Like most places, the residential real estate market is moving really fast in our area. Yesterday, we jumped in at lightning speed!
My wife saw a snazzy townhouse in our neighborhood she thought would be nice for our adult son. We talked about it with him on Sunday morning just before 11a, connected with our friendly neighborhood agent 5 minutes later, scheduled/did a quick showing, immediately made an offer, and had a verbal acceptance by 2p.
Just three hours start to finish!
It was the last thing I expected to do this weekend, but everything worked out in the most charmed way possible. We were one of a few bids, but won the day nonetheless.
We’ll buy it as a rental investment with our 24 year-old son as our new tenant & neighbor. The townhouse is just a 14 minute walking path trip from our house. Our little pupper, Riley, will love the short walk over to see his favorite ‘Uncle’.
I’ve been interested in diversifying into rentals, so we’ll now have a first-hand view of how it works. With a minimum of risk.
Sometimes the things you do on a lark payoff big … sometimes not. Regardless, helping our son get set up in a nice place – and having him for a neighbor – feels like a win from the very start!
Any tips for this first-time landlord?
Image Credit: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
Wow, Chief, a life-change at lightning speed. May it go well for all. As a landlord for 21 years, I advise you to expect the unexpected. As a property owner, you have legal relationships with and responsibilities to tenants. As a father, you have a parental relationship with your adult son. These two relationships — legal and parental — may occasionally be at odds. One will be dominant; the other subordinate. Generally, in an investment tenancy, the legal/financial should be dominant. In your case, I surmise the familial will be dominant. Knowing this, prepare your principles to resolve any tensions between the two before they even appear. Hope this helps. Enjoy your adventures with real estate!
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Yeah – the ‘family’ side will lead. We’re doing this first for his benefit. As for the financial side, we only have one child, so I often say, “it’s your inheritance”. We are discussing’ terms’ but I’m sure we’ll find quite a few situations we weren’t expecting. One term I’m insisting on: cold beer always in hand if the landlord comes by.
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Wow, that’s a quick jump into the proverbial fire!
If you ever need general rental advice, feel free to PM me offline. So many tenant laws are state specific, so I likely can’t help you in MN on that front, but from a general real estate investment standpoint and REI business model, I might be of assistance. We directly own over fifty rental units. I created our business model about 15 years ago, and have been actively investing in RE (via that model) since 2009.
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Thanks, Thom – I thought of you and your real estate empire when we were writing up the (rushed) purchase agreement. I know the first rule in property investments is don’t overpay upfront, which we already screwed up. Beyond that I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions and lots to learn!
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I think you better run a credit report on him!
The only thing that I can think of is to discuss upfront how you will want to handle a “roommate” that moves in with him. Could be one of his buddies, a significant other, etc. I know that I’d be ok with subsidizing one of my kids…..but not necessary some rando.
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Agree – if it’s a friend it’s one thing, but not some random person. We’ve talked a bit, but not put parameters around it.
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