Where did you get the “makes” numbers from?

put this into perspective:

What do you think will make more money? Create myspace websites or providing shelter for thousands of families if your RE business becomes successful? Your myspace website will not last for ever.

I’m pretty sure he means rent them out. The “make” is what he would get if someone rented it.

I for one though would not want to be a landlord for anyone. Goodluck collecting when if they do not pay you, people can get away with just about anything nowadays and lawyers just get paid to do a run around with you.

Did any of you know that alot of people do not pay their electric bill in the winter but the power companies can’t shut their power off because it’s cold out and they need to heat their homes.

“I’m pretty sure he means rent them out. The “make” is what he would get if someone rented it.”

Right, but where does he get that figure? I mean, of course you should put $20k down to make $2k a month, but I would be highly skeptical that that situation actually exists.

I’ve heard that it’s next to impossible to find a positive cash flow situation in residential real estate these days.

“What do you think will make more money? Create myspace websites or providing shelter for thousands of families if your RE business becomes successful? Your myspace website will not last for ever.”

My advice would be to stick to what you know. Plus, we’re going to see a wave of foreclosures in the years to come as the huge number of adjustable and exotic mortgages reset, which should send the market for residential real estate even lower.

“of course you should put $20k down to make $2k a month”

make that “$2k a month in profit”

We got a decent discussion going

OK, the figures I posted are estimated. Of course there will be some bad renters every month.

The “makes” is from all the rooms being rented out, so if I had 5 rooms and they all made 200$ a month, then I would “make” 1000$ a month net..

Quote..
Right, but where does he get that figure? I mean, of course you should put $20k down to make $2k a month, but I would be highly skeptical that that situation actually exists.

I am too! Thats why Im blogging about it. Im seeing what everyone else thinks about this. I know that the 2k a month would be easy money, I would have tons of paperwork, marketing, lots of cleaning, and a ton of other stuff.

But, if I make a small profit every month, then i could either sell for 1031 exchange or keep it and pay it off in 30 years and make all the money from renters every month..

My dad is a landlord, it’s a graet position. But, the housing market brings much more stress than running websites

You need to account for all the rest of your expenses like who is going to cut the grass, the electric bill, taxes, insurance, etc.

I may be mistaking, but your last post has a hyperlink titled “One more dick.” This may be a long shot, but I don’t think you meant to say that did you??

The cost of homes for sale is now on the decline. Buyers go out and negotiate.

Everyone here makes good points. I would say, however, that Real Estate is still the best investment anyone could make, some of the reasons being: (1) land/property is unique and also scarce, (2) as cities and towns and populations grow so too does the demand for property which in turn drives up the land value (appreciated land values) - which also means that land closer to the center of cities and towns are more valuable (collect higher rents and better resale value), so if you’re in it for the long-run then you’re fine, (3) owning and renting even at a breaking even point (making no profit) will still yield longterm returns which can still amount to a return on investment which is better than what you’ll get by keeping your money in the bank - this also depends on whether the location is right (gotta do your homework on the location), (4) rich people everywhere (ex. Warren Buffet, Oprah, Rupert Murdoch, etc.) have all purchased investment properties, even property without tenants on it, either they know something or their just blowing money - my guess is that they know something. I could go on forever about it but I’ll just say that its a good idea to invest in Real Estate. I also see a lot of comments stating that there’s a lot of headache when dealing with renters, and what not. Well to answer that, you never have to deal with renters/tenants because there are professional property managers (usually a firm), who will do all the paperwork and dealings with the tenants for a small portion of your profits. I know that sounds bad but if you think about the money being made while the property appreciates in value along the headache saved by not dealing with idiot tenants then it makes sense to hire a property management firm (google it). At the same time you will still make a good chunk of money on the monthly rents received and still be able to concentrate on making bucks online. Making your money work for you is the goal.

Like Will said, if you go through with this, just hire a propety management firm. The places you listed are for very low level income residents. I’m not trying to stereotype, but there might be a lot of BS going around. It would be best if you just had someone else deal with it all.

shit man… you don’t want to be a landlord… I hated it… three houses in Michigan, too many problems and too many late night calls to fix things. Get a good management company if your residentail portfolio is big enough. If not you may take a hit on your profits.

If you really want to turn a profit, look into commercial or multi-family units with a management company… Then you collect a check minus the tenant bs…

“(1) land/property is unique and also scarce”

If every single person on earth were divided into 4 person groups and each group was given 1500 sq feet of living space you could fit every human being on this planet into the state of Texas.

I don’t dispute that real estate can be a good investment. I’m just skeptical that it’s a good investment now.

It’s actually a good idea to manage your own income producing property for a minimum of a year if you really want to be serious about real estate investing in the long term. You’re a young guy Jon, you can handle it. It’ll give you GREAT experience and allows you to better choose a property manager once you’re ready to delegate the task.

Although I usually recommend to very busy middle-aged investors to hire a manager for their first property, in your case, definitely manage it. The potential for learning is invaluable.

Real estate is a real good idea, you can read off this guys blog I have run accross: http://www.livelearninvest.com/2006/04/12/condos-2-3-are-sold/

He has turned around a couple of properties for a large amount of money and he has lost money as well. He writes about why he lost money too so he tells you what to do and not to do.

I see that US properties are realy cheap… Are there realy people who do have to rent and cannot buy?

Too bad you couldn’t cash in all of them!