The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: Paul der Krake on November 08, 2014, 10:19:24 AM
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Basically, I have concerns that managing one or more rentals at a young-ish age, mid twenties, may be an invitation to be taken for a ride by tenants. Owning your own home, let alone renting it out to strangers, is completely unheard of in my current social circle.
So, at what age did you become one and is there anything you would do differently? And for those who did become one early on, have you ever felt like you were treated unfairly with regards to access to financing?
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Twenty-one. You are right to be concerned. Make sure your contracts are solid, do your due-diligence on your renters and you'll be alright. Don't be afraid to be firm with potential renters, having a printed list of rules and expectations which you both sign helps.
Finally, don't let small issues turn into to big ones. Run your business like a business, if your renter incurs a late payment fee, bill them for it. Be kind and responsive. Talk to your renters frequently to make sure they're ok and to make sure they're not cooking meth in your kitchen.
Managing expectations is the key to happiness
Good luck!
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There was a previous discussion here about landlords pretending to be property managers, for similar reasons. As long as there are no major problems, there is no reason to tell them that you are also the owner.
Not that I'm suggesting such blatant dishonesty in the operation of your business. But some people do it if the circumstances are difficult enough.
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Twenty-two.
Honestly, I don't think age is a huge game changer here. We're a little more likely to hop at bad deals because we get excited more easily and we're more likely to think we're invincible, and we don't have as much life experience, but these aren't insurmountable obstacles. It just comes down to looking at the numbers and listening to what they tell you, no matter who excited you are, and to not let people bully you just because you're younger.
There are undoubtedly different advantages and pitfalls to becoming a landlord later in life, so I don't think it's worse to become a landlord younger. It might be a weird thing to do in your social circle, but don't let that stop you. If it's what you want to do, or if it's your strategy to FIRE, go for it!
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Twenty-three. Was never an issue.
A 33 year old can get in as much trouble doing it incorrectly as a 23 year old.
Knowledge is the key. Know what you are doing (don't ad lib), and you'll feel confident, sound competent, and it'll work out just fine.
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21. or was it 22? Long time ago.
in my experience tenants assume you must know what you're doing, so no problems with being young.
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Twenty-seven. My brother had some issues when he was a landlord in his late 20's. The area was a little lower income, so most of his tenants were 10-20 years older. I don't think he ever had people pay late due to his age. However, more than a few people had made some comments. He rectified the situation by making our mom the property manager. I do like the idea of calling yourself a property manager. People were more honest with my mom about repairs. They would admit to breaking things. It would rarely happen when my brother handled everything as the landlord.
I believe that people do get upset when younger people have more money. Don't be flashy.
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Twenty seven. I had a house and my husband had a house when we got married, so we sold my house. We used that money for a down payment on a house that suited us and started renting out his house.
I say, do it while you're young when you can do a lot of the work yourself. We are in our 60's now and it is much harder to do everything ourselves. If I had my way, we would have bought more rental properties, but husband was not interested. If we had, we could have hired a property manager and had less involvement at an older age. But, it has helped us to get to a good financial place even though we never made a lot of money in our careers.
If the numbers work, I say go for it!
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27. Though my wife is 20. I had the tenants sign a government rental agreement. I'm starting to think I need to come across stronger as I did have problems with noise to start with. However, the current renters know they are 1 gaffe from being evicted. I have a thread open in DIY about sound proofing as I'm trying to improve the sound deadening in my floor.
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Technically I was 8. My grandfather started a real estate company in me and my siblings name to pay for college and to teach us about real estate (being frugal and continuing to work afford you and your grandchildren these opportunities).
The real estate education was worth more than the college education, and I am still learning from him (though he has lost a bit of sharpness with an illness).
My first time on my own, has been recently at age 26. At my grandfather's advise, I will do the first few purchases in cash before I start to try to get a hold of financing. This is good because like I've mentioned in some other posts, I don't have a credit score (or if I do its very bad since it will consist of a late payment in college and that's it). I think any financing I do will be of a creative nature and not through traditional institutions.
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I was 25, and I look young. I had some minor issue but not many. The biggest issue is that they try to deal with my husband instead of me. It has taking working on my husband to not respond and to get me.
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23, a tenant once asked for me to prove I owned the house so I showed them the tax bill with my name on it. Financing wasn't a problem. Starting early has only helped as I'm constantly learning and improving how I do things. I'm finally renting to some people who are younger than me so now I feel old :)
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Thanks for the replies everyone. You guys make it sounds like it boils down to acting professional, I think I can live with that.
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I was about 30 when I started. But I agree with a lot of the posts in that I don't really think age is an issue as long as there are rules that are fair and transparent. I rented out 5 units in the past 30 years. A bigger issue for me (and my sister who was often a co-owner in more recent years) was collecting rent when the tenant was late. Though everything was spelled out (late fees, grace period, etc), it was still difficult dealing with renters who either couldn't or wouldn't pay on time. So for a price of 50.00 per month per rental unit we hired a rental agent/manager who the tenant not only sent the rent checks to but also served as our "bad guy" who would write letters when rent wasn't paid or lawn/house wasn't taken care of properly, and show up in person to collect the late rents (the latter my sister nor I ever wanted to do). This is the only part of my life that I felt it was essential to keep things impersonal.
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Thanks for the replies everyone. You guys make it sounds like it boils down to acting professional, I think I can live with that.
That's exactly it. You'll be fine! :)
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I was 25 age was never an issue save my own lack of knowledge and experience.
Get a lawyer for your leases and learn the laws where you own. Just because you put it in the lease and the tenant signed it. Doesn't mean the courts will enforce it.
Do a lot of research and ask questions. And lastly treat it like a business. Don't pick a tenant because you want to help them.
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I was 24 when we got our first rental. I manage 9 properties a month after my 26th birthday. I find that no matter what age you are, you will be taken advantage of if you don't treat it like a business. We have a informal business plan with criteria that we stick too! This keeps us out of trouble and on the straight and narrow :)