Halcyon Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 http://www.foxhillapartmentscasper.com/Floorplans.aspx Looks like if you'll consider an apartment there are some more affordable choices. Have you looked out of town, maybe in wheatland? :iagree: We live in an apartment, but we like it! And it's cheaper than most houses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennifersLost Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 All the "good" renters are paying the price of what the "bad" renters do to rentals - and believe me, there are legions of bad renters. We have been in the rental business for seven years and we learned pretty quickly that a tenant can do enough damage overnight to wipe out a year's worth of profit on a rental. One malicious tenant can wipe out many years' worth of profit if they know what they're doing. We make a profit on ours because we own ours outright. If the owners of your rentals don't own them outright, they're probably not making any money. (They're gaining equity hopefully, but that doesn't translate into cash on hand to fix things.) Many, many landlords right now are paying $ each month to a bank so that someone else can live in their rental house. That's got to really hurt. We learned early on the only way to keep going is to strip the rentals down to bare bones and forget about making them pretty - people will simply trash whatever you do to fix them up. It's sad, but true. The majority of people out there don't know how to care for a home, or don't have the money to do it, or think, "why should I bother; that's the landlord's job." And with housing prices and property taxes in many places so darn high, you can't even make the math work to make renting them out worthwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 http://www.foxhillapartmentscasper.com/Floorplans.aspx Looks like if you'll consider an apartment there are some more affordable choices. Have you looked out of town, maybe in wheatland? I drive by those all the time on the way to a friends house. We would need something with a yard for my wonderful dog. Wheatland is too far if we are trying to be closer to his work. We might just have to suck it up and fix this house. Thanks for all the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2abcd Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 In some areas you can buy for less than rent with a USDA Rural Development Loan. No money down. No PMI. You might want to check and see if this would work for your family. Great info about USDA loans http://usdamortgageonline.com/category/usda-loan-information/ Process http://www.rural-development-mortgage-guidelines.com/loan_process.htm Forms http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ga/GRH%20LENDER%20HANDBOOK%207-1-08.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Heck, we're north of Dallas (30 minutes away) and our rent for our 3 bdrm/2ba/2 garage apartment in a yuppie enclave is $1500 a month. Only includes water bill in that cost. :glare: Speculators are saying it is a landlord market. No concessions given to new renters and prices are going up, up, UP in this lousy economy. By 2015, if the bubble bursts on the rental market... then there will be LOTS of units for rent, cheap. Or if the economy still is lousy by then, regular rentals will be hard to find. I know of people who cannot afford to rent and put their stuff in storage to go live with family or friends just to save $$ for renting (building a fund). It is crazy. 3br apartments are ridiculous. We've considered renting a 3br around here, but apparently, that extra room is supposedly worth $300-500 extra a month. I think this is a big part of what is propping up the rental market bubble right now. Most families are used to having 3 or more bedrooms, but the majority of apartment communities only offer a small number of these, and a large number do not even have anything more than 2 br. So, huge demand drives those prices up. We could go to renting a house, but unless we want to live in a declining neighborhood, that's going to be at least $1200 a month in most cases. That does not include lawn care/ upkeep. And buying a house? No way. Houses here have been stagnant in terms of rising value, for decades. Before 2008, Texas was already dead last in the entire country in terms of equity gains in home ownership. That saved us some pain, as at least most people did not end up having tremendously upsidedown loans, as housing values here have never been inflated. But, the recession has obviously done nothing to reverse that trend. With all the new building that takes place, even at current reduced levels, means that older houses, or pre-owned houses, are more difficult to sell. Why would someone pay $250,000 for that 1600 sq. foot home in Grapevine, when they can go 20 minutes west, and have a home twice as big, brand new, for the same or less? So, no, we don't want to buy here, because then we'd pretty well stuck for at least 5-7 years. Maybe we could break even, if we wanted to sell at that point. We don't trust the "economic recovery" or job market enough to commit to being stuck in one area, if I lost my job. And the property taxes! Texas has some of the highest property taxes in the country! That's another reason, btw, our rent is high you know. We're paying those incorporated property taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterflymommy Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Maybe the market reflects 2+ wage earners living in a home. Our tenants pool 3 paychecks for the rent and we charge at the bottom of the market for the neighborhood (we charge exactly what section 8 would pay). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Well, we moved from NYC to Florida. We moved to an area where rents are considered high, but coming from NYC, everything looks cheap :) We WERE paying $3800 for a small 2 bedroom in Manhattan. We're now paying $1300 for a large 3 bedroom condo with 2 car garage in a gated community with pool and tennis. People say it's pricey; we don't think so LOL. Actually, that's not bad at all! Here though, a place like that would go for more like $1500+, which is just too much for us! We do like our 2b/ba though, with high ceilings, pool, tennis, workout room, sauna, and really close to a nice train station. :) Here's to apartment living. Cheers! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 JennifersLost: All the "good" renters are paying the price of what the "bad" renters do to rentals - and believe me, there are legions of bad renters. That's true. It's like anything else; we all suffer if some don't play by the rules. We have been in the rental business for seven years and we learned pretty quickly that a tenant can do enough damage overnight to wipe out a year's worth of profit on a rental. One malicious tenant can wipe out many years' worth of profit if they know what they're doing. I haven't even had a malicious tenant. Even a negligent tenant can cause a lot of damage. I have never had a profit. I don't charge enough rent. I have good tenants now and I don't want them to move! We make a profit on ours because we own ours outright. Oh, I'm so envious...:tongue_smilie: If the owners of your rentals don't own them outright, they're probably not making any money. (They're gaining equity hopefully, but that doesn't translate into cash on hand to fix things.) Many, many landlords right now are paying $ each month to a bank so that someone else can live in their rental house. That's got to really hurt. Yeah, no kidding. I'm not even doing that. We bought A DECADE AGO, but the stupid city decided to double taxes on rental homes. So the house next door to my residential rental only owes half the tax I have to pay. This meant there was no longer any cushion. On one house, I pay out ten dollars a month MORE than I take in every month. It wasn't this way in the beginning. I would never have purchased homes with no cash flow. No debt is the only way. We learned early on the only way to keep going is to strip the rentals down to bare bones and forget about making them pretty - people will simply trash whatever you do to fix them up. Well, mine are in nice neighborhoods within 5 minutes of my home, so I haven't had to do this. Actually one has a nicer kitchen than mine, but then there is a 65 year old couple with no kids and no pets living there, so it stays really nice. It's sad, but true. The majority of people out there don't know how to care for a home, or don't have the money to do it, or think, "why should I bother; that's the landlord's job." They only hurt themselves - or their kids, when they become tenants - by that sort of thinking. And with housing prices and property taxes in many places so darn high, you can't even make the math work to make renting them out worthwhile. No kidding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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