Good tenants are the most important thing by far, as everyone else said.

Screen them, check their pay stubs, look at their cars, look at how they present themselves etc. If anything seems off, pass.

Learn to do basic repairs etc yourself. 90% of house related stuff is easy and costs a tiny fraction of what most handymen will charge. Do have the number of good pros for stuff that is out of your league (I stay the hell away from plumbing for example). Try to be on top of maintenance, ounce of prevention = pound of cure and all that. Have a plan for what you do when the unit turns over as far as cleaning/paint/carpet etc.

I would stay away from any bs fees or other gotchas. Based on the price you mentioned I doubt you are dealing with slum type property so best to just stay above board.

battagd1, I was always an ideal tenant and I would never have even considered renting from you with your ridiculous demands. They do seem a good indicator of a bad landlord, though

Completely agree...generally speaking, no good tenant will accept a deal like that (which, by the way, is illegal in California at least).

State law might make that security fee in your proposal illegal. And subject to triple damages + attorney fees if you get caught.

Home warranties are for suckers. Generally terrible advice except tenant credit check.

This is illegal in NYS. By law I am required to have their security deposit in an interest-accruing account and have it reimbursed at maturity of lease. I cannot claim half of their security deposit as non refundable.

My parents have preached finding good tenants is essential. After weeding out the first three I feel content with whom I signed with.

Does anyone know by experience how taxes work? With write offs? I learned I cannot apply for NSTAR public school tax relief because I do not reside in my unit adding ~700$ annually in taxes.

im not sure he understands what the word deposit means, which, from reading his post, is not surprising.

You don't even know what a write off is!

Do you?

You are pretty judgmental

I have been a fair landlord but made my demands very clear. Have multiple properties and I'm yet (knock on wood) to experience any trouble.

Are we going to answer and offer advice or troll this thread?

I know there are certain write-offs owning property with installing new windows, repairs, etc....I'm looking to maximize ROI by asking experienced landlords what they [already] went through

Any expense towards the property will lower your net revenue from the property and lower your taxable income.

Not trolling but at the same time won't take ridiculous crap comments from others who are being rude to me.

Like I told you before PM me with questions and I will help you.

Not sure why everyone is hating on batty so much. I've seen numerous apartments say things like $250 pet deposit, $100 non refundable.

I'm trying to find my first home now, so I'm enjoying this thread.

I'm interested in getting the input of people who flip houses. What would be the fair price for a house you bought at 69k and spent 5k on?

Also for everyone, would it be fair if a buyer offered a seller the amount the seller originally paid plus ten percent for each year the seller has owned the home? And let's say the seller has owned the home for a year, for five years, or for ten years. Would that impact whether ten percent a year was fair?

The second paragraph isn't tied to the first.

given the details, 72k

Doc your questions make no sense.

I hope you aren't getting into flipping houses based on what you just wrote...

Sarcasm detected.

Sorry, I'm uneducated and trying to learn.

The first situation involves a house where I know how much someone paid for a house, have an idea on how much they spent on repairs, and know how much they want for it now. Without having you be influenced by the selling price, I want to see what you think is a fair price.

No, just trying to see if there is a guideline a potential buyer could follow to make fair offers to sellers. If I owned a house and someone offered me what amounted to a ten percent profit for every year I owned the house, I'd think that was pretty good. But I'm not a home seller so I might be all wet.

The market will dictate how much should be paid for the house. It's not a simple equation.

People don't make/accept offers based on how long they've owned the house haha

How much are other houses in the area of similar size/# of bedrooms etc... selling for? That's where you'll find out what's fair.

I get what you two are saying. If I bought a house for 250k in a depressed market, held it for two years, and it was worth 375k, I would laugh if someone offered me 300k.

It's been implied, but the guidelines for house prices are usually what comparable homes have sold for in the area recently. It's always felt like this is a slightly flawed way of doing things to me, so I'd be interested in hearing from someone with a lot of experience if more knowledgeable people take advantage of this fact.

So with flipping you need to be even smarter and know both what's a good deal for a house's current condition as well as how much you will invest and what price you'll be able to get after you invest that money.

As I stated earlier, the two paragraphs aren't related. To put it another way, I am not interested in buying the property in the first paragraph and basing my offer on the criteria in the second paragraph.

I will freely admit I am something of a lookie lou and the property was one I toured due to the era it was built. It was in pretty bad shape when I saw it and thought it a tear down with the only value being the lot. I was surprised when someone bought it and am now curious as to what others think would be a good price. I can add that the current owner has had the house for about eighteen months.

That's what we're saying - the price of that house is based on its new condition and the current market. It's not based on how much it was bought for and how much investment was put into it (although I've seen realtors try to pull that trick before when it helped their case).

Exactly.

What the previous person bought it for and how much $$$ they put into it is irrelevant. The price is set by the market. Without a sheet load of other details no one here can tell you what a fair price would for the $69k + $5k renovations house. If they fixed some flaw which made the house unsellable/unfinanceable (leaky roof etc) the price could have gone up substantially. If they spent $5k on a new hot tub, not so much.

Go to Zillow or whatever and Look at houses in the area which have similar sq footage, # of bedrooms and are in similar condition are going for and determine what a fair price is for the house today.
The fair price will have zero to do with how much they paid in renovations.

I should say that I toured the house again on Sunday and it looks like the seller spent the money on clean up, new paint, applicances, and carpet. Of course new electrical and such wouldn't be obvious.

The value of the house is skewed I think because the other houses in the area are much newer.

I was going to suggest if someone wanted a long distance project they should look at another house I saw but it looks like it has been pulled from the market. It was this house. It looked a lot worse than the pictures show.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/47...66444756_zpid/