My husband and I own two rental homes and are currently looking to buy another one. We have been on a house hunt for awhile now, have a hard working, dedicated realtor and have put in a few offers, but none have worked out so far. Buying a home as an investor is a lot different from buying a home that you plan on spending many years in raising your family. It is much easier to “walk away” when you don’t have any emotional ties to the home.
As investors, we look for great floor plans, safe areas and well maintained homes that can be fixed up quickly for incoming tenants. We like to buy the home, have the carpet professionally shampooed, make a few fixes and give the home a fresh coat of paint both inside and out before listing it for lease. These are the perfect types of homes for us. We do not want to tackle a complete overhaul of a run down home before being able to place it on the market for lease.
We looked at a few HUD homes awhile back and here is what we found:
HUD homes can be hard to purchase since multiple bids are collected, but when the prices are right, they are well worth the try. We were not able to purchase the home above, but with a little TLC and a fresh coat of paint, this house would have been a winner.
Have you ever considered investing in rental homes? It is a great way to “make money while you sleep” as long as you are willing to purchase multiple properties. Owning just one rental home really isn’t worth it. An investor must own multiple properties before these investments truly pay off. In order to keep from involving ourselves in collecting rent and becoming “maintenance men,” we also have a property manager that takes care of everything from screening tenant applications to handing out eviction notices.
Do you have an investment plan for the future? If so, we’d love to hear about it.