So you must be in the rental business.
No. These are personal houses. I own two in Florida (one in St Augustine and one in Bradenton, about an hour south of Tampa on the gulf coast), one here in Georgia, and one in Italy (our retirement home).
My reasons are purely personal. I have 3 kids, and I always wanted to be able to leave a house to each of my children when I kick. I will now be able to do that. The three houses I presently have, I own. They are paid off. The newest the one, in Bradenton, is on a 10 years note. So, I hope to live to pay that one off before I kick, too. lol
Recently I sold the house in New Jersey. My sister was living there rent free, but, she was covering the expenses of the house. I recently sold it to her.
I uesd to own 18 houses but I sold them before the crash. After I got hurt from a car accident I just couldn't maintain them anymore and I want it done correct the first time. Too many cobble it up and grab the money people around here to suite me. I kept all my houses on a 5 year rotation. First year they all got new furnaces, a coils and condensing units plus I would get one extra condencing unit for storage, econd year they all would get new matching refrigerators plus one bought for storage, third year it was new hot water heaters, fouth year would be new ranges with one for storage, fifth year it would be paint. The sixth year they didn't get furnaces unless they had been too many problems with the batch so it was only new a coils and new condensing units.
You walk in to an appliance store and tell them you want 19 matching refrigerators, ranges or 18 hot water heaters and you can get some much better prices. Same with the furances and all the A/C a coils and condensers. I could sell off the used refrigerators and ranges for about 1/2 of what the news ones cost me. the condensing units with the a coil would bring about $200 each. I scrapped the furances but saved some parts. The water heaters all went to scrap.
Yes, most people don't recognize the costs of owning rental properties. It isn't for wimps. We owned a few rentals when we lived in Jersey. When we moved to Georgia, the supply line from Georgia to NJ was too long, so I sold them off, except for one, which was the one we lived it. It was a 3500 square foot Dutch Colonial, with an attached 2 car garage, and a detached 2 car garage (carriage house) with a 4 room apartment above.
When we moved south, my sister her husband and their 5 kids moved into our house. I didn't charge them any rent, and in turn they covered the costs, taxes, and up keep of the house, and did great job. I sold that house to them a little over a year ago, for about 1/4 fair market value, and agreed to hold the mortgage for them. Essentially they are getting a Half million dollar house in Clifton, NJ, for $135,000 with no interest, and 10 years to pay for it.
They can even rent out the 4 room apartment above the second garage. It's 2 bedroom, 1 3/4 bath, with a large kitchen, and a good size living room. Realtor says the can pull down about $1200 a month for the apartment, more if they included the garages beneath.
