I am in the process of purchasing my frist duplex. I think it would be a rental that would attract the top of the food chain when it comes to renters. Is it hard to find a tennant that will pay 700/mth rent plus utilities. seems like if thy could pay this they can buy there own house. Also all the horror stories i have been reading here is a little scary. is all the expence and time and effort worth all of this.thanks for youre help
Johnny,
I think it would be a rental that would attract the top of the food chain when it comes to renters. Is it hard to find a tennant that will pay 700/mth rent plus utilities.
It depends. If your duplex is in NYC or Hilton Head, then finding a tenant that will pay $700 for half of a duplex would probablly be easy. In my area of Ohio, it would be nearly impossible. Hopefully, you’ve done the research to know what rents you can expect in your area. You also should have done a cash flow analysis using real world expense numbers. Obviosuly, nothing that the seller said should be believed without verifying it.
The horror stories that you’ve heard are absolutely true. However, you should put this in perspective. When you first start, you will only have one duplex with 2 tenants. With any luck at all and if you thoroughly screen your tenants, you will have a good first experience. In my business, 90% of my tenants are good tenants. Another 9% have some issues at any given time, but are paying the rent. These are things like causing too much noise, doing drugs, buying a dog without getting permission, etc. Finally, there is the 1% each month that must be evicted. You should not be doing frequent evictions or having frequent drama when you only have a few rentals. As the numbers increase, the number of problems will naturally increase.
Good Luck,
Mike