I once owned a rental house. It is gone now and I never want another one.
Nobody could ever convince me owing a rental is a good investment. Never. Not now. Maybe once upon a time in a land far far away when people had some modicum of dignity, respect and fear of punishment but not now.
I had a rental too. Renters had plenty of money for liquor and cigarettes but no money for rent.
I often hear that property is a great investment. But then I hear so many stories like yours, I just don't get it. My only thought is that apartment buildings somehow are quite different from single-family homes in their upkeep, costs, and renters. I'm not in the business, so I don't know.
Without exception, everybody I know that has been a landlord has had horror stories.
Real estate might be a good investment if you don't mind getting woke up at 2 in the morning for the heat not working or having to deal with a broken water heater that flooded the basement. And that's just the normal stuff.
Nope. Not for me. I'll just keep maxxing out my 401k and sit on the deck with my beer in my hand with a steak on the grill - like I'm doing right now.
I had 4 rental units for 20 years. No big problems, made a lot of money and sold it for a big profit. I never had to evict anyone. Had one overstay about 3 weeks.
I had it built (modular) so it was new when I started. It closed 2 weeks after the lockdowns started last year. The timing worked out perfectly but the new guy hasn’t had any problems either. It’s in a very small town.
It’s all about how and who you pick as tenants.
We have been very fortunate with ours. We bought two homes on one lot for $155,000, living in one and renting the other. Our effective "rent" (our share of the monthly nut after rental income and expenses) has been under $400 a month. We renovated the rental about ten years ago (using refi money) got new tenants at higher rent, and the appraisal for our latest refi came in at over a half million. The new tenants have become like family. Like I said, very fortunate!