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Single Family Homes - The Most Viable Options For the First Time Investor!
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Apr 12, 2012, 18:47
Single family homes are one of the most viable options for the first time
investor. They tend to maintain their pricing better over other types of
properties. When you plan to sell a single family home, your pool of potential
buyers includes both investors and people looking to buy a home for their own
family.
Both the buying and selling of a single family home is a safer and easier
process than some of the other investment options, especially for those who
already own a home. If the single family homes in your area are expensive, you
could consider a more affordable option of purchasing a townhome. The
disadvantage of owning townhome is that it comes with a monthly HOA (home owner
association) payment that you need to consider when doing your cash flow
calculation. Also, townhomes tend to appreciate less than a comparable single
family home. Remember, the number one rule is to be cash flow positive when you
get into the real estate investment business. Renters prefer a single family
home to townhomes but if the townhomes are roomy and spacious, they are a good
sell to the renters as well. Location is a consideration also. For example, a
townhome in California may be a good choice while in Texas it may not be
desirable. Land is plentiful in Texas and people typically prefer a single
family home over a townhome.
What to look for when purchasing single family home?
Many factors need to be considered before you purchase a single family home or
townhouse for investment purposes. There is a terminology used in real estate –
location, location, location. While location is an extremely important aspect to
consider, you also need to factor in the purchase cost and the projected cash
flow before acquiring rental properties.
The first thing to consider, of course, is the price of the property. You must
determine whether the rental income I the area will be enough for you as an
investor to be cash flow positive. Don’t buy a property unless you are sure
about being cash flow positive. The alt thing you want to do is pay the mortgage
from your own pocket month after month.
Typically a three or four bedroom house is a good choice. If this is an older
neighborhood, chances are the typical size is three bedroom. But if you can find
a four bedrooms (approx 2000-2400 square foot home) it will appeal to a broader
set of families. i.e. a family with two children.
Do not buy a very big home since you may limit your pool of potential renters. A
larger home is more expensive and you need a higher rent to produce cash flow,
and typically renters do not want t a very big home. The same logic applies to
homes in the best school district. The higher price that you will pay to acquire
such a property may be not be compensated by the slightly higher rent that you
can command. You should run the cash flow numbers to determine this.
You also need to look at the neighborhood. Is it safe, is it a growing market in
terms of job and economy and companies? Would renters prefer staying in this
area versus other areas of the city? Are the schools of this neighborhood good
enough? The answers to these questions will be of interest to a family
considering renting the property. Are groceries stores and malls accessible from
the rental property? normally that should not be an issue but sometimes, in
newer construction areas, the lack of nearby shopping could be a problem.
Buying a home in a good school district is important, but buying one in the best
school district where home prices are much higher may not provide enough higher
rent to produce good cash flow. Look for a balance between cash flow potential
and a good school district.
Another aspect to look at is whether in the neighborhood most people are home
owners or renters. There could be several reasons why a certain neighborhood
appeals more to home owners, instead of renters and you need to be aware of
that. You don’t want to be struggling to find renters for your property.
If you are a hands-on person in terms of fixing and enhancing a home, you could
also look at the option of finding a good deal on a not so well maintained
single family home and then do the work on it on an economical scale. This way
your cost basis is well under the mark and you are much more cash flow positive.
This is a very lucrative option for a number of investors.
You can also attend some seminars on real estate in order to complement your own
research. The information you will gain there is beneficial when you are looking
at single family homes in areas you are not familiar with. You could ask area
related questions during these seminars and get more insight into the trends and
intricacies of that particular region. For example, in some states, having the
master bedroom downstairs in a two story house was the norm. But in other
states, having the master bedroom downstairs was out of the norm. When you are
purchasing your rental property, you need to also look at these factors so you
don’t purchase something that is the “odd one out”.
In order to remain cash flow positive, your purchase prices need to be as low as
possible. We were living in a state where house prices were typically high and
therefore investing in homes for rental in that state would not have been a
sound decision. After doing some research and visiting a few states where real
estate was typically more affordable, we narrowed our filed down to a few states
where we could purchase good properties on a reasonable cost basis. Georgia and
Texas seemed to be good choice for a typical first time investor to purchase
single family homes. We focused on newer properties in master planned
communities with good school district to attract a good profile of renters.
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