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Investors - LC / Re: How much is too much to invest in LC? and is it worth the effort?
« on: September 12, 2013, 04:07:04 PM »I worked construction since high school through some of college and know if I was a landlord I would be doing all the work myself because 1) I hate paying others for a skill (probably a lesser skill) than I have and 2) I'm want to know the work is reliable and I'm not getting duped and and I know how often shitty work happens having been on hundreds of work sites. It would literally suck all my time up - kiss grad school and alternative investments goodbye.
That's just me. Some people will find real estate still a decent investment, albeit real estate has a higher cost of entry for most people. but if we're commenting here that probably isn't a HUGE deal... Still most of the construction guys I worked with had property - the only ones that made anything were the guys who obviously had a better quality of life financially were the ones who could afford to put a sizeable amount down (30k+ on a 75k 2 flat or so) so they were banking $500-$1000 a month per property after taxes instead of $200-$300 (but paying down a mortgage). Most of those guys also went for section 8. I'm not looking to own a crap hole that hurts me everytime I have to look at it - even if the government does pay the bills.
You're right, doing the work yourself is absolutely necessary to maximize your profits. Plus, no one will do the work how I will. It is one of the reasons I will likely not buy another rental property unless I want to leave the corporate world and semi-retire. It all depends on the area you live in. I still manage to pull a good profit with 20% down ($762/month before income taxes, but after property taxes, principal & insurance, etc). Plus, when I bought interest rates were near their bottom so I opted to go with a 30 year.
Anyways, I got off topic, but I'll add that a third or a half is putting way too many eggs in one basket IMO.