Being a Landlord...?

[JaeTex]

I imagine there are at least a couple of you out there who own rental properties, and I bet that I'm not the only one who would like to become a landlord myself (though I don't relish the thought of getting a call at 2am complaining about a leaky toilet).

So, does anyone have any tips on getting started, what to expect, how to manage, how you handle financing, taxes, accounting and that stuff? Or do you have any cautionary stories to share?

[Lakewooder]

Do I have any stories? (chortle)

I've been a landlord since 1983 and now have dozen properties (all in East Dallas/Lakewood). And I've kept the 'real' day job all along. It takes quite a bit of sacrifice. Luckily, I had a Depression Daddy who drilled all that into me so that it is second nature to me. I've only had a couple of 2 am phone calls in all those years. Once was after a storm and once was a schizo, drunk tenant cussing me out. He really did have a few mental issues, but his father wrote out a check for 6 months rent in advance.

The problem these days is finding a property inexpensive enough to make a good single family rental. I have enough for now, but I'm thinking maybe the Casa View area might be a good bet if I wanted to go on the other side of the lake. Al Lee ( myrentproperty.com) who is in our area, advocates only buying single family homes.

Check out mrlandlord.com

[Columbus Civil]

I've thought about fixing up my townhouse and renting it out in a few years, so I will take any advice on this.

[jsoto3]

I am interested in designing and developing my own rental and for-sale properties (affordable townhouses). Does anyone have any experience with small scale development that would care to share advice for beginners . . . ?

[Haretip]

I do subdivision layout and surveying and have also been looking at doing land development. I have only recently gotten into townhomes, so can't say I'm an expert, but I'm learning fast. I bought a book on Amazon.com called Land Development Handbook by the Dewberry Companies recently. But it is only 1124 pages long and I haven't had a whole lot of time to read it.

My main problem is figuring out to finance development projects without having to front all the money myself. I am working on learning the money side of it all. I was hoping to buy a 1920 warehouse this year for conversion to retail or office space, but since I acquired some land and a couple of mobile homes (that aren't ready for tennants) this past year, I don't think I can swing the financing.

I can come up with answers if you have some specific questions.

[JaeTex]

I've been a landlord since 1983 and now have dozen properties (all in East Dallas/Lakewood). And I've kept the 'real' day job all along. It takes quite a bit of sacrifice.

So, how did you get started? Was the first property purposely bought to be a rental or did you just move and lease out your prior house instead of selling it?

[Lakewooder]

I was living in my parents home and bought a duplex, then I bought a single-family home a few months later. I didn't move into the single family home from my parents' home for a year or two. I later moved into the duplex and leased the single family home, than acquired the others, buying one every couple of years...