Posted by GL(ON) on July 12, 2002 at 09:58:42:
You are obviously comfortable with the rooming house concept so why not do it again? Look around for a big house that can be bought reasonable with the idea of turning it into another rooming house.
This is a way to generate large cashflow but it is labor intensive and management intensive. If you can handle it you can really get some good income.
Another largely overlooked type of property is the house with a basement suite or granny flat. They usually sell for only $5000 or $10000 more than the same house with an unfinished basement or no granny flat but they bring in nearly double the income.
You could also be looking at duplexes, triplexes and small apartment houses.
Valuable tip: the bigger the building the more positive cash flow, yet the harder it is to sell and therefore the easier it is to buy with owner financing.
There are lots of buyer for rental houses and duplexes. For some reason the number of buyers thins out rapidly once you get to 4 or more units. Also the banks often put them into the commercial category rather than residential (same as a house) making it much harder to get a loan.
So you can often get a good deal with positive cash flow and owner financing on an apartment house where you can’t on rental houses.
Look for a “don’t wanter” landlord. One with vacancies tenant problems and a slightly run down building is usually fed up and just wants out of a headache at any cost.
