Leasing out your S&B home?

[Yaj]

Hello friends!
We want to go full time but don't want to give up the S&B yet.
It's a nice older home (70's) on a lake just North of Milwaukee.
We believe we should be able to get top dollar for a lease so we anticipate attracting a good caliper tenant.
That said we are trying to figure out the best way to market the home for lease. We would like to get the ball rolling A.S.A.P. hopefully by spring or early summer.
The question for any of you that have already done this type of thing is; How did you market the home?
We certainly would like to hear any thing that may help us do this as properly as possible.

I will check this thread often and any thoughts will be immensely appreciated!!!

[sowego]

We left our past residence in 2005, hired a property manager we trusted and moved away. We've had only 2 renters, both great, the latest has been in there for 6 years. We visited the house a little over a year ago...it looks as nice as when we left. At this point we intend to keep it rented. So far our property manager has been wonderful and never allowed anyone in any of his properties that caused damage. Even though the house is 1500 miles we are confident everything is ok. We don't intend to ever live in it again so we may indeed sell it.

[Executive45]

Larryzv7 wrote:
the HOA is another thing that I want to be rid of.

AMEN !!! ....:W......Dennis

[Larryzv7]

I agree with what others are saying about your furniture; if you’re going to store it, store it for one or two months and no longer, as it is a waste of money.

Make 3-categories; 1) things you will throw away, 2) things you will give away, and 3) things you will keep in your RV. Only keep the things in your RV that are functional and that you will use; like I took my Sleep Number Bed out of my house and put it in the RV. Discarded the RV mattress. I also took my 50” flat-screen TV from the house and put it in the RV.

The only reason I am renting my house is because the market was turned upside down when I decided to go fulltime RVing, but come spring I will once again review the market in my area and determine whether to put my house on the market or not. My tenants lease has expired and I do want to sell my house and be done with it.

The other thing is homeowner associations, which you may or may not have, and if you have one while you are renting your home you still have to pay HOA Dues and have your tenant comply with By-Laws, etc. The HOA holds the owner responsible regardless whether you rent out your property or not; the HOA is another thing that I want to be rid of.

[Ron_Butler]

Some very good responses. Here is our experience with leasing our home out for 7 years while we traveled fulltime.

We were fortunate in that my stepson and his wife live across the street from us and rented their home from us! Our daughter-in-law acted as the "rental manager" (we had another rental house several blocks away) and had repairmen lined up if needed.

If your not that fortunate, by all means, go through a rental agency.

Second, and most importantly - no matter how good your think your renters are or will be, they will very seldom maintain your home and property they way you would. Just realize that there will be painting and flooring replacement to do when you move back in, if you do. We did and even though we only live there during the summer, we are still getting caught up with that and getting the yard back in shape!!

I forgot what or if you mentioned what you were going to do with your furniture. Get rid of it!! Storage fees alone will buy you new furniture when you move back in!! We know!! :B Only store or parcel out what is regarded as family, irreplaceable heirlooms.

With the improving real estate market, you may want to consider selling and stashing the money to go back into a home. After you spend a winter down in the south with the sunshine all winter, no snow or rain, why go back to it?!? That's why we are now in SC and love it!

Good luck with your decision and enjoy your travels. We loved our fulltime travel experiences.

[Larryzv7]

I am renting my property while I full-time RV. The easiest way to go about it is decide how much rent you want to charge on a monthly basis, and how much of a deposit you want, then call a reputable property management company and ask them their rates and services. It’s a wonderful thing to have an extra rental income every month. I currently have a very good tenant renting my property.

Now I don’t know about Wisconsin; my property is located in California. I am charging $1,500.00/month with a $1,500.00 deposit, which is in line with other rentals in my neighborhood. I pay the property management company a flat one hundred dollars monthly to manage my property. I am sharing these details with you because some property management companies will charge you and arm and a leg; they will want a percentage of the rent and have you pay them even if the property is empty, etc.

I have an excellent property management company which has licensed realtors and their own maintenance and repair crew, etc. They pay for all of the advertising and marketing because they can write it off on their taxes. Their maintenance and repair crew is excellent and reasonably priced. They interview prospective tenants in their office and do the background check at no expense to me, and then telephone me to let me know of potential renters. I have the final say based on what the property management company found in their background check. I do not meet the prospective tenants because I am out-of-state fulltime RVing.

So these are some of the things you might want to consider. As you will be full-time RVing I strongly suggest a property management company because you will not be in the area to interview prospective renters, etc., and if anything on your property breaks down, the dishwasher, etc., the property management company can handle it and let you know via a phone call what your options are, etc. Things are a lot easier with a good reputable property management company then they are doing it yourself.

[bigdogger]

campigloo wrote:

bigdogger wrote:

campigloo wrote:
P.S. Check into putting the house into a LLC. Not only will it legally protect you, you may be able to take depreciation.

Once you do that, you may lose the ability to take advantage of the IRS rule that allows up to a $500,000 per couple gain on your personal residence to be tax free. Make it a rental property, start depreciating and when you go to sell it you could face literally $100,000s in tax liability, especially if they have owned the home since the 70s. Probably bought it for less than $100,000 and it now is probably worth at least 4 or 5 times that. Have a tax and estate specialist go over all the pros and cons.

Value the house at 100,000 today, take 10 years depreciation, have it valued at 1,000,000 in ten years? Sign me up!

The home is from the 70s. If it cost 100k then, it can easily be worth 600k today. Sell it as your residence, that 500,000 gain is tax free for a couple. Turn it into rental property, that gain may be subject to 20% capital gains tax, 3.8% healthcare passive income tax and state taxes. Also,any depreciation taken is subject to recapture when the property is sold. Depending on an individuals tax brackets at the time, that can cost more than they save. That is an incentive to be very careful.

[campigloo]

bigdogger wrote:

campigloo wrote:
P.S. Check into putting the house into a LLC. Not only will it legally protect you, you may be able to take depreciation.

Once you do that, you may lose the ability to take advantage of the IRS rule that allows up to a $500,000 per couple gain on your personal residence to be tax free. Make it a rental property, start depreciating and when you go to sell it you could face literally $100,000s in tax liability, especially if they have owned the home since the 70s. Probably bought it for less than $100,000 and it now is probably worth at least 4 or 5 times that. Have a tax and estate specialist go over all the pros and cons.

Value the house at 100,000 today, take 10 years depreciation, have it valued at 1,000,000 in ten years? Sign me up!

[jhlady]

Yaj,

Look in your local Sunday paper under houses for rent/lease. You will see agencies that specialize in this type of thing. Call them and go from there. A word of advice, make sure you understand how they deal with and charge for repairs. This is often a bone of contention and unless you are close by and handy with basic home repairs you could incur additional costs. I had a kitchen sink faucet that was leaking. I call a property maintenance company and they sent out a journeyman plumber, that didn't even have basic supply parts like faucet washers, couldn't find the right ones at HD, and ended up having to have them replace the faucet. Cost of parts plus union wage for the install. Ran about $500 as I recall. Just something to be aware of and clarify before you step into this situation.

Good luck!

John

[restlesswind]

I agree with the advice to get an agent that specialises in rentals.
You may go thru several tennants before getting the one you want to keep for a long time.Our forth one has proved a "keeper"

An advantage to renting the home out is that the monthly income can exceed
interest that you could get from a a good share of investments these days.(If your payment is low or even better,no payment.)


Works for us,8 years now. We know that we may need to back and live in the house for two
years prior to selling it.

[bigdogger]

campigloo wrote:
P.S. Check into putting the house into a LLC. Not only will it legally protect you, you may be able to take depreciation.

Once you do that, you may lose the ability to take advantage of the IRS rule that allows up to a $500,000 per couple gain on your personal residence to be tax free. Make it a rental property, start depreciating and when you go to sell it you could face literally $100,000s in tax liability, especially if they have owned the home since the 70s. Probably bought it for less than $100,000 and it now is probably worth at least 4 or 5 times that. Have a tax and estate specialist go over all the pros and cons.

[campigloo]

P.S. Check into putting the house into a LLC. Not only will it legally protect you, you may be able to take depreciation.

[Mile-High-Endur]

IMO if you hang on to the ol' S&B for a safety net you won't give it your best effort to make fulltiming work. Might as well be a snowbird. We've been fulltiming for over 2 years. We do have an exit plan but hopefully that won't happen for sometime.

Jeff 🙂

[campigloo]

I have made a pretty decent living off renters for a few decades now. While there are some that are less than desirable, most are good people that rent for many reasons. The most popular statement from people that have never leased out a property is that renters are by default dead beats and are just going to trash your property. NOT SO. Find a leasing agent from the local area. Most I hear of charge 10% per month and a small fee for new leases. Where they get you is maintenance. Most of them use top notch people but don't shop price. They just call a craftsman and deduct from the rent. Don't expect your property to be in the same condition as when you left it. Yes, you may have to replace some flooring and paint, but that is what the rent and deposits are for. Charge top dollar for your property; don't get nervous if it sits a little while. The higher the price, generally the better the tenant. Notify your insurance company. If you are doing this long term, keep an eye on the neighborhood. If it starts to decline, it may be time to bail. Don't fall in love with your house. It's just a house, not your home. Get a good leasing agent and relax. It is not as risky as some may lead you to believe.

[BarbaraOK]

Yaj wrote:
Hello friends!
We want to go full time but don't want to give up the S&B yet.
It's a nice older home (70's) on a lake just North of Milwaukee.
We believe we should be able to get top dollar for a lease so we anticipate attracting a good caliper tenant.
That said we are trying to figure out the best way to market the home for lease. We would like to get the ball rolling A.S.A.P. hopefully by spring or early summer.
The question for any of you that have already done this type of thing is; How did you market the home?
We certainly would like to hear any thing that may help us do this as properly as possible.

I will check this thread often and any thoughts will be immensely appreciated!!!

Once you finish fulltiming and get use to spending winters where the sun is shining and it is warm, will you really want to go back to that house and the cold winters, especially at an advanced age?

You will never truly know what fulltiming is all about if you have an anchor around your neck.

And we have yet to me anyone who didn't end up with costs to redo when the tenant moved out. We rented out our house once when we moved and couldn't sell it. Never, never, ever, again!

Also, a few years down the road, health forces you off the road, will that house be something you can maintain.

Some things to think about.

Barb

[Jean_S]

You need to accept that even a tenant that looks desirable is not going to trest your home like you do. If you can deal with that, it might be OK. If it is going to upset you to find that the tenant's pets have peed the carpets and dug up your perennial beds, or that your walls and window treatments reek because the tenant or his friends were heavy smokers, then you might want to skip renting until you are sure whether or not you want to keep the house.