While on my various globe-trots, trying to be cool and #livethedream, I am constantly meeting people making like, really serious money for nothing. The secret? They own property, but they don’t LIVE in said property (or maybe they do live there, but are gone for weeks or months at a time). A novel idea, to be sure. Its expensive to have a place to stay in Los Angeles, Salt Lake, Washington (state and DC!), Vancouver/Whistler (Canada) or wherever. But it is significantly less expensive if you rent out the place while your gone. The dream of a time-share right? Well time-shares are stupid, but owning property is the most sound investment now, and forevermore.
For Jetsetters:
If you’re traveling for a week, two weeks or maybe a month at a time, the best option is definitely Airbnb. If you haven’t heard of Airbnb yet (and you’d be surprised how often people HAVEN’T heard of it, its basically an online portal for travelers and property owners to find places to stay for the short term. It’s pretty easy to get set up, leave the keys with your friend, maybe pay said friend (or a maid service) to come in after a tenant has stayed, and count your money while you continue wining and dining with the best of ‘em.
For Investors:
Buying a house to “flip it” is a cool idea, if you know what you are doing. If you know contractors that can get you good prices to renovate fix ‘er uppers, you can certainly make a year’s salary in one fell swoop. But for most people, renting your house out is probably the way to go. Look at like this, you buy the house with your good credit score, have a reasonable mortgage, and rent it out for a few hundred more than you’re paying the mortgage on it. Or maybe you’re a drug dealer and can pay cash for the thing. That works too. But you don’t want to manage the property or find renters, that is a full time job, and remember, we’re trying to #livethedream (hashtags ironically used). Here in the Phoenix / Mesa area, there is a firm called Gentry Property Management that we like, who will take care of finding tenants, maintaining the property, and they DO know contractors who can fix leaky pipes or remodel a bathroom for a better deal than you could find. They’re good people, they’ve got the marketing arm, and they are motivated to rent out your out-of-state, or vacation properties. They get their cut, you get constant return on your investment. I mean, thats a win/win.
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