Apartment and Rental Properties - Tired of being a landlord!

A little history: I own 2 duplexes that I've had for about 10 years. Between the appreciation in value and the cash flow I've done fairly well, but I'm starting to get a little tired of being a landlord. I have been thinking about selling them and investing in something else that is less of a hassle.

If I sold them both, after I pay off the mortgages and the taxes, I would walk away with somewhere around $250,000 for the two. Before I talk to an investment person (or waste their time if it isn't feasible financially), I have some basic questions that I need help with:

1. What is available that is reasonably secure, as I am about 8 years from retirement?
2. Of these investments, what kind of range of rate of return could be expected?
3. What type of person do I look for to get the most broadly based look at what is available?

When it comes to renting and real estate, I could talk all day, but for any other types of investing I am clueless, so try to keep it simple :) . Obviously, no one can give exact rates of return, but if I could just get a feel for rates that would tell me if it makes sense to move to the next level of learning. Thanks!

Bruce

I know being a landlord gets old, but the income and wealth are hard to beat. Do you have enough cash flow to hire a manager instead of dealing with everything yourself?

Never really looked into that, so don't know what a manager costs. Right now I do just about all my own maintenance work and all of my own managing; given that, I net about $12,000 per year.

Bruce

Obviously, you're going to make more money if you do all of the work because your overhead is lower. The down side is that you do all of the work. Managers eat money from you but give you freedom. For a grand total of four units, your best bet would be a company managing other properties in addition to your own. If you had 100 units, someone dedicated to you would make sense, but you don't have enough work to support someone on your own. Are the buildings paid off or is there still a mortgage? We have a few duplexes and a lot of four unit townhomes and we spend about 60% of the rent to pay the mortgages (20 year notes). It will be a lot of income once those notes start disappearing. Because of that, rental property is a great source of retirement income if you get into it early enough before you retire.

I went back and reread your original thread and you said there are mortgages. Cash flow skyrockets if you hang on long enough to get the buildings free and clear. Based on my experience, you have enough cash flow to hire out the work for no net cost and quite a bit of income once the buildings are yours.

Just stick it out don't hire anyone that will eat up any and all cash flow you have esp if only 12,000 per year. Don't worry too much about retirement money with them, ifyou own your own personal house you can always do a reverse mortgage if needed.... Or reduce rent for one renter to take on duties... but be carefull as you know.

I guess it's all a matter of opinion. I have rental units on both coasts. I manage those near my home. I've used a managment company for 8 years for the property on the other coast. I've paid between 7% and 10% of the monthly rent for management services. I'm paying 10% now and I love the company. Sure, the vast majority of months it's a waste of money. But when the roof is leaking and needs replacement, It's really nice to get pictures and quotes over email. A phone call later I have a new roof. In my book that's tough to beat.

On your real question, go interview two or three financial planners. I'm like you. I don't follow financial markets closely enough to manage my own money. My wife and I did some research on the Internet, developed a list of questions, found three interesting planners in the area and interviewed them. Learned a lot in the process. And just like a property manager, so some folks it seems a waste. But now I check up on things every quarter and I know my money is doing much better than it would be in my hands.

Just one man's opinion...

I recently read Harry Brownes book "Fail Safe investing"

he tells you how to design a "permanent portfolio fund"

this is the safest investment in the world, you can see a chart at

http://www.harrybrowne.org/InvestmentAdvice.htm



anyway, it is a once a year maintenance, very simple, very straight forward, and Very Very safe!

get the book.....

I realize this is a very old thread, but I just found this site and reading back through...

FYI, to the best of my knowledge, one CAN'T get a reverse mortgage on a multifamily; I've looked into this. Hence, I plan to eventually sell my duplex and sink the money into a pricey SF in anticipation of my ever needing the RM option.

That, and I don't like landlording... ; /