Serious Advice Only: With investment property when do u cut ur loses and let the houses go back to the bank?

Had investment properties 4 over 7 years and have been profitable for 5 1/2 of those 7 years. However, after the mortgage companies let everyone w/ no credit or bad credit get home loans...all that's left 2 rent is the scum in Memphis, TN. We've had 5 houses vacant out of 7 for months, get renters & after 1st month they don't pay their rent, they know the eviction law and how long it takes 2 get them out, it costs us $ 2 put out, u can't ruin their credit cause they don't have much of one, don't care, if u try 2 garnish their wages...they just quit their jobs. We've poured all our personal $ over the past 1 1/2 yr. into keeping our credit in good standings, paying 7 mortgages, repairs, insurance, taxes plus our own personal mortgage and expenses. We have borrowed money recently 2 keep them afloat, but when do u abandon ship? Credit will be ruined, mortgage co. will come after us 4 difference in owed amount & sale price...we just want out before we're bankrupt...their 4 sale also.

Good gods, I feel for you.

Personally, if it were me, I would have tried to let them go when the got to the point where my personal income couldn't cover the mortgages.

That said however, is there any way for you to try and rent to people with better credit? Demographically speaking, those that use the internet are typically a bit better off than those that don't, therefore, Craigslist seems to be an avenue in getting better tenants.

Maybe try and get rid of one of the properties to help keep the rest afloat for a little while so you can try and get a good tenant from Craigslist?

Another avenue is the individual ethnic papers. A lot of hard working immigrants who can't produce documents to buy a house would love to live in one that is in a decent neighborhood. This way you don't get every Tom, Dick & Harry to come to your house and essentially squat.

Good luck.

Wow,i feel for you. Im in kind of the same boat,just not as big of a boat. Ive had a 2nd home forsale for 2.5 yrs in Michigan with no hope of selling it anytime soon. The home values have dropped 30 percent and we owe more than we can really get out of it until the market comes back. Rented it out a couple times and end up losing money after repairs and missed rent ect. Im going to give it another 6 months or so and im jumping ship. At that point it will be 3yrs and thats good enough for me.With that many homes its going to be quite a task to straighten out,but if they do come after you for the money they lost it wont be nearly as much as what your losing now.

You're not researching your potential tenants properly. If what you are renting to is what you described, you seriously need to develop a tenant screening process. There are a goodly number of quality tenants looking for places to live. Don't grab the first warm body which comes around. My guess is that is what you are doing, given your strong desire to develop revenues from these properties.

My first clue was your comment that "you can't ruin their credit because they don't have much of one." That says it all.

I suspect you need to do a better background check on your potential tenants. If they have lousy credit and are job hopping to avoid wage garnishing, don't rent to them.

Where are you advertising for tenants? Craigslist has become very popular over the years and its free, so you won't be spending money advertising in the paper.

YOu can also list your house for sale there.

With the amount of foreclosures coming in, I have investors snapping up rental property. All those people who got into bad loans are going to need somewhere to live.