Posted by Ralph on May 22, 2000 at 15:12:50:
Unless you are ready and willing to potentially have unsatisfactory tenants ie. drug dealers, prostitutes, etc. don’t do it. I have been in property management for 17 years–been there and done that!! Until you are prepared for a more/less full time job with rentals, stick with the suburban properties with minimal cash flow. Remember the larger returns come with larger risks!!
Good luck 
is this a deal?? - Posted by Jason
Posted by Jason on May 22, 2000 at 13:53:46:
As a young investor, I currently own a few rentals that net about $100 a piece per month. (kinda boring, yet nice) I have yet to run into any tenant problems as my rentals are in a nice suburban setting. However, I recently have run across 2 propeties that provide pretty nice cash flows. There is a catch though. LOCATION, LOCATION!! Here it is… 2 properties, each are 5 unit buildings. One is grosses $1400 a month in rent (all 5 units are currently rented); the other unit currently grosses $1100 a month with 4 of 5 units rented. Seller wants 45k for one and 35k for the other. Financing would not be an issue and I could even pay cash for one, but my concern is that these units are in a very high crime area in a major metro area. (units have been listed for quite a while, location is problem to selling I must assume)I have checked with a couple rental management companies to handle rent collection, repairs, etc… they typically want 6-10% of total rent. I would consider this cost fair b/c I really dont want to deal with the type of tennants that would be renting these units. Should I even be considering these types of rental properties given that I am not a seasoned landlord/investor?? The possiblity for each property to net me close to $800 per month is very enticing compared to my current rentals. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.