Looking for other viewpoints, maybe how other people weigh the negatives on something thats been nagging at me all year.
Cheap houses, reos/desperate sellers/etc. I have family that lives in a small to medium sized town in Michigan. Houses that were selling for $60-$100k a couple years ago are now selling for $6-$30k.
I love the idea of being a snowbird, everytime I look at the mls(pretty much every week) I want to clean out my bank account and drive up there and buy a few houses.
Bought one there this spring that my brother lives in, pretty strong rental market rents go from $450-$700. The city has some run down spots, but is not big enough to have what I think of as entrenched ghetto areas, where its miles to get to a good neighborhood.
What are the downsides here? The houses need some work...I work on crappy houses all the time to make a living.
Dealing with renters sucks...dealing with customers sucks at times as well.
House may go down in value...not a whole lot of room between purchase price and zero.
Too many vacancies while having to pay insurance and taxes...not sure on this, seems like you could always lower the rent a little to get a tenant, maybe that would let you be pickier about the tenant.
No work there and depleting what little cash I have seem to be the biggest negatives.
This sounds really terrible and I feel for the people selling houses(I have 2 I wouldn't mind selling in Al) but.. I am eagerly awaiting winter to see what new depths the real estate market may sink to.
Any Thoughts?
Cheap houses, reos/desperate sellers/etc. I have family that lives in a small to medium sized town in Michigan. Houses that were selling for $60-$100k a couple years ago are now selling for $6-$30k.
I love the idea of being a snowbird, everytime I look at the mls(pretty much every week) I want to clean out my bank account and drive up there and buy a few houses.
Bought one there this spring that my brother lives in, pretty strong rental market rents go from $450-$700. The city has some run down spots, but is not big enough to have what I think of as entrenched ghetto areas, where its miles to get to a good neighborhood.
What are the downsides here? The houses need some work...I work on crappy houses all the time to make a living.
Dealing with renters sucks...dealing with customers sucks at times as well.
House may go down in value...not a whole lot of room between purchase price and zero.
Too many vacancies while having to pay insurance and taxes...not sure on this, seems like you could always lower the rent a little to get a tenant, maybe that would let you be pickier about the tenant.
No work there and depleting what little cash I have seem to be the biggest negatives.
This sounds really terrible and I feel for the people selling houses(I have 2 I wouldn't mind selling in Al) but.. I am eagerly awaiting winter to see what new depths the real estate market may sink to.
Any Thoughts?