landlord before home owner?

[elessar78]

Piggybacking off Mjenn's thread about homeownership. Any thoughts on buying a rental property before owning one's own home? Does it make business/financial sense to keep renting despite owning a piece of property on which one collects rental income?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by elessar78

Piggybacking off Mjenn's thread about homeownership. Any thoughts on buying a rental property before owning one's own home? Does it make business/financial sense to keep renting despite owning a piece of property on which one collects rental income?

I don't think it is necessary to own your own place before becoming a landlord.

The one possible advantage to owning first is that you'd have a better sense of what is involved in owning, what costs there are, what things tend to crop up, etc. You also will have developed relationships with various service people - plumber, exterminator, electrician and so forth so you'll know who to call when you need work done on the rental property.

My cousin actually became a home owner and a landlord at the same time. He bought a duplex. He and his father lived on the 2nd floor and rented out the first floor. That worked out great for him.

[JoshuaHeckathorn]

It can make complete financial sense to keep renting for yourself while investing in a rental property. Especially if you prefer/need to live in a city that happens to have ridiculously high real estate values, but you want to invest in a SFR and take advantage of depressed home values.

Maybe you wouldn't want to (or be able to) drop $850K on a tiny condo with $1,000 HODs per month, but you can afford to rent it in this market. So, you just keep renting. I see this a lot where in the area where I live. Rent your own place in the city while you invest in a rental property in the burbs.

Where are you located?