The median mortgage payment is today around $2,800, which leaves a lot of houses for sale and few people able to buy them. Sellers now outnumber buyers by the biggest margin ever.
Never planned on selling my CA rental properties, hoped to pass them on as a legacy to my children and grandchildren. Being a landlord takes up a lot of time and is a lot of work. Unfortunately, the state of CA has now also made being a landlord a very high-risk business due to crazier and crazier tenant laws. WE NO LONGER OWN OUR REAL ESATATE, THE TENANTS AND THE STATE OF CA OWN IT. They still allow me to pay the taxes. They also have made it impossible to pass my assets to my children without them paying very high taxes after my death, which will force them to sell. If I sell now and pay the Fed Cap gains tax (A horrible tax on inflation) I lose 20% of my principle in real terms! Trapped in CA, the no longer "Golden state". God Help Us.
I feel your pain. I was born, raised, educated, built two business (which are still operating there 40 years later) and raised a family in So. Cal. We left CA over 8 years ago and only go back to visit family. We started liquidating CA real estate a couple years ago and have only two more to go as we tired of being a landlord for all the reasons you articulately described. CA is gone beyond return and so are we.
We used a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains trading rental properties for farmland. The yield on farmland is less than rental properties but tenant does all the work allowing us to enjoy retirement.
Very interesting. I've done that many ten thirty ones , but not like you have. I've never considered turning rental properties into rental farm land despite the family history of renting large tracks of farmland. Thanks
It’s pitiful when you really think about it Michael, I “own” two homes mortgage free, in different states. The minute I stop paying taxes on those houses, you find out real quick, who owns what!
Make sure you understand that if you sell a property in a capital gains state and buy the other in a capital gains free state you'll still owe the capital gains to the state where you sold the first property. You're simply deferring the tax you would have paid if you didn't do the 1031 exchange. I'm guessing you know all this, but I didn't and had to be disabused of my false notion by a professional.
It sure is nice reading Bill on money and business. Coming from a family of modest employment incomes, my parents chose real estate to get ahead. I used to hate weekends as a kid because while all my peers where riding bikes and screwing around with their friends I was scraping wall paper, pulling up linoleum floors, and cleaning up yards and gardens. My favorite day was Monday.
The rents were never the prize. Even when they fetched a solid return, those profits could and did vanish when people moved out and money had to be spent renovating; even a short term vacancy would cut deeply into the net revenue stream. But, in Southern California during the 60's, 70's and 80's if you could cover your costs and keep the property maintained there was always a "seller's market" just around the corner that made the whole enterprise worthwhile. My point with all this is that there was no get rich quick about it. One had to be patient and learn the lesson of delayed gratification. IMHO, that's the real beauty of investing in real estate.
My kids would tell a similar story. It can be tough to make money on rent over time. The way my wife and I finally realized how we would get paid is through time. No matter what happens to house payments, if we bought a house at 10% down, as long as we could find decent tenants in 25 years we owned the property outright. You may or may not make appreciation, but you will make the other 90%. I’ve renovated too many places to remember, but to be honest, if I could still do it physically, I still would be doing it. I have the same crazy gene that Bill has…
If I had it to do over again: A friend advised buying and boarding up or better yet tearing the property down. He's sit on his vacant lots bought on the fringe of nice areas and wait. His trick was to buy a few houses on every block so he'd have to be included development master plan. His taxes per lot were a few hundred a year, while other landlords struggled with upkeep and tenants. One of his neighborhoods near Temple University looked like a mouth with every other tooth missing. His idea worked out he sold the lots for 10X- 50X more than his total cost to hold. Philly actually change the tax code to take some of his profits by partitioning the tax levied between the renovated lot and the land his taxes were based on similar properties with improvements driving the lot prices up. He moved his lot buying business across the Delaware river into Camden, NJ.
While I'm thinking West Virginia or outside of Pittsburg looks interesting.
RE: MY PREVIOUS POST. Thanking those who have commented on 1031 exchanges. If that has worked for those of you who have done so I am very happy for you. I have thoroughly researched this option hoping to buy a single tenant commercial property like a McDonalds or 7/11 gas station. Unfortunately, you wind up selling your residential property for a stupidly high price, then being rushed into buying another property for a an even more stupid high price.
Then you are locked in at 3.5%-5% (Now finally sometimes a bit more like 6%) into a 30-60 year lease priced in today's USD value! 30 or 60 years from now what will one 2025 dollar be worth? GOD ONLY KNOWS! It is worse than a 30 year treasury bond, which I would not touch with a 100 foot pole. At least now I can still raise my residential rents to cover some of the inflation, but the state of CA is bound and determined to put a stop to that too with all their insane socialist rent control and tenant protection laws.
I FEEL AS IF I HAVE BEEN IN A NO WIN TRAP FOR DECADES! Still grateful to God for all our blessings, just trying to make the best of a bad situation. It is not going to make our retirement an easy one.
There's a way around that scenario. There are companies with properties for sale where in the rush to purchase another property is eliminated. A second exchange is done in a more relaxed timely fashion where the property your cash is parked in is sold again.
I was in the middle of researching use of such a company when the mansion came up as part of a private sale.
You'll have to do some research on this idea, I can't recall the company but they advertise online.
As a person to have owned 3 DQ franchises I don't think I'd ever want to own a fast food restaurant after Covid decimated the youth work ethic in USA.
I think Elizabeth likes the idea of saving the gilded age properties and doesn't need much of a return on dollars invested. I just bought a Victorian mansion converted to an 11 unit apartment building. It's an eyesore needing a couple $100k to restore (never going to happen) on the corner of a main street, but it is a cash cow.
Going to be an interesting ride ahead. The US$ is losing value as the World turns to other fiat currencies including the Euro (that confuses me). Then there are the PMs (gold and silver) along with the new BRICS currency somewhat backed by gold. The World is fast becoming multi-polar and projecting the past into the future here in the good ol' USofA may not work out so well going forward. Keeping all your eggs in the U.S. basket may not bear fruit ahead.
Fiat currencies will continue the path they also follows. Gold backed currencies like the U.S. had at one time, don't. But politicians just can't help themselves. Printing money is so enjoyable initially. The World will see what happens with the International Yuan as it appears to initially be backed by 40% (or so) in gold. Government will always mis-manage money given any chance.
Same here, my wife and I accumulated 15 rental properties in the UK over 20 years ago and have always maintained them to the highest standards. Successive Governments have continuously waged war on the so called "greedy Landlord" both through the Left leaning mass media and ridiculous Legislation passed and currently being proposed. Just a matter of time until Rent Controls are enforced. Meanwhile landlords are leaving the market in droves, ourselves included. We've sold 6 and plan to sell the rest. This at a time where rents are at all time highs yet Governments failure to understand basic supply & demand defies belief. Thank God we left the UK when we did, as I fear the country has now fallen into a Socialist nightmare where I can only see a future littered with civil unrest and poverty.
I had to refill my coffee cup and think through my comments. In keeping with the spirit of 007 inferences and metaphors here.....we may have experts that think they have the time frame nailed down for when a crises is possible; however, remember Trevelyan (006) set the timer to 3 mins when 007 thought he had 6. I am unsure of the term, but the jist is....everything works....until it doesn't. The idea is that Newton's first law keeps things going until they just cannot go farther. Another example is the failure of a hydraulic hose. One moment it is as strong as it's first day, the next moment it is a complete and 100% failure unable to present any utility again. Newton's 3rd law gives a suggestion of the downside potential for a bubble or anything else that goes up. I am convinced that the majority of crypto speculators, algorithm programmers, and stock traders only look smart on the upswing. There is no program for deflation. There will likely only be mayhem as the run for the exits tramples on a significant many. I have pretty much resigned myself to the thought that I will "lose" the majority of my paper "invested" wealth. So, I remain invested mostly in real estate in an area with a growing population. An acre of dirt is something i can look at and not worry too much about someone stealing it, the power going out and it disappearing, I don't have to understand blockchain solving problems that don't exist, I dont have to worry about a password, and I can sleep at night knowing it is going nowhere. I just need the jig to not be up for about 5 more years, just 5 more years, please God, just 5 more years of this insanity so I can get my act together a little better......
Love your comments JODCP. At 81, I'm just happy to sit in an old house with a 2.75 interest rate and my wife's superior military retirement. If the 100 year Florida hurricane doesn't destroy it in the next five years I'll depend on creative projects to take me to my ultimate reward. Best to all commenters.
Agree Bitcoin will go to zero if the stock market falls in that direction. Algorithms will all rust to sell when the SHTF causing the SHTF faster than anything can be sold. I can remember unloading all my Luna UST crypto at the advice of another fellow gambler. I was making 20% interest per day at the time. He slapped me out of the Ether with; "Do you think this is a sustainable yield?" A week later UST de-pegged from its algorithm based dollar. It fell so fast it was almost impossible to sell. One of the great boosters of Luna UST offered his lot for 10 cents per when it was selling for 50 cents.
The next 20 years won’t be like the last 50 in real estate. But land is still real.
All those high credit scores that bought 4 years ago are going to sit tight with low interest rates and mortgage payments; those houses will be off market. Prices will go down. But it will be an interesting skewed market. Be interesting to see how McMansions fair; there will be a lot of excess, unwonted dollars swilling back to North America. Currency collapse will always look like Germany, 1920.
The Euro, it too is on the chopping block. Confuses me as well perhaps one day there will be a rush for the exit. A close friend informed he s been working on moving a clients pension from the UK more than
6 months later and still hasn t completed. They have PSAG- Pension Scams Action Group.
In the movie "Blue Hawaii" from 1961 (Hal B. Wallis Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures), veteran actors Angela Lansbury and Roland Winters play parents to son, Elvis Presley, in a prosperous, landed gentry family. At one juncture in the action, it appears the Elvis character has to spend a night in jail, the prospect of which sends the Mother character into despair. She laments the dreadfulness of the occasion, appealing to her husband, saying, "Oh, Daddy, WHERE did we go wrong?" To which the exasperated husband replies, "Offhand, I'd say we got married."
And there you have our situation in America. We blew it. We shouldn't have joined the Left. Best always. PM
Yep good reply , but to late. You and I can see what has and is happening. All We can do is watch and wait! I believe You said sit back and enjoy the spectacle. More or less.
What a difference a score of years makes. In Philadelphia when buying in a similar area as Baltimore. I'd use the 50% 2 rule, 50% of the gross rents went to expenses the while the remaining 50% was 10% management and 40% profit. Believe me I earned the 40% in Philly.
The 2% was quick formula when offered a property for sale, 2% sales price had to equal one months gross rents. $2000 gross rents equalled a $100,000 building. Now mind you I got a lot of go to hell relies, but in one year I bought an entire block of 3 unit building facing a main street or 10 buildings for $271,000 with total gross rent of $8000 per month.
The best part about low income in Philly, the tenants could move in just the way the properties were. Recognizing fittings and decor from 1930 was a step up from where ever they'd come. One tenant was thrilled with his new digs, relating it's great not to hear gun fire all night. Yes, I had integrated a aging Little Italy with former Red Lined citizens. The neighborhood was never the same but the value of the real estate in a few years tripled. First chance I had and just before Covid struck I sold the block to a hedge fund.
It was the best of times buying, and it was the absolute best of times selling. Taxes in Philly since 2019 have tripled per property, insurance doubled, fees no one had ever imagined in government have come out of the wood work. You'd think tripled taxes would have covered the trash as they always did. Nope, $300 per unit fee for trash removal per year. Lead paint inspection every 6 months at $350 per building. Philly requires a rental license at $69 per unit The landlord is responsible for mice, rats, roaches, bedbugs, and hail from the sky if it happens. 45 days for an eviction of a nonpaying tenant is not 6 months to a 1 year, and the tenant has access to a lawyer for free! I have no clue how the hedge fund makes a profit on the properties I sold them.
At this point if you got down on your knees and begged me to buy you're property, I'd only agree if you took back 100% financing at zero interest. Thank God for NY investors used to 0-4% returns.
I sold the last remaining 5 single houses 3 as part of a IRS 1031 exchange, the State of Pa waives capital gains as part of a 1031 but not the City of Philadelphia. One parting grab at the landlord's wallet.
The US dollar might be falling faster, compared to other currencies, but the overall pattern is the same. They are all falling. If you haven’t already, bite the bullet and get yourself some gold. And hang on for the ride
I was invested in very small ways in rental real estate here in Toronto in the 1970's and 1980's, and decided against it after about 15 years or so.. The reason? I found that instead of it being an "investment", I was getting involved in a "business" ! BIG difference.
Never planned on selling my CA rental properties, hoped to pass them on as a legacy to my children and grandchildren. Being a landlord takes up a lot of time and is a lot of work. Unfortunately, the state of CA has now also made being a landlord a very high-risk business due to crazier and crazier tenant laws. WE NO LONGER OWN OUR REAL ESATATE, THE TENANTS AND THE STATE OF CA OWN IT. They still allow me to pay the taxes. They also have made it impossible to pass my assets to my children without them paying very high taxes after my death, which will force them to sell. If I sell now and pay the Fed Cap gains tax (A horrible tax on inflation) I lose 20% of my principle in real terms! Trapped in CA, the no longer "Golden state". God Help Us.
I feel your pain. I was born, raised, educated, built two business (which are still operating there 40 years later) and raised a family in So. Cal. We left CA over 8 years ago and only go back to visit family. We started liquidating CA real estate a couple years ago and have only two more to go as we tired of being a landlord for all the reasons you articulately described. CA is gone beyond return and so are we.
We used a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains trading rental properties for farmland. The yield on farmland is less than rental properties but tenant does all the work allowing us to enjoy retirement.
Very interesting. I've done that many ten thirty ones , but not like you have. I've never considered turning rental properties into rental farm land despite the family history of renting large tracks of farmland. Thanks
It’s pitiful when you really think about it Michael, I “own” two homes mortgage free, in different states. The minute I stop paying taxes on those houses, you find out real quick, who owns what!
Bill didn't have need to mention it, but there is no tax on real estate in Ireland.
I am in the same boat. I’m thinking of doing a 1031 and moving the investment to another state. Doing this you won’t lose anything on capital gains.
Make sure you understand that if you sell a property in a capital gains state and buy the other in a capital gains free state you'll still owe the capital gains to the state where you sold the first property. You're simply deferring the tax you would have paid if you didn't do the 1031 exchange. I'm guessing you know all this, but I didn't and had to be disabused of my false notion by a professional.
Try doing a 1031 exchange or DST exchange - you will be much happier!!
It sure is nice reading Bill on money and business. Coming from a family of modest employment incomes, my parents chose real estate to get ahead. I used to hate weekends as a kid because while all my peers where riding bikes and screwing around with their friends I was scraping wall paper, pulling up linoleum floors, and cleaning up yards and gardens. My favorite day was Monday.
The rents were never the prize. Even when they fetched a solid return, those profits could and did vanish when people moved out and money had to be spent renovating; even a short term vacancy would cut deeply into the net revenue stream. But, in Southern California during the 60's, 70's and 80's if you could cover your costs and keep the property maintained there was always a "seller's market" just around the corner that made the whole enterprise worthwhile. My point with all this is that there was no get rich quick about it. One had to be patient and learn the lesson of delayed gratification. IMHO, that's the real beauty of investing in real estate.
My kids would tell a similar story. It can be tough to make money on rent over time. The way my wife and I finally realized how we would get paid is through time. No matter what happens to house payments, if we bought a house at 10% down, as long as we could find decent tenants in 25 years we owned the property outright. You may or may not make appreciation, but you will make the other 90%. I’ve renovated too many places to remember, but to be honest, if I could still do it physically, I still would be doing it. I have the same crazy gene that Bill has…
I've been a landlord for over 49 years. I have lots of dry powder when the next market comes down at least 50 or 60%, or maybe more.
If I had it to do over again: A friend advised buying and boarding up or better yet tearing the property down. He's sit on his vacant lots bought on the fringe of nice areas and wait. His trick was to buy a few houses on every block so he'd have to be included development master plan. His taxes per lot were a few hundred a year, while other landlords struggled with upkeep and tenants. One of his neighborhoods near Temple University looked like a mouth with every other tooth missing. His idea worked out he sold the lots for 10X- 50X more than his total cost to hold. Philly actually change the tax code to take some of his profits by partitioning the tax levied between the renovated lot and the land his taxes were based on similar properties with improvements driving the lot prices up. He moved his lot buying business across the Delaware river into Camden, NJ.
While I'm thinking West Virginia or outside of Pittsburg looks interesting.
RE: MY PREVIOUS POST. Thanking those who have commented on 1031 exchanges. If that has worked for those of you who have done so I am very happy for you. I have thoroughly researched this option hoping to buy a single tenant commercial property like a McDonalds or 7/11 gas station. Unfortunately, you wind up selling your residential property for a stupidly high price, then being rushed into buying another property for a an even more stupid high price.
Then you are locked in at 3.5%-5% (Now finally sometimes a bit more like 6%) into a 30-60 year lease priced in today's USD value! 30 or 60 years from now what will one 2025 dollar be worth? GOD ONLY KNOWS! It is worse than a 30 year treasury bond, which I would not touch with a 100 foot pole. At least now I can still raise my residential rents to cover some of the inflation, but the state of CA is bound and determined to put a stop to that too with all their insane socialist rent control and tenant protection laws.
I FEEL AS IF I HAVE BEEN IN A NO WIN TRAP FOR DECADES! Still grateful to God for all our blessings, just trying to make the best of a bad situation. It is not going to make our retirement an easy one.
There's a way around that scenario. There are companies with properties for sale where in the rush to purchase another property is eliminated. A second exchange is done in a more relaxed timely fashion where the property your cash is parked in is sold again.
I was in the middle of researching use of such a company when the mansion came up as part of a private sale.
You'll have to do some research on this idea, I can't recall the company but they advertise online.
As a person to have owned 3 DQ franchises I don't think I'd ever want to own a fast food restaurant after Covid decimated the youth work ethic in USA.
Elizabeth must love what she does. Sounds like a lot of work for 5%.
I think Elizabeth likes the idea of saving the gilded age properties and doesn't need much of a return on dollars invested. I just bought a Victorian mansion converted to an 11 unit apartment building. It's an eyesore needing a couple $100k to restore (never going to happen) on the corner of a main street, but it is a cash cow.
There is capital appreciation I guess...
Going to be an interesting ride ahead. The US$ is losing value as the World turns to other fiat currencies including the Euro (that confuses me). Then there are the PMs (gold and silver) along with the new BRICS currency somewhat backed by gold. The World is fast becoming multi-polar and projecting the past into the future here in the good ol' USofA may not work out so well going forward. Keeping all your eggs in the U.S. basket may not bear fruit ahead.
I agree. But does anybody really believe that the other currencies will be better managed than the dollar?
Fiat currencies will continue the path they also follows. Gold backed currencies like the U.S. had at one time, don't. But politicians just can't help themselves. Printing money is so enjoyable initially. The World will see what happens with the International Yuan as it appears to initially be backed by 40% (or so) in gold. Government will always mis-manage money given any chance.
Phil Anderson wrote a book "The Secret Life of Banking and Real Estate.
(interesting read for economic historical context too...)
Phil is adamant about the 18.5 year land-value cycle which has repeated with surprising regularity since the 1700's.
If Phil is correct, the next low in land-value would be around 2026-2027.
Same here, my wife and I accumulated 15 rental properties in the UK over 20 years ago and have always maintained them to the highest standards. Successive Governments have continuously waged war on the so called "greedy Landlord" both through the Left leaning mass media and ridiculous Legislation passed and currently being proposed. Just a matter of time until Rent Controls are enforced. Meanwhile landlords are leaving the market in droves, ourselves included. We've sold 6 and plan to sell the rest. This at a time where rents are at all time highs yet Governments failure to understand basic supply & demand defies belief. Thank God we left the UK when we did, as I fear the country has now fallen into a Socialist nightmare where I can only see a future littered with civil unrest and poverty.
Recall Mark Ford advocating the “Rule of 8” many years ago. Still a good one to abide by, especially now.
His brother Justin created one of the best RE investing courses which got me in the game. Capcashflow .
I had to refill my coffee cup and think through my comments. In keeping with the spirit of 007 inferences and metaphors here.....we may have experts that think they have the time frame nailed down for when a crises is possible; however, remember Trevelyan (006) set the timer to 3 mins when 007 thought he had 6. I am unsure of the term, but the jist is....everything works....until it doesn't. The idea is that Newton's first law keeps things going until they just cannot go farther. Another example is the failure of a hydraulic hose. One moment it is as strong as it's first day, the next moment it is a complete and 100% failure unable to present any utility again. Newton's 3rd law gives a suggestion of the downside potential for a bubble or anything else that goes up. I am convinced that the majority of crypto speculators, algorithm programmers, and stock traders only look smart on the upswing. There is no program for deflation. There will likely only be mayhem as the run for the exits tramples on a significant many. I have pretty much resigned myself to the thought that I will "lose" the majority of my paper "invested" wealth. So, I remain invested mostly in real estate in an area with a growing population. An acre of dirt is something i can look at and not worry too much about someone stealing it, the power going out and it disappearing, I don't have to understand blockchain solving problems that don't exist, I dont have to worry about a password, and I can sleep at night knowing it is going nowhere. I just need the jig to not be up for about 5 more years, just 5 more years, please God, just 5 more years of this insanity so I can get my act together a little better......
Love your comments JODCP. At 81, I'm just happy to sit in an old house with a 2.75 interest rate and my wife's superior military retirement. If the 100 year Florida hurricane doesn't destroy it in the next five years I'll depend on creative projects to take me to my ultimate reward. Best to all commenters.
Agree Bitcoin will go to zero if the stock market falls in that direction. Algorithms will all rust to sell when the SHTF causing the SHTF faster than anything can be sold. I can remember unloading all my Luna UST crypto at the advice of another fellow gambler. I was making 20% interest per day at the time. He slapped me out of the Ether with; "Do you think this is a sustainable yield?" A week later UST de-pegged from its algorithm based dollar. It fell so fast it was almost impossible to sell. One of the great boosters of Luna UST offered his lot for 10 cents per when it was selling for 50 cents.
The next 20 years won’t be like the last 50 in real estate. But land is still real.
All those high credit scores that bought 4 years ago are going to sit tight with low interest rates and mortgage payments; those houses will be off market. Prices will go down. But it will be an interesting skewed market. Be interesting to see how McMansions fair; there will be a lot of excess, unwonted dollars swilling back to North America. Currency collapse will always look like Germany, 1920.
McMansions make fabulous rooming houses.
I don’t think they will pass Elizabeth’s cost- profit analysis. Of course, as in Dr Zivago, the Soviets transformed them into slum quarters.
The Euro, it too is on the chopping block. Confuses me as well perhaps one day there will be a rush for the exit. A close friend informed he s been working on moving a clients pension from the UK more than
6 months later and still hasn t completed. They have PSAG- Pension Scams Action Group.
My close friend lives in Vanc,BC
Yes We all have to live somewhere , even in Vancouver! LOL
Was nice 60 years ago. Sound familiar? Best always. PM
Yep now it is all the dei and woke crap.
In the movie "Blue Hawaii" from 1961 (Hal B. Wallis Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures), veteran actors Angela Lansbury and Roland Winters play parents to son, Elvis Presley, in a prosperous, landed gentry family. At one juncture in the action, it appears the Elvis character has to spend a night in jail, the prospect of which sends the Mother character into despair. She laments the dreadfulness of the occasion, appealing to her husband, saying, "Oh, Daddy, WHERE did we go wrong?" To which the exasperated husband replies, "Offhand, I'd say we got married."
And there you have our situation in America. We blew it. We shouldn't have joined the Left. Best always. PM
Yep good reply , but to late. You and I can see what has and is happening. All We can do is watch and wait! I believe You said sit back and enjoy the spectacle. More or less.
As usual government fingers in every bodies pie. When will it stop?
What a difference a score of years makes. In Philadelphia when buying in a similar area as Baltimore. I'd use the 50% 2 rule, 50% of the gross rents went to expenses the while the remaining 50% was 10% management and 40% profit. Believe me I earned the 40% in Philly.
The 2% was quick formula when offered a property for sale, 2% sales price had to equal one months gross rents. $2000 gross rents equalled a $100,000 building. Now mind you I got a lot of go to hell relies, but in one year I bought an entire block of 3 unit building facing a main street or 10 buildings for $271,000 with total gross rent of $8000 per month.
The best part about low income in Philly, the tenants could move in just the way the properties were. Recognizing fittings and decor from 1930 was a step up from where ever they'd come. One tenant was thrilled with his new digs, relating it's great not to hear gun fire all night. Yes, I had integrated a aging Little Italy with former Red Lined citizens. The neighborhood was never the same but the value of the real estate in a few years tripled. First chance I had and just before Covid struck I sold the block to a hedge fund.
It was the best of times buying, and it was the absolute best of times selling. Taxes in Philly since 2019 have tripled per property, insurance doubled, fees no one had ever imagined in government have come out of the wood work. You'd think tripled taxes would have covered the trash as they always did. Nope, $300 per unit fee for trash removal per year. Lead paint inspection every 6 months at $350 per building. Philly requires a rental license at $69 per unit The landlord is responsible for mice, rats, roaches, bedbugs, and hail from the sky if it happens. 45 days for an eviction of a nonpaying tenant is not 6 months to a 1 year, and the tenant has access to a lawyer for free! I have no clue how the hedge fund makes a profit on the properties I sold them.
At this point if you got down on your knees and begged me to buy you're property, I'd only agree if you took back 100% financing at zero interest. Thank God for NY investors used to 0-4% returns.
I sold the last remaining 5 single houses 3 as part of a IRS 1031 exchange, the State of Pa waives capital gains as part of a 1031 but not the City of Philadelphia. One parting grab at the landlord's wallet.
The US dollar might be falling faster, compared to other currencies, but the overall pattern is the same. They are all falling. If you haven’t already, bite the bullet and get yourself some gold. And hang on for the ride
I was invested in very small ways in rental real estate here in Toronto in the 1970's and 1980's, and decided against it after about 15 years or so.. The reason? I found that instead of it being an "investment", I was getting involved in a "business" ! BIG difference.
There are other choices for financing retirement….pensions and real estate income. Selling nothing to finance our retirement.
I thought the investments WERE the retirement fund. What am I missing? Best always. PM