Owning/renting a duplex?

I was just wondering if it is a good investment idea to buy a duplex, live in half and rent out the other half? I'm a single woman, and I thought this might be a good way to make owning my own home affordable? What would I need to do to become a landlord? How much home maintenance stuff do I need to know, or every time something goes wrong, can I just call the plumber or electrician over to fix it? Just some general ideas. I'm a relatvely handy person but have not done a lot of home maintenance. How much extra time and money is involved in getting this set up rather than buying just a townhouse or something? This would be my first home that I would own. Any advice would be appreciated.

My quick answer is you should definitely buy a duplex vs. a single-family property, because having someone paying half your mortgage (or more) is a huge help!

I highly recommend reading Property Management for Dummies. I'm not kidding! It's a great resource. Your library will have it. It goes through all the standard questions you probably have before getting into this.

For rental applications and other forms, check the internet for a Multihousing Association in your area. I'll link the Minnesota one below for reference. Multihousing associations provide standard forms for everything and can help you get started on the right foot. They may have a monthly magazine.

For general repairs, go to Home Depot and get one of those home general repair books that covers a little of everything--- how to fix toilet flappers, leaky faucets, etc. I've found that when you buy a rental property there's usually a period of tweaking needed where little stuff needs some TLC, and then eventually it's all taken care of and things stop breaking. You may luck out and find tenants who know how to fix things, too, and you can learn from them!

Don't worry if you don't know a lot about fixing things now. You will learn as you need to.

Lots of people will doubt your idea and tell you horror stories of their uncle who rented out a house and it got beat up by the tenants. Keep in mind that you will be insured for that eventuality, but also, you will PROPERLY SCREEN ALL APPLICANTS which greatly reduces the likelihood of getting a bad tenant. And frankly, I've had a really bad tenant and all he actually did was put a hole in one wall.

Since then I do credit/criminal background checks on anyone applying, and have never had any more trouble. I'll link a website below that does tenant screening. It costs $24 and you charge the applicant that money before you do the report, so it doesn't even cost you anything.

Best of luck to you. Buying your first rental property can be very scary, but don't worry--- lots of people have done it.

Buying a home will be so beneficial to you, whether it's a duplex or a townhouse, etc. In a duplex, all that you spend on repair, maintenance, etc., on the rental half is fully tax deductible, and there's also depreciation. So any money that you take in from rent and count as income is reduced by these expenses. Also, for example, if you were to put a new roof on the house, 1/2 of it would be an expense against the rental. What goes into being a landlord is hard to say. It depends on the condition of the property and who you rent it to and how fussy you are. You could also retain a management company (fully tax deductible) if being a landlord got on your nerves. We rented out the upstairs of our house in an Air Force town and I never regretted it. We were always fortunate to rent to nice people. Some of the Moms also babysat for me. It was wonderful. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

That is exactly how my parents started their real estate business. We bought a duplex and lived in one of the units and rented the other. It is very convinient. You are right there to fix all the problems that may arise and also collect the rent always on time. Regarding the maintenance, you are basically learning as you go. Make sure all the appliances are working properly before you rent. Take pictures of the unit prior to renting so you can see what damages were done by the tenants when they move out. Make sure in your rental lease that you state that tenant negligence will cause the tenant to pay for repairs (of course you have to find someone to fix it don't let the tenants look for their own handyman).

Time: you live right next door so you can handle all problems immediately.

Experience: you will have none which is expected of a first time buyer. When fixing problems shop around and try to get the best estimate. Make sure you are there while they fix the problem so you can learn how to do it yourself next time.

Tenant: try renting to a family that has a kid, they are usually the best type of tenants because they want to live in the best kind of environment for their child. No pets unless you ask for a pet deposit and an incremental 10 to 5 dollars a month addition to the rent.

Best of luck!!

If you can afford it, I think it's a great idea. Realize that a duplex will, obviously, be priced higher than a single-family equivalent. But often times, you can buy one duplex for less than if you bought 2 single-family homes. That's a plus. As for the maintenance and upkeep, you'll always be "working on" a rental house in some capacity: renting out properties is not for everyone! If you're readily available, you can always look at problems to see if you can fix them yourself before calling a contractor. Yeah, you'll spend a few bucks when you need an electrician <I'm an electrician btw...we're pretty harmless> or plumber, but checking those systems out thoroghly before buying can give you an idea of what kind of shape they're in, and how often you may have to work on them. As for becoming a landlord, you don't need to do anything special except to have a qualified professional write up some lease agreements. Make sure to keep all tax and mortgage documents for tax-reporting purposes! Also, the tax rate on the rental unit will probably be higher since it's investment property. Go for it!

i am a former landlord, I very well may be one in the future i just do no know at the present time,

THere is a problem, THe properties that can actually be found thaat you can "cash flow" Are getting HARDER AND HARDER to find, I live south of portland oregn and for most part the whole portland area duplexes or triplexes that you can cahs flow unless you have like 25% down with you livinf in one side and the tenant in the other are REALLY hard to find these days.

Also a duplex or moreso a triplex cost smore than a house does.

However if you do find the right property you could make a little money and you do get a tax write off which can help you a lot.

You need to look like twice a day on craigslist and get to know a couple of realtors, Find a good one, one that knows the area and what you are looking for,

I've know many realtors and you HAVE to be firm with them, cause whtey will kind of try to jerk yo around if they can, Tell them unless it is for example less than 200,000 your not interested, no matter what the circumstances, I've found that you are always better as a rental with like a two bedroomm one bath duplex that costs a lot cheater than a 3 bedroom 2 bath each side that will cost you substantially more, Also most renters want to keep there rent as low as they can, Howevet, those two bedroom each side duplexes can be expensive too, But i do't know what part of the counrty you live in.

you need to become aware of you r states lanlord tenant laws, THere are certain procedures that yo have to follow as far as if they behave bad and do not pay their rent as far as evictions, Also when choosing a tenant, WEll I'll tell you this I'm 27 and i have found, so have alsmost all of my other landlord friends, REnt to people that have family or are over 30. no pets also, do that and it seems to REALLY cut down on problem tenants.

AS far as repairs go you will need to know somebody who can do them and for a cheaper rate like 20 bucks an hour ptherwise of you call somebody out of the phone book they will charge like 70 an hour or more, which will do hell to your expenses.

The bottom line here, find a good priced property and find good tenenats, feel free to e-mail me if you would like additional insight..