landlord 101

Start a LLC. Karrin and I did exactly what you are starting. We ended up with 8 rentals and flipped a couple homes. Here is the rub...You have to profusely screen your renters...make sure they have references and check them including employment references. We had 3 bad experiences that almost pushed us out of the business, but we got through it. We bought 2 small properties for cash really cheap. Our first one was a 2 bedroom on a good lot for 18 K. It needed a ton of work, but we buckled down and got it done while both working full time jobs with overtime. We paid cash for the second one with our overtime and the rent from the first one. (We never financed anything) The windfall at the end when you sell all the homes is what really makes it all worthwhile. Use the rent for supplemental income and for your LLC and try not to finance anything! Don't comingle keep that business separate from your personal finances except when you add to the business from your earnings. Bite the bullet and don't take any away. We have one house left and ironically it is the first one we started with. We are selling it no money down to my wonderful cousin's son. This house has paid for itself 5 times since we started. It's no cakewalk but it's worth every minute of it in the end.

Ill give you a short version of the worst...We had a "professional squatter" with good references (fake) move into this 18K home. She had 2 girls. She paid the first month's rent and security deposit, and we waived the last month's rent in good faith as it was month to month anyway. That is the last dime we ever saw. We took her to court several times and a sympathetic judge overlooked her conniving in favor of her girls. We could not get her out and we were struggling as this was our first. Karrin finally did some incredible sleuthing and found out she was on a full state aid package from Indiana but was living for free on us in Illinois. She had a phony P.O Box in Indiana. Karrin turned her in to the Indiana authorities and she had to move back to Indiana to get her free ride on the taxpayers.