a loan for a NOO (non-owner-occupied) property.

How do you figure out how much rent to charge? Do you break even or make a profit each month?
You can charge as much or as little as the market will bear. We research the areas and generally stay within a similar range of rent per square foot, unless our property has unusual amenities that would justify a higher rent. When we are looking for a property to buy, we find out what it is currently renting for and also what other property owners in the area are getting. I have a habit of gathering phone numbers from "for rent" signs in the area and calling a few just to see how much rent they're asking (and by the way, asking isn't necessarily getting - so this needs to be used with caution. If someone is asking $900 per month but the property has sat vacant for six months, maybe it's not worth $900!). Everyone has their own formula for determing an acceptable cash flow. We try to get at least $100 per month per unit, but some of our units get more than that. But again, this varies by area. In CA, for instance, it's nearly impossible to cashflow. People out there buy for the appreciation.

Do you pay utilities or have the tenants pay those?
Currently, we do not pay any utilities. However, Jennylou had some good comments about when it's appropriate to do so. If you do not pay for utilities, make SURE they are turned on in the tenant's name BEFORE you hand over the keys.

What about lawn care and other yardwork and maintenance?
One of our tenants does the lawn care on his unit; but generally we do this. A lot of landlords will advise you to never let tenants do any maintenance like this. I generally agree with that, because you're subjecting yourself to liability by hiring a non-licensed, non-insured (presumably) worker, plus you don't really know whether they will do a good job. However, I've made an exception for this tenant. Haven't regretted it yet and they've been there over 4 years.

How much downpayment?
Our last two properties, we have financed at 95%. We made an offer on one just today that will be at 100%. Depends on your goals and your need for cash flow. If you want a higher cash flow per month, put more money down. If you want to leverage more heavily to grow the business quickly, then put down less. Your relationship with your mortgage broker is worth its weight in gold. Ours has been incredible at finding creative financing.

[jennylou]

Jennylou - Thanks for the detailed response. Do both you and DH have full time jobs on top of landlording?

We do. And it's tiring. I've been out on medical for the last six weeks and have to go back to work next Monday and am not looking forward to it. Even though I couldn't do tons of work on the rentals, I was able to field a lot of phone calls and errands. I was going to be quitting work later this year, but now it's probably best if I keep working for the 8-4:30 structure that my job provides.

Hi emily!

Have any of you thought about flipping a house? This is DHs latest plan, and truthfully, I think it'll be great for some short term cash to invest further into long term projects. BIL/SIL have been flipping houses recently (they are also landlords) and have had good success with it.

[villanelle75]

Subscribing, as we are considering doing this later in the year or next year. I'm terrified of the market right now in our area, so I'm not 100% on board. Flipping might be easier becasue the market can't really do all the much damage to prices in the month or two we'd own a house, and we are fairly handy so I think we could do much of the smaller stuff ourselves.

Does anyone own proerty that they contract out landlording on, either through a friend or family member or a property management service?

[thedoorchick]

Yay - our offer on the newest duplex was accepted just today! It's on the same street as one we already own, and we love that. Since we both have FT jobs, it's a big deal for the rentals to not be spread out all over the metropolitan area.

Re: flipping. We're (hopefully) about to do this. We have an offer on a foreclosure that we should hear back on any day now. I know it has multiple offers, and the seller's agent told ours "off the records" that our offer was "a very good one." So we'll see. I've budgeted the rehab work and we stand to make a pretty decent profit if all goes well.

But, first things first, we have to buy the property! If we don't get this one, we'll actively be pursuing another.

Have you seen that show Property Ladder? Some of those people are idiots! I can't imagine buying a property to flip if I didn't have a clue about real estate.

[thedoorchick]

Oh, about property management, I personally wouldn't do it (hiring someone else, that is). It works for some people, but to my way of thinking it eats up too much of the profit. I think it generally costs you about 10% of the monthly rent.

[jennylou]

property management - it works for some people. I tend to be in the camp that no one is going to take as good of care of your places than you are. You have your best interest in mind, kwim?

property ladder - I must have caught a marathon one night, almost made it through two episodes. I thought it was an interesting show idea, but really, the people did have no clue, which is probably what makes it entertaining. If it was people who knew what they were doing it would probably be less interesting. :p

Good luck on the new duplex and hopefully foreclosed on house, emily.

[villanelle75]

Ideally we'd not go through a property manager but since Dh's career means will be moving around a lot, the only way we'll be able to hold onto a place and get the appreciation out of it would be to keep it after we left the area, so we'd need someone to manage it. I could hopefully pay a friend to do it, which would be cheaper than a service and would give me more peace of mind that things were being [I]well[/] taken care of.

[Annette]

Thedoorchick - Congrats on getting the duplex! Thanks for the advice.

[thedoorchick]

Thanks! I just found out we got the SFH that we're going to flip, too!

ACK! We're going to be busy!

Wonder how many more exclamation points I could add to that post? :rolleyes:

[Asha]

we are seriously considering doing this in the next couple of years.

i have seen a lot of people here say that you shouldn't get into it unless you know a lot about real estate. i have read numerous books about investing and real esate. plus, we have already purchased our primary residence. i watch a lot of shows on home improvement/real estate. i constantly search the internet to check out the market in our area. what else would you advise to gain knowledge?

this is our immediate goal. we want to purchase a multi-family house to renovate, rent out, and eventually live in one of the units if it is in a desirable location.

the thing is that it will cost mucho dinero to buy one of these in the location we want. so, that's why we say a couple of years bc we need to save enough money or wait until our current house appreciates enough so we could just refinance this one. even ones that need gut rehabs cost a ton. though, i have noticed putting the absolute max in rehab costs would still show about a 200k profit after the renovations are complete. plus, having checked out the local rents we would be able to make a profit by renting out the units. do you think this sounds like a reasonable goal?

so what kinda loans do they normally offer? i was surprised when i talked to a commercial lender, and they would be able to more than finance the amount we needed with only 10% down. do they generally tend to loan you more money if they know it is for an investment property where you would be collecting rent money? do they require that you have a ton of extra assets/liquid money to cover emergency costs? (ie vacancies, home repairs, etc.)

also, i am a little concerned about renovating. i know how to do some cosmetic things but would need to hire a contractor for the major things. how do you go about getting a good contractor? i have noticed that a lot of people have tried to rip me off in the past. mind you, i don't allow them to rip me off, and i get what i want in the end, but i would rather not have to go through so many headaches of arguing with people. i am guessing they do this bc i am young looking woman and treat people nicely.

thanks for helping out. i am happy that this thread is here.

[thedoorchick]

rebjc, it sounds like you have done more research than the average person who tries to get into the business. One of the best things you can do is join a local landlords' association - they usually have great speakers on relevant topics and it's a great opportunity to network with other property owners in the area. You can get great referrals that way (i.e. for a contractor if you need it).

If you want to buy a multi-family and live in one unit, that is a great way to get into it. I started with one duplex that I lived in one side of and rented the other. It's typically easier to get loans on owner-occupied properties and you can get in for less money down (usually) because lenders know that people are less likely to walk away from their homes than an investment property.

The plus of that is, it's easy and convenient to check on your properties. The downside is, all your tenants know where you live and you're convenient to them too! Don't be surprised if the doorbell rings at 7:00 on a Saturday morning.

Usually you can get a residential lender unless it's more than 4 units, in which you'll need a commercial loan. We have not bought more than 2 units yet, and our mortgage broker only does residential and he'll have to refer us to someone else if we buy larger than a 4 plex.

I think your goal is very reasonable; you're giving yourself time to save up money and plan appropriately. Be sure you're conservative in your repair estimates; on the SFH we just bought to rehab, I made a long list of what was needed and created a detailed budget for everything I could think of, even the small things because those are the things that add up and blow your budget.

[Asha]

thedoorchick - thanks for the suggestions. you are totally right about the little things adding up. we thought our current house really didn't need much work bc it was in move in condition. there were just little things we wanted to change. well, i just figured out a budget for those "little things" and it is going to be a few thousand dollars to fix everything.

[jennylou]

Reb - Find the local landlord's association in your area. I know ours you can attend two free meetings before they make you join. Ours is $150 per year, but they have been able to leverage us discounts and deals with vendors. We make our money back for the year the first time we paint an apartment, we get that much of a savings. The best part about joining is that you can meet some local landlords. Talking to a variety of local landlords is a good way to network. You'll learn local laws (of course, research these yourself or consult an attorney, because people aren't always right ;) ), you can ask them which banks are the best to finance with (for us, it's a local bank), how they find tenants, which areas are easier to rent, etc, etc. Good luck! It sounds like you are heading in the right direction. :)

[Asha]

thanks jennylous!!!

so you ladies have said i should join a landlord association. do i have to be a current landlord to join?? also, i am a little intimidated by that. i guess i just have to get over it bc you can't have a timid attitude in the real estate business. it's just that in nyc so many people have tons and tons of money, and i feel like they look down on people who aren't as fortunate in the money dept. i guess i don't have to divulge that we are just starting to save in order to invest. i just have to go in with a confident attitude. would i do a search on the net to find an association??

[Mindy3094]

I’m glad to see there are other landlords here. I consider us newbies in this area. We currently have 2 rentals, and we have “flipped” a duplex.

We bought our first rental with a home equity loan on our own residential property. We also rehabbed it using this line of credit. It took us about 6 months to do the complete rehab. When we were done, we put it on the market to “flip” and we got nothing. There was hardly any interest in buying it but we seemed to get much interest in renting it. We decided to straight rent it (meaning it’s not subsidized and the tenant pays for all of his/her rent). Six months later, our tenant bailed on us. We had to do a few minor repairs from her which were not a big deal. We had been talking to other landlords and they all suggested doing subsidized housing. This is where the people qualify for assistance with their rent from our county. This requires inspections which can be a pain but since they pay the majority of the rent, you are guaranteed your money. They also do annual inspections to keep up with the property. If the tenant has not been taking care of the property or if they do not pay their portion of the rent, they stand to lose their housing assistance.

We put the first rental back up on the market and got a subsidized tenant right away. The county came out and did their inspections. We had to fix/change a few things (they have specific rules), but it was nothing major. So far, she has been in there for a year and she is a wonderful tenant. She pays 15% of her monthly rent. The county automatically puts the rest of the rent in our bank account. In the meantime, we had sold our residence which paid off the equity line on the rental so we are cash flowing the rent less taxes, insurance, and the water bill which we pay.

Our second rental we bought was a duplex. We paid for this with a conventional loan and rehabbed it with a line of credit. We had it up for rent when a man made us an offer to buy it for double what we had paid for it. We decided to take the profit and sold it. We took the proceeds from that and bought another rental.

We learned a lot from this one as it needed so much work. It took us about 8 months to get this one done as it needed a new roof and got completely re-sided. We decided to rent it subsidized and got a renter quickly. She has been in for a few months and we have had no problems with her. She pays 28% of her monthly rent. We opened an equity line of credit on this house which is what we used to rehab it with. Currently, we are using the rent from our first rental and this rental to pay the line of credit off.

We are currently on the search for another rental. I have 13 properties sitting on my desk right now waiting to be seen. We plan to buy it with a line of credit on the 3rd property that we bought. We’ll then rehab it using that line and when we are done, probably roll that into a conventional loan to free up the line of credit.

How did you go about scouting a property that would generate rental income or where most people would rent rather than buy?
We have a realtor that we work with. She has an amazing talent for finding the rehab properties. She basically emails me the listings, I go through them and send her a list of the ones we want to see. She then gives us the lock box codes and we check them out. After a while, you will learn about the areas around you and what are rental areas and/or buying areas. We have learned over time where the “good” areas are and where we can get the most rent. Our big rule though is that we will not buy a property that is in an area where I will feel unsafe going by myself.

Is homeowners insurance more expensive on a rental than your own property?
Would the rental be on the same policy or separate?
Yes, it is more expensive here. We have separate policies on each of our rentals however our agent puts the liability portion of that on our own home’s policy. I don’t know how this will change as we acquire more and more property, but that is how it is set up for now. We have all of our insurance through the same company which helps immensely. The last property we bought, they refused to write a policy on because it was empty. We had to pretty much threaten them that we would pull all of our policies if they didn’t cover it. They finally agreed to cover it for fire only but wanted to see a tenant in it within 6 months.

How do you figure out how much rent to charge? Do you break even or make a profit each month?
Well, of course the more profit you can make each month, the better you are doing. We have a pretty good idea of what you can get for different areas around here but a good idea is to check the newspaper and see what landlords are asking for property in a specific area. That may be a good place to start.

Do you pay utilities or have the tenants pay those?
Just like Jennylou, we pay water/trash/sewer because the water bill goes with the property. The tenants pay gas and electric.

What about lawn care and other yardwork and maintenance?
Our tenants are responsible for lawn maintenance and snow removal. Any other maintenance on the property (ie—broken stove, etc) is our responsibility. These are SFH though and if we acquired a duplex or something with more units, we would take care of the lawn.

How much downpayment?
See my story above. We have been VERY fortunate to now have two investment properties which are paid for with the exception of the home equity line that we used to rehab the 3rd property.

Property Management
I personally wouldn’t hire anyone either. We tend to think that our presence helps tenants want to take care of the property because we are there and seeing it. We also pick up our rent, so that in case they don’t have it, they have to face you with their excuse. Plus, you get that personal interaction with your tenants which I believe is good. You are not some faceless person they write their money orders to.

Alright, I think I’m done writing a book here.

[thedoorchick]

Subsidized housing (aka Section 8) really does seem to be a love/hate thing. People tend to have strong opinions one way or the other on it.

It does vary WIDELY by locality as the local administration of the program makes the difference in whether it is managed efficiently and well or it is a total disaster.

I personally would not do it but that is largely because I know some LL's here who do not get their government money in a timely manner, which to many is a main advantage of participating in the program. Again, local issues.

[lelee17]

Thanks ladies for starting this thread. This is something DH and I are considering. Actually, we'll be renting out our current home in the next few months so I'm sure I'll refer to this thread quite often for advice.

*subbing for now* :)

[Franni]

Subscribing....

I am an owner and a part owner. We own a 4 family home. We own a second property as a partnership with friends. It's been a wild ride for us. We bought our first at the beginning of the climb, rehabbed and rented out 3 apartments and live in one ourselves.

After a year or so, we bought another 6 family house with partners. That's been a wild experience to say the least. Although the house is in the same city, it's in an up-and-coming (read: sh*tty) part of town. We have had all sorts of problems with the house, worst of all is half the tenants not paying rent at all or on time. We are finishing an eviction proceeding now, which albeit costly, was cheaper and saner in the long run.

DH and I have had to learn really quickly how to become handy people. We can do most of the everything except heavy plumbing.

Opinions??
My next goal is to do a major flip. I was thinking of doing this next year. I have heard talks that the market will crest and fall into an abyss. If this is so, it'll be good to buy, but horrible for a flip. Anyone have any opinions on this. Should I then buy and rent out again?

BTW - anyone doing this in the NY/NJ area? That's where I am located and want to get some insight.

Forgot to addsubsidized housing Two of our tenants in our other property are Section 8 or Welfare housing tenants. They are the ones who are always late with their rent. One finally moved out but not before accumulating months of back rent. We have given final notice to the second Sec 8 tenant, because they too are dead beats. NJ state law favors tenants over landlords and that's partly the reason why this has gone on for so long. We also tried to be good landlords and tried to work up all sorts of payments plans, etc to no avail. I think if you are planning to venture into this type of housing, know that the clientele that you are getting have money troubles to begin with already and have a greater likelihood of becoming deadbeats.

Also you can't threaten to report this to the credit bureau because most of them have such horrible credit to begin with.

[erin16nj]

Subscribing....

DH and I have been landlords for five years now. It's been crazy. I feel like I learned alot but still have soo much to learn.

1st venture - bought the duplex we were renting and became instant landlords to our neighbors. Best decision we ever made. Their rent paid our mortgage. Stayed here four years! We still own this and have recently listed it for sale, we moved out last year and moved an hour away.

2nd - Bought three cottages on one property. Day of closing found out one tenant had been evicted (had wrecked the cottage) and had to evict another the next week because of fines and trouble with police. We took the opp to completely rehab them and it was a ton of work Ended up flipping them after one year for a very nice profit.

3rd & 4th - 6 & 8 unit apartment buildings in PA. Friend does the property management. Not soo great just listed one today...Main problem is we are too far and too many things we can do ourselves we pay others because of the distance, also not soo great areas of town and high turnover in tenants.

We are moving away from landlording right now because we both don't have the time, we both work and have a young son. This year was up and down, I feel our major problem is we moved away from our duplex and my DH did not keep an eye on what was going on in PA, when we ran the numbers he was shocked.

Today we got in day 1 of preconstruction condos. Has anyone done this yet??? When it closes next year we will flip it. It's a risk but we feel comfortable that with almost no effort we can make a nice profit. My brother has done it twice. This will be our new direction for now.

Franni - We are also in NJ. We have a Section 8 tenant who is the best tenant we have had. The check comes directly from the state so it's easy. Her portion is minimal and it's always on time, meanwhile we had to evict two young guys who seemed to have it all together just last month. :rolleyes:
We have alot in common. It was our first eviction and I would love to show pictures of how they left the house on eviction day.

Erin

[firebird]

Door chick,

How did you find out about the foreclosure? My DH wants to get into buying these and flipping them. He is a contractor so it would be ideal project for him because he can do all the work himself. He signed up yesterday for an online subscription service in our state. Did you go to the bank directly? We are in MA and he is actually going to an auction today to see how it works.

We also own a 2 family that we live in and own another 3 family. So all together we have 4 sets of tenants. We have had some problems with the 3 family. We've had to persuade people to move. We were lucky it didn't come to eviction but we did lose a few months rent.

[thedoorchick]

Our realtor gave us the info. She sends us an email every couple of weeks of foreclosures in a certain area and price per square foot.

[firebird]

So have they been already bought back by the bank? Have they already been foreclosed on rather than just listed as going into foreclosure?

The online service here in MA lists all the the houses that foreclosure proceedings have been started against. Then if the owner still hasn't paid they have an auction but the auction won't be scheduled for several months. In the meantime I have heard that sometimes people will contact the owner before the auction. I guess I'm not sure how a real estate agent is involved. It probably works differently thru out the country.

Sorry to ask so many questions.

[miel]

So far our 'flipping' plan is not working out...but of course the condo has only been on the market 3 weeks.

Wish us luck! It's really scary.

[bethnjim]

Would anyone know how to list your house as a Section 8 house?? We were going to sell our current home but are now thinking of renting it out.

Is there a website we could use to figure out Section 8??

If we don't go the Section 8 route, we are going to try and rent it out, hoping to bring in enough rent to give us $500.00 extra per month to put into savings for repairs. My father in law basically told us that putting away any less makes renting VERY difficult. We are in a fairly nice area that is within walking distance to a train that takes you straight down to Center City, within walking distance to the largest park in this city, etc. I think it would make a great rental!

With that said, I am nervous because we do need to pull equity out of this house to settle on another house at the end of August, PLUS, that house needs a TON of work. It is another great deal though and in the suburbs with, once again, walking distance to train. However, we plan to stay in this one for a while because the school district is awesome!