Becoming Landlord

Today I am a landlord.  Sis and I got the keys to our rental property.  You know when you buy a car, all of a sudden you start seeing the same car everywhere, and you are more sure than ever of your purchase?  That's how I felt the last couple of weeks.

Of course I picked the best of the bunch out of the inventory that was available at the time when we bought this place.  But in the last weeks, more has come to market at higher prices, smaller square footage, worse location or even a combination of the above.  This makes me feel more confident.  A girl's entitled to cold feet when she makes the largest investment so far in her life, especially since she's also taking her sister's trust (and money) in her hands.  My secret to not totally flip out on a perfectly good purchase was to remind myself of all the reasons I bought it and of the fact that I've gone over worse case scenarios with my realtor and contingency plans.  I think I'd like to write some posts about my rental search process.  Stay tuned for more detail.

Sis and I decided on a 25% down payment, because we wanted to save the insurance money.  In addition we also set aside money for the repairs we have planned for this year.  I'm a landlord not a slum lord.  We are in for the long haul, so repairs like the roof, siding, and renovations, will ensure we have a good healthy rental property for a long time to come.