Bad timing
-
I'm starting to think more seriously about the possibility of renting this place out. The mortgage is in a good spot, with half of the payment going to principal, so it's a piggy bank. The rent would pay for that entirely, even after income taxes. The risk involved would be bad tenants, which landlords have little defense against in California. My selling agent has a property management company we could use to handle the rental, and according to her, about 50% of renters exit gracefully if asked, 25% will cost you two months rent, and 25% are worst case squatters. The other complicating factor is the tax exemption for home sale profits, which requires you to have lived in the home for 2 of the past 5 years. That would effectively impose a three year time limit on selling, after we move out. Otherwise the tax hit would lock us into renting it out permanently. I would be very motivated to sell it within three years. Lots of moving parts.
The other advantage to keeping the place is protection against job loss catastrophe. In the case of income loss, we could sell the TX place and move back to this easy mortgage.
-
I have seen my dad operate as a long-distance landlord. It's not pretty.
I may have forgotten, but why exactly do you want to move? I know it is not a have-to situation. I'm wondering if the benefits are worth the risks in an uncertain market, especially with the tech sector looking shaky.
-
Don't know what you guys are talking about. Being a landlord is the road to riches. At least that's what people trying to sell me property keep telling me.
-
@Mik said in Bad timing:
I have seen my dad operate as a long-distance landlord. It's not pretty.
Did he go through a property management company? I imagine it would be a nightmare otherwise. My agent's company charges 10% of rent and advises repairs will cost 5%. But they handle all the repair work.
I may have forgotten, but why exactly do you want to move? I know it is not a have-to situation. I'm wondering if the benefits are worth the risks in an uncertain market, especially with the tech sector looking shaky.
Just quality of life. It's a no brainer bad decision financially. But I'm 50 now and I would like to live somewhere I (we) really like.
-
I'm not sure if he did or not. Knowing my dad, probably not.
I can certainly understand that desire. My recommendation would be to rent a VRBO in a place where you are thinking about - maybe several places - for a couple weeks to see if living there is as nice as you imagine. You can work anywhere so it would be transparent to your employers.
-
Ive always been afraid of the idea here due to such tenant-friendly laws.
Steve Miller did it a lot, in CA. You should pop over there and ask him.
One thing I remember he would do is get a reference from the prospective tenant’s second-to-last landlord. Current landlord might lie just to make the tenant your problem instead of his.
Of course he was a contractor and managed everything himself, which changes the economics.
-
25% Squatters? Fuck that…
-
Just got an offer at the new ask, with a deadline of 24 hours to accept. They could have made this offer while the ask was 5% higher.. it's not like we didn't expect to negotiate. But whatever. I don't think there's much in the way of competition at this price, or we'd have gotten some offer before. We have a showing coming up later this afternoon, I guess we'll wait to see if they want to compete. This price reduction appears to have worked. And the price still grabs most of the increases from the past couple years. Hopefully it's a solid offer.
-
Nice! Good luck.
-
@jon-nyc said in Bad timing:
Nice! Good luck.
Thanks Jon. Lots could go wrong yet, but we'll be accepting this offer. It's from a person who saw the property a week ago. The agent couldn't figure out the lock box so I had to come and let them in. We were at the local park waiting for the showing to happen. I figure seeing how awesome the current owner is, was the clincher for them.
-
@Horace said in Bad timing:
I figure seeing how awesome the current owner is, was the clincher for them.
That's our @Horace - humble as ever.
Hope it works out for you.
Do you have a place in Texas lined up? Will the timing work for getting out/getting in? Every time we moved, that was a major PITA.
-
@George-K said in Bad timing:
@Horace said in Bad timing:
I figure seeing how awesome the current owner is, was the clincher for them.
That's our @Horace - humble as ever.
Hope it works out for you.
Do you have a place in Texas lined up? Will the timing work for getting out/getting in? Every time we moved, that was a major PITA.
Thanks George. It will be a PITA for us too. With our two big dogs. Our place in Texas is under contract, but not completed yet. The amount of money at risk isn't a big deal. If we close soon, we'll move to an AirBnB and continue shopping for homes. If we see something we like, we'll negotiate with the builder of the current place. They think they will be done by November, but that could easily change. The electricity to the development is not hooked up yet, and that is out of their control.
-
@George-K said in Bad timing:
@Horace said in Bad timing:
They think they will be done by November,
Whoa...
They think...LOL.
Every time I've bought/sold a place, it's been 90 days, and you're right on the cusp of that.
Hope it works out for you, and gratz!
Thanks. It could easily be into 2023 before the builder can give us the keys. They have no time limit in the earnest money contract.
-
@Horace said in Bad timing:
@Mik said in Bad timing:
Is it in the Houston area or Austin?
Houston. Near Katy.
Nice area. You'll have the amenities of a large city without living in one. Take a Sunday drive out to Chappell Hill Sausage Company. Yum.