My husband and I recently acquired our first rental houses and we did not follow our due dilligence (I’ll admit it, we screwed up royally!) and these deals have left a sour taste in our mouth (not to mention a dent in our wallet). We just want to sell these houses and get on with it. Does anybody know of any quick way to get rid of houses? I know this seems like a silly question, but I’m looking for something similar to Homevestors. Any suggestions or ideas?
If you’re looking to just dump them, have you tried calling any of the “we buy houses” ads in your area?
How about the local REIA group? Have you visited them?
What is the specific problem with the house(s)? Is the problem fixable? And if so, would that make you want to keep them?
Raj
Post some more details…including the mistakes you made. I’m sure the experienced investors will be more able to give you an educated opinion…and also probably help you so you don’t make the same mistake again that you made on this property.
Where do I start? LOL!
We got a package deal and purchased two houses at once.
Well, we expected one of the houses to have a tenant already in it. Our mistake was not getting that in writing. We closed on the house and the next day, discovered the tenant had moved out. So we found ourselves having to cover a mortgage that we were not prepared for.
It has taken the previous owner 2 months to finish repairs on the house. The owner was to complete all repairs, that was part of the contract. However, I did not have a specific time frame regarding when that was to be finished, so we have had to cover 2 months of mortgage on one of our rentals because the repairs were not complete and the house wasn’t ready for any tenants to move in.
Dealing with the previous owners has been a real headache and the deals have just left a bad taste in our mouths. We are having a hard time finding tenants to move in, the amount we are asking for rent is too much, but if we decrease our asking amount, we’d be taking a hit in the pocket.
We just want to move on and find other deals. These houses are costing us too much in time, money and gas!
Inittowinit
I thought about that as well when I first was geting started then it dawned on me for basic numbers let’s say that your mortgage is $1,100 and you want to rent it for $1,100 to at least break even. Now lets say it takes 2 months to find a tenant at the 1100.00 a month rate that is 2,200 out of pocket for you now lets say you find someone for 1,000.00 per month and can move them in next week on a 1 year lease. so that is a loss of 100 per month on the other hand you rented it out real quick and saved that $2,200.00 now at this point you divide that $2,200.00 that you saved you saved 183.33 per month for that full year by renting it at a lower amount!
I know it is a bad situation when they are not cash flowing on the other hand some money is better then no money!
Not sure what the rents are your asking or the current market rates, but take the following numbers for example purposes.
Mortgage = $1000
Market Rent = $850
Your asking = $1100
No tenant = $1000 (plus other holding costs)/month
If you adjust your rent to $800, you would be below market, but $1000-$850 = $150/month loss.
That is less than $1000/month
Wow carlittle we must be thinking alike today!!!
That may be exactly what I have to do Car and Reo. I figure taking a small hit is better than taking a big one.
Remember the longer you wait the harder the hit!