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just wondering if any rental property owners here have put any thought into possible scenarios if the dollar collapses, it would be nice to compare my thoughts to yours. i have rental property that is my sole source of income, so yes it is a concern to me.

I own a rental house free and clear. I'm going to sell it as soon as It's vacant again. I would really like to pay off my mortgage and I hate being a landlord.

I feel as if I can raise rent only if wages increase, and they're not at his time.

I have 4 rural houses that I usually don't have a problem renting, all on some acreage. So far the downturn hasn't hit us as hard as other parts of the country but I currently have 3 of 4 renters who are behind in rent. My better half says I am too nice to them and I probably am but I have a hard time throwing someone out who is working, has a family and at least makes an effort to pay.
What kills me is the guy who says he doesn't have the rent yet but the kids playing in the yard tell me they just got a new flat screen TV and a bunch of new video games. I have found that there is a breed of folk out there who are professional moochers, paying on time for a few months and then falling behind, only to move out in the middle of the night owing a bunch and trashing the place.
I had that happen to my most desirable property (way out of town, secluded) and the repairs would have eaten up the next 2 years rent so I just cleaned it up, put it on the market at an exhorbitant price and sold it within a month. Paid off everything else plus some.
I am getting to where I don't like to deal with the rental problems and may sell out.

i have 4 houses as well and they are doing great right now, im getting $950 on 2 and a grand on the other 2. i did have 1 tennant i had to evict, i let them go 5 months before i did anything. it was a lesson learned, if they get a month behind now i just serve them. i enjoy being a landlord, actually enjoying not working most of all. 1 tennant i have is on disability and if government resources go away then so does his income.

franklin wrote:
What kills me is the guy who says he doesn't have the rent yet but the kids playing in the yard tell me they just got a new flat screen TV and a bunch of new video games. I have found that there is a breed of folk out there who are professional moochers, paying on time for a few months and then falling behind, only to move out in the middle of the night owing a bunch and trashing the place.

The ones who are constantly complaining about others cheating them, and the ones who make a big deal out of being some religion (makes no diff which).

What other give-aways?

97guns wrote:just wondering if any rental property owners here have put any thought into possible scenarios if the dollar collapses, it would be nice to compare my thoughts to yours. i have rental property that is my sole source of income, so yes it is a concern to me.

I don't know. Good luck with that. My best guest would be to make them pay in something of intrinsic value that they could come up with. How about paying in copper pennies? That is do-albe to the average american and the value would appreciate with inflation.

My parents owned a lot of rental property for lower middle income range families. We took care of the properties and did so with pride. It was a good source of income up until the mid 80's. Then Congress passed some law protecting renters against landlords. Soon, renters got real uppity! There went the profits. They could trash the place and there was not much you could do about it.

After my father passed away... Mom just was not as good a judge of character in people as Dad was. She always took in the hard luck stories. They could trash the place, steal mirrors off walls, even light bulbs. There were legal remedies for all that, but if the former renter is broke.... you were just screwed. My brothers and I talked Mom into selling them off. Whew! Good ridance!

The only way I would ever do it again is have really nice, upscale homes suitable to rent to upwardly mobil professional career people who could afford to put down large deposits and had a good career they did not want tarnished just in case you had to go after them.

97guns wrote:just wondering if any rental property owners here have put any thought into possible scenarios if the dollar collapses, it would be nice to compare my thoughts to yours. i have rental property that is my sole source of income, so yes it is a concern to me.

In the scenario you mention of a dollar collapse you would have hyperinflation in the picture. My concern would be getting paid in worthless paper. For example in the situation of a lease with 10 months left @ $1000 a month when the dollar collapsed then the renters would be thrilled to keep paying you that $1000/month since it might be the cost of a postage stamp.

Mossy:
re: making a big deal out of religion.

My first rental house was about 10 miles out in the country and when we first advertised it as being available, was contacted by a guy and his wife who wanted it but were leaving to go to Mexico to give out bibles and couldn't pay for rent for 6 months but wanted to move in RIGHT THEN! I politely declined because I needed the cash flow after purchasing the place and they tried to make me feel like feces for not trusting them to pay later.

franklin wrote:Mossy:
re: making a big deal out of religion.

My first rental house was about 10 miles out in the country and when we first advertised it as being available, was contacted by a guy and his wife who wanted it but were leaving to go to Mexico to give out bibles and couldn't pay for rent for 6 months but wanted to move in RIGHT THEN! I politely declined because I needed the cash flow after purchasing the place and they tried to make me feel like feces for not trusting them to pay later.

its all business, i cant go to the grocery store and get fronted 6 months worth of groceries. ive learned real quick that you cant fall for all their sob stories because they will take you to the cleaners if your not watching.

franklin wrote: My first rental house was about 10 miles out in the country and when we first advertised it as being available, was contacted by a guy and his wife who wanted it but were leaving to go to Mexico ... couldn't pay for rent for 6 months but wanted to move in RIGHT THEN! ...

They were going to be gone for 6 months, leaving the house empty?

Probably would have piled some of their friends in for free rent. However, I doubted their story from the beginning. I think it was just a scam.

I have 3 rental homes and am doing well with them all. I have 2 that I rent on short term ,maybe a week or weekend and have more than paid the costs of mortgage,ins.taxes

Currently hunting for new tenants for my wife's rental. Listen closely and you can hear my hair falling out. Thank goodness I have a very good person fielding the calls for me and setting up view slots.

Property:
Look down into the WVU football stadium from back deck w/ walking distance to WV's best hospital (and dental school)......$1350/month...no cats....any takers?

Am I worried? every second of every day, but inflation has nothing to do with it.

BamaJoe wrote:

97guns wrote:just wondering if any rental property owners here have put any thought into possible scenarios if the dollar collapses, it would be nice to compare my thoughts to yours. i have rental property that is my sole source of income, so yes it is a concern to me.

In the scenario you mention of a dollar collapse you would have hyperinflation in the picture. My concern would be getting paid in worthless paper. For example in the situation of a lease with 10 months left @ $1000 a month when the dollar collapsed then the renters would be thrilled to keep paying you that $1000/month since it might be the cost of a postage stamp.

Assuming there is a bank note on the property, you also would then be paying it off with worthless paper - unless its an adjustable rate.

When they sign the lease you have to make it clear..You are starting the kick out procedure the day after rent is LATE.

That's what I did and it's been much easier. I told them on the first day what the kick-out paperwork trail will look like and that it WILL happen the day after rent is late.

It's been great, rent is deposited in the account directly on time. I now am much more motivated to respond quickly to their concerns.

Inflation does bug me and I have considered the same issue. The main question:. can I raise rent to keep up, or do I burn a vacant rental house to the ground just for the fun of it?

Because the local taxing authority will surely raise the rates.

No82s wrote:

BamaJoe wrote:

97guns wrote:just wondering if any rental property owners here have put any thought into possible scenarios if the dollar collapses, it would be nice to compare my thoughts to yours. i have rental property that is my sole source of income, so yes it is a concern to me.

In the scenario you mention of a dollar collapse you would have hyperinflation in the picture. My concern would be getting paid in worthless paper. For example in the situation of a lease with 10 months left @ $1000 a month when the dollar collapsed then the renters would be thrilled to keep paying you that $1000/month since it might be the cost of a postage stamp.

Assuming there is a bank note on the property, you also would then be paying it off with worthless paper - unless its an adjustable rate.

Even an adjustable rate has caps, so a collapse in the dollar would blow through that.

franklin wrote:Mossy:
re: making a big deal out of religion.

My first rental house was about 10 miles out in the country and when we first advertised it as being available, was contacted by a guy and his wife who wanted it but were leaving to go to Mexico to give out bibles and couldn't pay for rent for 6 months but wanted to move in RIGHT THEN! I politely declined because I needed the cash flow after purchasing the place and they tried to make me feel like feces for not trusting them to pay later.

Don't blame "religion" for this. Blame these JERKS. They tried to pull a JERK MOVE and you were smart enough not to allow it.

There is no religion that promotes being a jerk. There is no religion that promotes not paying your bills!

Godly people (of whatever religion) pay their bills on time every time!

Evil people (of whatever claimed religion) make excuses for their actions and don't pay their bills.

Rodebaugh wrote:Currently hunting for new tenants for my wife's rental. Listen closely and you can hear my hair falling out. Thank goodness I have a very good person fielding the calls for me and setting up view slots.

Property:
Look down into the WVU football stadium from back deck w/ walking distance to WV's best hospital (and dental school)......$1350/month...no cats....any takers?

Am I worried? every second of every day, but inflation has nothing to do with it.

property near colleges are usually easily rentable, look into the potential tennants vehicle to see if its a pig sty. if it is chances are very good he will live in your house the same way, also check to see if his tags are current. you can call all the references in the world, he controlls who you call. he can easily have you calling his buddies as his work/prior rental references.

97guns wrote:

Rodebaugh wrote:Currently hunting for new tenants for my wife's rental. Listen closely and you can hear my hair falling out. Thank goodness I have a very good person fielding the calls for me and setting up view slots.

Property:
Look down into the WVU football stadium from back deck w/ walking distance to WV's best hospital (and dental school)......$1350/month...no cats....any takers?

Am I worried? every second of every day, but inflation has nothing to do with it.

property near colleges are usually easily rentable, look into the potential tennants vehicle to see if its a pig sty. if it is chances are very good he will live in your house the same way, also check to see if his tags are current. you can call all the references in the world, he controlls who you call. he can easily have you calling his buddies as his work/prior rental references.

Mom taught me that one.....the queen of snooping good thinking.

But great pointer on the tags too. thats a new one for me

I have 3 rentals I have rented for almost 10 years now and have had very little problems with tenants. The key here is to screen heavy upfront (credit checks, background checks, employment verification, previous rental history, ect) and always require large (1-2 months) security deposits upfront. If someone cant afford to move in under that criteria, then you don’t want them as a tenant. Never fall for the sob story. I have had tenants who fall behind (job loss, health problems) and I will work with them as long as they communicate and are paying the extra late fees. I never have been shorted. Many times I have had potential tenants who want to move in the same weekend without going through the necessary checks and I politely tell them to buzz off. One other thing I have found is when advertising for tenants use website advertising (rentals.com and their networks of sites) verses the news paper. I always tend to get better prospects who are "professionals" rather than the section 8 vagrants who are looking for the next place to trash.
The thing that gets me is as I get older and my kids get older, I have little time to manage the properties. When I was younger I had time to go make necessary repairs on the properties. This has been weighing heavily on me and I am thinking of trimming off one of the properties to free up some time with my kids.
Am I worried about hyper-inflation? Yes, but people always need somewhere to live. Rental rates go up as taxes and maintenance go up. It’s a hard asset that is in demand. I would rather have it than a bundle of worthless FRN's.

lol, I guess I better chime in here. I currently have 72 rental units. some commercial, most residential. some days I hate it, some days you love it. bought my 1st place at 21 or 22 and never looked back. I'm 36 now and the last few yrs I decided not to even look at residential anymore. My plan nowdays is almost like I used to play monopoly, buy all you can in a certain area that way you have a little more control over your surrounding. I live on a smallish Island (21k people) and am trying to corner most of the commercial RE that way you can control rent, which I NEVER raise unless taxes go up.period. I cant imagine more people not getting into RE atleast in the rental aspect. You invest a small amount of money up front and then your tenants pay off our mortgage and repairs for ya. If you have any brain what so ever YOU WILL MAKE MONEY!!!!! After about 10yrs of mentoring a friend of mine work with, hes finally buying a place off of me. of course if he'd have bought it 10yrs ago, he could've paid it off by now.
LOL I guess I went offtopic a little bit but I'm just very passionate about RE.
As far as the dollar collapse, yes its going to happen, BUT there will be another type of currency will take its place and then I'll just take that for rent

barrytrot wrote:There is no religion that promotes being a jerk. There is no religion that promotes not paying your bills!

Yes, there is. It's one we read about in the paper all the time. Their "preachers" encourage lying, cheating, robbing, murdering, and enslavement of anyone not of their faith. And they do make a big deal out of their faith, injecting religious comments into nearly every sentence. (Don't believe it? Do some basic research on them. Their holy book tells them they get heaven points for preying on unbelievers.)

I am under a death sentence from them for not being "of the book", so I'm keeping an eye on them.

But, they are not the ones I had in mind, and _most_ of them in the US are not devout, so they are not, presently, a problem.

Back to the original post I made: A con artist does not have to believe what he says, no matter how consistant he is in saying it. I've also run into one or two who /might/ have been so insane and focused on their version of their faith that they just did not keep track of secular matters. Their motive does not matter to me, their lack of reliability does matter to me.

misteroman wrote:lol, I guess I better chime in here. I currently have 72 rental units. some commercial, most residential. some days I hate it, some days you love it. bought my 1st place at 21 or 22 and never looked back. I'm 36 now and the last few yrs I decided not to even look at residential anymore. My plan nowdays is almost like I used to play monopoly, buy all you can in a certain area that way you have a little more control over your surrounding. I live on a smallish Island (21k people) and am trying to corner most of the commercial RE that way you can control rent, which I NEVER raise unless taxes go up.period. I cant imagine more people not getting into RE atleast in the rental aspect. You invest a small amount of money up front and then your tenants pay off our mortgage and repairs for ya. If you have any brain what so ever YOU WILL MAKE MONEY!!!!! After about 10yrs of mentoring a friend of mine work with, hes finally buying a place off of me. of course if he'd have bought it 10yrs ago, he could've paid it off by now.
LOL I guess I went offtopic a little bit but I'm just very passionate about RE.
As far as the dollar collapse, yes its going to happen, BUT there will be another type of currency will take its place and then I'll just take that for rent

very nice rock youve carved out for yourself, i picked my first up at 24, it was a triplex in las vegas. i soon found out that long range landlording does not work. i held the property for 4 years and went through 3 property managers, all of them were gambling with my money at the casino. i ended up dumping it for a 5K profit, 5 years later when housing crashed a had a nice chunk of change saved up. 2 are paid off and the other 2 have smallish motgages that im able to turn $450 positive on each. im content with the 4 i have, its more income than i need and i dont have to work for it thats what makes me so passionate about real estate.

97guns wrote:

misteroman wrote:lol, I guess I better chime in here. I currently have 72 rental units. some commercial, most residential. some days I hate it, some days you love it. bought my 1st place at 21 or 22 and never looked back. I'm 36 now and the last few yrs I decided not to even look at residential anymore. My plan nowdays is almost like I used to play monopoly, buy all you can in a certain area that way you have a little more control over your surrounding. I live on a smallish Island (21k people) and am trying to corner most of the commercial RE that way you can control rent, which I NEVER raise unless taxes go up.period. I cant imagine more people not getting into RE atleast in the rental aspect. You invest a small amount of money up front and then your tenants pay off our mortgage and repairs for ya. If you have any brain what so ever YOU WILL MAKE MONEY!!!!! After about 10yrs of mentoring a friend of mine work with, hes finally buying a place off of me. of course if he'd have bought it 10yrs ago, he could've paid it off by now.
LOL I guess I went offtopic a little bit but I'm just very passionate about RE.
As far as the dollar collapse, yes its going to happen, BUT there will be another type of currency will take its place and then I'll just take that for rent

very nice rock youve carved out for yourself, i picked my first up at 24, it was a triplex in las vegas. i soon found out that long range landlording does not work. i held the property for 4 years and went through 3 property managers, all of them were gambling with my money at the casino. i ended up dumping it for a 5K profit, 5 years later when housing crashed a had a nice chunk of change saved up. 2 are paid off and the other 2 have smallish motgages that im able to turn $450 positive on each. im content with the 4 i have, its more income than i need and i dont have to work for it thats what makes me so passionate about real estate.

Long range landlording can work I do some work with rentals in TX and IL. In relation to dollar collapses, heres something to thing about. If you believe inflation will occur heavily, one great strategy is to finance as much as you responsibly can. Your 300K Fixed loan will still be 300K (minus whatever was paid down) in 8 years even if 1 dollar turns into 2 dollars 8 years from now so you can pay it down much quicker. Another thing, I would recommend you dont take any sob stories. Rentals are a business not a charity. If you have a perfect track record for someone for 8 months and then they slip up late, give them a chance. If you have the person two months in not able to come up with rent, give them a 3 day notice (depending on which state you are in). Also if you are serious about rentals and have experience, I would recommend a property with no less than 40 units . 40-50 units is the minimum number of units where you can actually employ a full time manager or management company. Any less than that and you will most likely do it all yourself and your time will be limited to day to day operations and not focused on the next opportunity like you should be!

Lifelong renter here. I've had three landlords in thirty years, and for them it was like winning the lottery. I'd still be in the first house had both owners not passed away. At the second apartment I had to raise my own rent more than once since they were afraid I'd move out if they did it. After 11 years, they divorced and moved out of the country. Been in the current place 6 years. Told the owner he's responsible for the roof and the furnace...I'll fix or replace everything else. He used to come by to mow the grass and shovel snow until I put a stop to that. Rebuilt the garage last summer. Paving the driveway in June. Oh yeah...they love me

And he knows I can pay in PM or copper if the fiat collapses.