Sell or rent the SB

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garyb1st

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Dec 31, 2010
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For those of you who rented your home, rather than sell, when you went full time, what was your rationale and if you were able to do it over, what would you do different? 

For those of you who sold the SB, if you were abel to do it over, what would you do different?  Also, what were your reentry plans when you finished full timing? 

 
garyb1st said:
For those of you who sold the SB, if you were abel to do it over, what would you do different?  Also, what were your reentry plans when you finished full timing?

Would do nothing different. Plan to move onto a sailboat full-time and then die.  No interest in "reentry."
 
JFNM said:
Would do nothing different. Plan to move onto a sailboat full-time and then die.  No interest in "reentry."

Can I have your DS? Couple more slides would be nice  ::)
 
We planned to sell our house, but sadly were not able to do so because of the housing downturn years back. We new we would never want to rent it to strangers. Lucky for us one of our sons said he would be happy to rent it rather than apartment living. After 3 years his brother moved in with him, realizing he was missing out on a good deal. Turned out to be a win win for everybody.
 
Gary, you planning on returning to the SB when you're done?  As I recall, you're from a rather cold climate.  While I've thought about relocating to a cooler (as in one with snow) area, I think about our week in Yellowstone this past May and those thoughts quickly evaporate. 
 
We leased out our condo for 6 months when we started our FT journey just in case we realized the FT all the time wasn't working. After 6 months we leased it out for 12 months and enjoyed the extra income. Finally realizing we were never returning to the PNW to live fulltime, we sold the condo in July.

Glad we did as now its just us, the dog and our home on wheels. What a liberating feeling.
 
Sun2Retire said:
Can I have your DS? Couple more slides would be nice  ::)

Hi Scott!  If you have a Leopard 38 or Lagoon 380 (catamaran) that you would like to trade - I bet we can work something out!!
 
SeilerBird said:
My suggestion is if you are wondering what to do then don't rush into it. Lease your house out for a year and then revisit the decision.

That's a real possibility. Like the Becks I'm not comfortable with renting it to strangers.  Unfortunately the only one of our five kids who would have been able to stay here just bought a home.  So for now, if we do lease the house, it will most likely be to strangers with all the associated risks. 

 
Gary, we will likely buy some day in a warmer climate, as you are correct, it is simply to cold and snowy to think of ever spending winters in MN. One son plans to buy our house down the road, so is using this time to save a large down payment. Another good thing for all parties, and we will surely give him a good price when that day comes. We sold all our stuff years back, so will be easy to buy wherever we decide in the future. Just to let you know, there is a very good site to follow here in MN that sells many very clean MH's. It is buyrvsellrv.com Good luck as you continue to shop for diesel pusher.

    Gary B
 
garyb1st said:
That's a real possibility. Like the Becks I'm not comfortable with renting it to strangers.  Unfortunately the only one of our five kids who would have been able to stay here just bought a home.  So for now, if we do lease the house, it will most likely be to strangers with all the associated risks.
If it was me I would turn the leasing over to a very highly recommended read estate agent and pay them to handle everything.
 
Consider going through a leasing company to take care of the entire process. My daughter uses one for her first house which is paid off. The company finds the renter, checks their financials and interviews them, etc and daughter never make contact with them, just OKs the deal with the company.

The company collects the $1150 rent monthly, retains $60 for their service and forwards $1090 to my daughter. The first renters were there for two years and were slow pay for about three months, but the company worked with them and they got back on track. The second renters have been their for four years. Both renters have been families.

The company visits he property once a year and discusses any maintenance requirements with my daughter, schedules and monitors the work and sends pictures to my daughter. My daughter loves the deal.

She also has a home in San Diego which is rented out to friends and she handles it herself. She lives in San Jose.
 
Becks said:
Just to let you know, there is a very good site to follow here in MN that sells many very clean MH's. It is buyrvsellrv.com Good luck as you continue to shop for diesel pusher.

    Gary B

Thanks for the link. 
 
Quillback 424 said:
Consider going through a leasing company to take care of the entire process. My daughter uses one for her first house which is paid off. The company finds the renter, checks their financials and interviews them, etc and daughter never make contact with them, just OKs the deal with the company.

The company collects the $1150 rent monthly, retains $60 for their service and forwards $1090 to my daughter.

Wow, that's a sweet deal.  I've been assuming 10 to 15% to the leasing agent.  I guess I have some homework to do. 
 
Quillback 424 said:
Consider going through a leasing company to take care of the entire process. My daughter uses one for her first house which is paid off. The company finds the renter, checks their financials and interviews them, etc and daughter never make contact with them, just OKs the deal with the company.

The company collects the $1150 rent monthly, retains $60 for their service and forwards $1090 to my daughter. The first renters were there for two years and were slow pay for about three months, but the company worked with them and they got back on track. The second renters have been their for four years. Both renters have been families.

Same here. She has a sweet deal. We pay 1/2 of the first month's rent for them to find a renter, and then 10% each month. IMO, a property management company is the only way to go, especially if you're going to be an out-of-town landlord. A good one will have stringent guidelines to screen renters - credit score, income, references - which cuts down on potential problems. They also take the emotion out of it for every sob story that comes their way. It's business. We had a renter whose check bounced. They immediately put her on a cash basis for 6 months or so. No games...they've seen and heard it all.

My sister used to rent to anyone who showed up with the money. What a nightmare. She had major destruction done to 2 rental properties. She finally listened to me that paying the commission is well worth it. She now uses the same property manager.
 
garyb1st said:
Wow, that's a sweet deal.  I've been assuming 10 to 15% to the leasing agent.  I guess I have some homework to do.

We're looking at seasonal rental (Jan-Apr) here in the Phoenix area to dip our toe into fulltiming and while we can get a pretty penny for our place the fee is 14%. I haven't shopped the fee yet.

Side note: I spoke with our insurance agent, no problem getting a rider (and quite inexpensively) for renters unless the house is listed on any of the Craig's-List-like (can't recall which) sites, then they will not cover the house. Apparently there are so many problems if the property address is publicized that they don't want to be involved.
 
Sun2Retire said:
We're looking at seasonal rental (Jan-Apr) here in the Phoenix area to dip our toe into fulltiming and while we can get a pretty penny for our place the fee is 14%. I haven't shopped the fee yet.

Side note: I spoke with our insurance agent, no problem getting a rider (and quite inexpensively) for renters unless the house is listed on any of the Craig's-List-like (can't recall which) sites, then they will not cover the house. Apparently there are so many problems if the property address is publicized that they don't want to be involved.

Haven't thought about the insurance issues.  I've put together some numbers but totally forgot about the potential increase in home insurance premiums.  (and I'm a retired insurance guy)  That on top of the real estate taxes, utilities, maintenance as well as federal and state income tax on the net rental income would reduce my net to about 40% of gross rents.  Also haven't looked at depreciation as a way of reducing taxable.  What else am I overlooking.  Anyone care to share a spreadsheet.  Not looking for numbers, just line items. 
 
Don't forget that you can write off an annual, I think, trip to inspect your "business property." My daughter flies in, rents a car, does a drive by and visits briefly with the leasing agent. The rest of her time, usually a three day visit, is spent working on-line or with high school and college friends.
 
Gary, just a couple of issues.

If you set something up where you would pay utilities for a renter, nothing good is going to happen.

And, of course, maintenance on a house is required whether it is lived in or not.
 
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