How many of you have rentals (i.e. you're a landlord)? Are they worth it?

[TexasHusker]

One wonders why they left home to pay to go to a place to do the same things that they do at home? Apparently they don't go hiking, horse back riding etc.? I didn't realize that many people played pool. I do understand the need for Wifi in this day and age. Amazon sellers, even on vacation, have to stay in contact with any customer questions.

Curious is you stock things like old fashioned board games and books for your renters?

To me a vacation is any time I can get away and someone makes the bed for me, cooks and does the dishes and there is a nice cozy chair to snuggle in with a stack of good books! But then I'm at the point that I can't do the other stuff that requires physical energy.

Most people demand internet even on vacation. Most people don't go hiking or horseback riding. Most people don't play board games (however, we do supply a few).

Our society has denegrated down to mostly overweight folks (many significantly overweight), that like to sit around and punch on their phone, even in a National Park. And if they can't get WiFi, they'll tell you about it real fast. It's like a coke addict who has run dry. They are in an inconsolable state of panic and distress.

An estimated 13 million people will visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is over 600,000 acres. However, the vast majority of these folks will only go into the park about one half a mile to one of the visitor centers, park, go in, look around, buy some souvenirs or a bumper sticker, take a few selfies, and head back for lunch, even though they just ate breakfast.

Most will never leave their car, other than to go to the bathroom. A very small percentage hike even the easy trails. Maybe a few hundred folks per day at the most.

People these days don't really know how to do anything outdoors. They don't know how to fish, ride a horse, or backpack. All they know is iPhones and iPads. Fakebook and twitter.

We had one guest complain because they didn't catch a fish. "Someone said they don't stock any more." Excuse me, but they haven't stocked the Smoky Mountains National Park in 70 years. But there are plenty of fish in the rivers - wild fish. Wild fish don't know what a piece of corn is. They don't recognize a red salmon egg. If you want to catch a farm-raised pellet head fish, go to a petting zoo or something. People these days are so lazy and utterly stupid.

I'll be driving through downtown Gatlinburg and I swear out of 100 people, you might see one who might be considered normal weight. And half of them are shoving something into their gullet - a triple dip of chocolate ice cream, a sack of cotton candy, or a turkey leg.

I'm actually thankful for all of these phenomena, as it means I pretty much have the national park to myself day in and day out. . My son and I fly fished for a full week two weeks ago and never encountered another fisherman. We caught over 100 fish in 6 days!

[Gailete]

That is just incredibly sad!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I'd rent a cabin like that to get away from technology. But I admit it's hard.

[disneysteve]

- pool table
- hot tub
- arcade/multicade game, or other games (ping pong, air hockey)
- HDTV with expanded cable
- wifi/internet

One wonders why they left home to pay to go to a place to do the same things that they do at home?

I don't know about you but I only have 1 of those 5 things at home: wifi. I'd love to rent a house with a hot tub, arcade games, pool table, HDTV, etc.

[disneysteve]

To me a vacation is any time I can get away and someone makes the bed for me, cooks and does the dishes

Different strokes....

We love renting houses so that there isn't a housekeeper coming in every day like at a hotel, we can prepare meals instead of having to go to a restaurant 3 times a day, can toss in a load of laundry, etc.

[disneysteve]

Most people demand internet even on vacation.

I think this is a mixed issue. For some, it is being hooked on facebook and snapchat and similar places, but for many it is pretty necessary.

My job scheduling is done entirely online. If I'm out of touch for 7-10 days for a vacation and it happens to be the week the new schedule gets posted, I could miss out on signing up for per diem shifts for that month. That could cost me a few thousand dollars.

I do a lot of online medical surveys, earning upwards of $1,000/month, so no internet access for 10 days could mean earning $300 or so less that month.

We are very active folks when we're on vacation. We're not huge into the physical outdoor types of things but we did hike much of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon a few weeks ago, we've hiked in Shenandoah, Vermont, and New Hampshire, gone horseback riding in Vermont, etc. But we also lead busy lives and to have some uninterrupted down time in a comfy rental home to sit and relax and watch a movie together is a treat, too.

[Gailete]

I can well understand the way our world is changing how most of us want to be in touch someway. At one point, I was privileged to go on a quilting cruise for a week. This just happened to be the week that the Gulf War broke out. All we knew about it was that it was happening. There were no cell phones, no laptops, etc. none of that stuff was available then, nor could you make phone calls. it was weird coming back and waiting at the airport in Miami hearing all the announcement about abandoned luggage and things like that. It would have been nice to know a bit more of what is going on in real time.

I sell online and even while on vacation and leaving your store on vacation hold at Amazon, you are still expected to be able to answer any customer questions. So, it is hard to be away from being connected, that is for sure. I'm still in the process of figuring out my cell phone and I suspect once I figure out how to go on line with it, I will be checking things on it myself, but I never want it glued to my hand and eyeballs! LOL

[amarowsky]

I have 1/2 ownership in a rental my brother and I inherited from our mom when she passed. It's currently rented out to some close friends for a positive profit...

Although after they move out, I'll never want to rent to friends or family again. I got burned on it a few years ago when renting to family, because i was too sympathetic to my family members that were renting. Wound up eating a few grand for them from late rent.

After current buddies move out, I'll probably up the rent a few hundred bucks and hand the steering wheel to a capable local pm company.

I'll possibly do the same with my current home after it's paid off. It looks like it should be paid off in much less than 5 years too! If I rent my current home, the estimate shows about 1500 a month rent, and my only costs will be PM (~100 a month), 170 monthly taxes, 90 monthly insurances, and then whatever my income tax bracket will chew away from my profits at that time.

I'm pretty excited. I like taking the slow, less risky, organic growth route to real estate investing.

[Gailete]

About 2 weeks ago we suddenkly got thrown into the "is it worth it?" bracket temporarily. Our current renter decided since he had lost his job that he could't afford the rent so he moved a single woman and her three children into the place and prsented it to us as a done deal! Well it wasn't. I have a friend that can do the officiao 'look sees' on line for criminality concerns. Turns out the 'new renter' was facing her third DUI, which in my state results in this:

A third DUI conviction where the driver was convicted based on impairment or having a BAC of .08% or more but less than .1% is a second-degree misdemeanor. A convicted driver is looking at $500 to $5,000 in fines, ten days to two years in jail, and a 12-month license suspension.

Yes, just what we need is someone that will be doing jail time, and at 10 days before the end of the month she didn't even have anything towards the next month's rent! So we told the renter to get her out of there and then he brought over another renter with even worse credentials! he kleft the place filthy after 14 years go my husband had redone the whole place when we bought it. I'm talking kitchen cabinets that had so many stains in them, it was unbelievble. I have been living with my current kitchen now for over 10 years and don't even begin to have the filth that that kitchen had picked up, as well as the filthy door jams, etc. How do people make such a mess of the place? Eve with me being disabled and not able to do much in the cleaning arena here my house is 100% better and cleaner. It is amazing to me what a renter can do to! Then we had a couple that wanted it but then changed their mind hours before they were supposed to sign the lease. Just had a call this morning from someone that actually had an income that could actually afford the place, where some, even knowing what the rent would be would show interest even though they make minimum wage.

It is times like this that I think about if we sold the place out right, we could just about pay off our home, and then finish with the credit card bills.

Don't know what all this will do to my paying ahead on this place, temporary hold on that, but it should still be paid off in a year.