Any advice on buying houses to rent out?

is this a good investment?

Real estate is the safest and most profitable investment, buying to rent out is best near colleges and schools.

yes, if you make sure that the neighborhood you buy in will be a good renting neighborhood ( as long as you don't do too much improvemnt and need to rent the house out for more, you should do well)

Don't do it the real estate market is bubble waiting to burst

Depends on: your finances, the area, market conditions, management, selection of your tenants,......

Lots of conditions and lots of choices. Make the right ones and it can be a very good investment. Make the wrong ones or take too many short cuts and it can be a financial nightmare.

70% of my mortgage loans last year were to investors. Most of them got hurt, especially buying prooerties over 1/2 hour from where they lived. Further, property values are declining in many parts of the country. Those that are rising are probably driven by investors who think there is still a game to play in single family houses. For buy-and-hold strategy, I doubt it.

yes. Where do you want to buy ? I have some for sale. I am an investor and a mortge broker. I am good at what I do.. tell you more later..

It can be... as with any investment, you have to make a wise purchase decision.. You make money in real estate the day you purchase!

What I mean by that is, you have to be smart about what property you buy. Make sure you compare recent sales and that you are buying the property at a good price.

Next, you have to determine what the going rate is for similar rental units. Then create a budget:

Potential Rent
minus:
Mortgage cost
Taxes
Insurance,
Etc...

And determine what the cash flow will be, negative or positive... Can you fund a negative cash flow? if not, select a different property...

What makes rental property a good investment is that the rent will cover the mortgage, so the tenant is paying down the principal and there are tax benefits as well...

Hope that helps...

regards,
Joe Ballarino
http://www.AmerivestRealty.com

i am a full time real estate investor and i am very sucessfull at what i do. i wouldn't do a buy and hold property - the best way to make your money in real estate is to buy cheap sell high - example 100k house buy it for no more than 65k sell it to someone that has bad credit with some money down (atleast 3-5k) make them go to a credit repair clinic and get signed up to repair their credit, then owner finance the property for them via contract for deed, after their credit is repaired they can then qualify for a mortgage and if they don't then just sell your contract for deed for 85-92% of face value - total profits - 100k contract for deed and you get 92% which equals 92k minus your 65k you have in it = 27k profit plus their 3-5k down .

do this a couple of times a year and you don't have to work a regular job. you can be your own boss.

Suggest your go to DaveRamsey.com read learn digest understand and act on the info.
Houses to rent are great investments - IF -you know what you are doing and have little debt and real reserve money saved away. Houses to rent -suck if you are just getting by . The first down turn , you'll lose your rental and possibly your own house. Read DaveRamsey.com to learn what he did wrong before you do the same.

There is a good article on investment property on this web site.

http://www.minnesota-mortgage-rates.net/...

How to value a property during market downturn?

Housing market continues to slump. Now we can calculate true value of a property easily. As price decline, we don't need to guess and factor in the potential price appreciation while calculating home value. Without the guesswork, figures are more accurate.

Let's use following example:

Today, a typical 15 years old, two bedrooms condo/townhouse is priced around $500,000 and $550,000 in Sunnyvale, California. Rent for similar condo/townhouse is $2000/month.

If you are a home owner, $2,000/month in rent means $20,000 a year in profit ($24,000 per year in rent, minus $4,000 maintenance costs). A $20,000 income is equilevant of owning $400,000 bonds or CDs, because current yield of 30 Years U.S. treasuries are 5% (5% of $400,000 is $20,000). Bank CDs have similiar yields.

In our example, the two bedrooms condo/townhouse is 20% to 25% overpriced. They should be priced at $400,000.

It is interesting to note that if we redo the calculation from buyer's perspective instead of seller's perspective, the figures are even more shocking.

Mortgage payment consists of two parts: mortgage interests and mortgage principal. The interests portion is similar to rent. If you pay interest, it disappears and doesn't add equity to the property. To fully simulate characteristics of renting, we assume buyer will apply for a zero down, interest-only loan.

It turns out that rent of $2000/month is equivelant to mortgage payment of a $340,000 loan at 7.0% APR. And comparing $340,000 loan to $500,000 or $550,000 price tag, from buyer's view, the two bedrooms condo/townhouse is 30% to 35% overpriced.

One may ask, why is there a discrepancy between two perspectives of the buyer and owner?

The discrepancy is a result of 2% differences in interest rate that buyer borrow comparing to yields of bonds and CDs that owners would get. We understand that buyer would always pay more. That is the premium of buying to own. However, looking from home owner's perspective, current housing market is probably 20% to 25% overpriced. We recommand investors to wait for a better entry point.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/08/real_est...
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/05/real_est...