We've gotten a few emails of people asking if we'd rent and how much.
I just got an email from a guy wanting to rent it with the furniture. I am trying to sell the furniture with the house, but he wants to just pay extra for the time he rents. The reason I'm selling is to go towards getting new stuff for our next place, and if someone just paid a tiny bit monthly to rent it, I wouldn't get that nice chunk of change to buy new furnishings with. The plus side is, if we went to try and sell it again, we'd have furniture to stage it.
Just very frustrating. I don't want to flat-out say no to renting (we have thought about it) but I'm not ready to go that option yet, we haven't been on the market that long!
Just not sure how to approach this situation. Should I be blunt and just say how it is, or just say we're not renting, but if we change our minds... etc.
It slightly worries me that people are asking about renting, does that mean they just want it for a short time and move on, leaving us to constantly find new people. Because really, a mortgage payment would be considerable lower than what they rent for (others in the neighborhood are rented out).
Any insight appreciated!
Posts: 118 | Location: Midwest | Registered: Mar 31, 2008
I don't know about the people who are contacting you, but I would imagine that there will be significant growth in rental requests because people who have foreclosures are not going to be financed for another home for the moment. A foreclosure stays on your credit report for 10 years and given the glut of foreclosures this year, today's foreclosure is tomorrow's renter. The fact that a mortgage payment could be less than a rental payment is a moot point with these people.
FHA is. Worth checking it out, plus many counties and city now have First Time homebuyer subsistance. A woman here, a sub teacher, who made 19,000 received $40,000 toward her purchase ...from a local county program. Check it out - most lender in your area will know who has the money,city or county and if any at the present time.
I own rentals, but it is a business to me. It is work and takes some knowledge to do it easily. I buy properties that make good rentals for one, accidental landlords can be a problem. People rent for many reasons, some are financial, some are lifestyle. I've found furnished rentals fit different types of people. Some are transient, have no roots ,money, yes they can be a problem. Some are young adults, just out of school, jumping into to their first job. Some people are transferred to an area for a limited time, leaving their first home in place, renting a second furnished house, many companies pay for this. I had a renter from Australia whose employer allowed $10k per month for temporary housing. I wish someone would pay for me to have a second home somewhere. Bottom line, do you want to be a landlord, it is a business, if you are not comfortable being in business as a landlord, don't do it. Remember it is a business. Also, I'd recommend not offering furnished rentals, unless you are in a vacation rental area, that can command high fees, then have it managed..
Posts: 1004 | Location: Southern CA (Southbay) | Registered: Nov 08, 2005
Originally posted by real estate lady: Mortgage interest is deductible, taxes are deductible. selling expenses are deductible. A home office is deductible...
and if you attack my credibility again you will be deductible, as I reported your offense to the moderators.
Just because they are deductible doesn't mean they go away. So if I pay 28% in federal taxes (and I'm in the top 3% in wages in the US so this is generous assumption), that means 72% is left as wasted money. Again it is easy to do the math and there is plenty wasted money in owning a home.
So you are "throwing money away" owning a home just as you are renting. It is a question of which is throwing less money away. And right now in many areas (especially the bubble states) owning a home is throwing away more money than renting. And I didn't even scratch the surface of the declining prices factor.
I attack your credibility because what you say is patently wrong.
Originally posted by Meischa: I own rentals, but it is a business to me. It is work and takes some knowledge to do it easily.
I know you're still looking in the beach areas are you finding any cash flow positive properties or is it still negative cash flow but expectation for capital appreciation makes up for it?
You spend countless hour terrorifying the sellers here with your "chicken little" news reports and data, much from unreliable sources.
You dwell on the negative, instead of trying to help sellers come up with positive ideas to help sell their homes.
If you choose to be "a renter" which you say you chose to do.. that's fine.
I just see renting as a temporary fix because "of life". If I had my way and I was a zillionaire I would give everyone "The American Dream". Pride of ownership is priceless.
So if posters ask for opinions.. that is really okay...also.
But don't try to get folks to see things through negative demeanor...people are here for support, not to be hammered by "gloom and doom" attitude of the market.
What ever happened in your life to be this way..I am sorry. And if you had a bad experience with a Realtor..don't take it out on the rest of us Realtors. I have seen you badger Realtor after Realtor, many leaving the boards. That's wrong.
If you can get back on track, get nice and apologize, I don't mind talking to you... but if you continue to attack anyone, including myself, you will be reported.
Originally posted by real estate lady: You spend countless hour terrorifying the sellers here with your "chicken little" news reports and data, much from unreliable sources.
You dwell on the negative, instead of trying to help sellers come up with positive ideas to help sell their homes.
If you choose to be "a renter" which you say you chose to do.. that's fine. So if posters ask for opinions.. that is really okay...also.
But don't try to get folks to see things through negative demeanor...people are here for support, not to be hammered by "gloom and doom" attitude of the market.
What ever happened in your life to be this way..I am sorry. And if you had a bad experience with a Realtor..don't take it out on the rest of us Realtors. I have seen you badger Realtor after Realtor, many leaving the boards. That's wrong.
If you can get back on track, get nice and apologize, I don't mind talking to you... but if you continue to attack anyone, including myself, you will be reported.
Reported for what? What you said was flat out wrong. I showed it to be wrong. If you are a real estate expert instead of a cheerleader you should be able to refute the points I am making.
Simple fact is what you said is wrong and just designed to degrade renting in favor of buying so you can make a commission.
So we can get back on topic and you can show everyone here your expertise by letting us know how mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, expense of sale/purchase and maintenance aren't wasted money.
If you still think a tax deduction is the answer, tell you what I will give you 50% off every dollar you give me.. That is better than any tax deduction you will find. If that doesn't make any sense to you then how is getting 28 cents back on every dollar you spend any different?
but stop insulting people just because you don't agree with them
But it's okay for you to report those who don't agree with you to the moderators? The "reporting" business accomplishes nothing if you ask me.
I realize that no one did (ask me), btw.
My guess is that caroeib has a wicked sharp pencil and a calculator with the numbers worn off. Her delivery might be... um, a little direct, but insulting? I dunno about that. She didn't call you stupid, she thought the point you made was stupid. It happens.
Um, well, back to the topic at hand....I find the same thing. We recently put our house up for rent as well as for sale. When we ran the numbers - even over 3 years of paying INTO the mortgage - we will lose less money then if we sold in the market right now. Plus, I dont have the luxury of time on my side - I have to be outta here in June.
Renting your house isnt always a bad thing - and there IS some luck involved. But if you get good tenents and have a good property manager who knows what they are doing and knows how to find good and reliable tenents then you should be ok.
Best of luck to you though - I hope you are able to sell!
I sorta agree with caroeib. In this market if you want a turn key property now would not be the time to buy in my area.
But if you are willing to do some rehab or find a good buy for your area then it is a good time to buy. Then REL has a point. It is a good time to buy.
In my area, the housing did not go to far into the crazy over inflated price as many other areas did so it is not hard to find a good deal. You have to know what you are doing or you could end up on the downside of owning something with less value than you purchased.
No offense to the good realtors here but I have a hard time trusting a realtor now. I know they need to eat and the temptation is too big to that end to make a clear call where and when I should part with my money on a house.
I am renting one of my houses until the market stabilizes before I put it on the market. The other one I am going to do a rent with option if that is someone's wish.
Originally posted by real estate lady: Mortgage interest is deductible, taxes are deductible. selling expenses are deductible. A home office is deductible...
You may or may not be able to deduct mortgage interest, property taxes, etc. If your itemized deductions don't exceed the standard deduction then you won't be deducting them. As for a home office, there are fairly strict rules for deducting that. It has to be for the convenience of your employer, not you. It has to be used regularly and exclusively for business.
It really annoys me when I get a customer that insists they get to deduct something because some real estate sales person told them it was deductable. I tell them never to take tax advice from people that don't do taxes!!
