Yep, I totally understand the sentiment and I'm used to it at this point; it just still hurts when you try to do something positive and are immediately lumped in with assholes. When I explain my business model to people I use Chris Gatley/417 rentals as the antithesis to my goals.

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I rented for 8 plus years prior to being able to afford a home and it wasn't always great. I remember renting a SFR that leaked from the roof every time it rained, and every time we complained the "maintenence guy" would come out with a bucket of tar and "patch" it. Never helped. We lived for three years with an in-ground pool that had a ripped liner and it became a literal cess-pool/mosquito breeding ground; we had to call the city to declare it a hazard before the owners agreed to have it filled in. I'd like to think I learned something from my experience renting, and we just try to be fair folks that don't take advantage of other humans. There are others out there; its just unfortunate that so many people with ill intent and no morals take advantage of folks for their own gain. We aren't trying to get rich, just be comfortably middle class in the midwest.

You clearly just disagree with landlording/property management on a fundamental level and I'm not going to convince you otherwise, so I'm not going to try to. I posted here to try and offer some insight to a question is all.

I'm a healthcare worker that has worked covid all over the United States for the last two years, seen some of the worst things imaginable, watched hundreds of people die senseless deaths, and saved money to buy properties so I don't have to microdose trauma for the rest of my life, but I guess getting called a parasite on a bright and sunny morning is all worth the struggle, right?

The tenants I have in my homes are like family; I care about them and want them to be comfortable. A tenant had a bad situation where a family member was having health issues, I installed grab bars and hand rails, discounted their rent for 3 months (1/2 normal, operating at a loss) and helped them get set up with covid relief, OCAC, and healthcare resources for their family member. We maintain our properties just like we would maintain our personal residence, address issues quickly, have 24/7 coverage for emergency maintenence, and try and treat the people in our properties like humans.

Ultimately, you are right. I wouldn't buy real estate if it wasn't about making money. The property should appreciate. I should make more than $200 if I take care of it. It should help generate generational wealth for my children, and their children. But it could also collapse into a sinkhole tomorrow and I'd be fucked. With that said, I take pride in the properties we own and we try and offer service that reflects the care and pride we have in our properties. I don't appreciate being called a parasite for trying to offer an affordable and fair service. We are all humans, and ultimately I hope that you don't lump everyone in real estate investing together. I could much more easily have invested money into index funds and renters would just have more corporate landlords to deal with.

Hope you have a good day,

Sincerely,

A healthcare hero/parasite

Yeah, in a perfect world you’re absolutely correct. But just like you’re making a bunch of assumptions, what if we missed a terrible foundation issue? Or eminent domain? Or a tenant cooks meth in the property?

Mortgage paydown is the long term reasoning for owning real estate. But just like any investment, past performance doesn’t equal future returns.

I make $200 a month on a property, period. Until my crystal ball starts working properly again, that’s all I can go off of. I’d be happy to explain the tax costs of selling an investment property and show you the actual breakdown, but you’re assuming a perfect world where I don’t have to pay for a brand new hvac system, replace the roof out of pocket because insurance is a scam, or any of the thousands of other things that can go wrong in an instant.

So a lot of people who haven’t owned have the same thought process, kind of disregarding the actual cost to maintain and upkeep a property. Here’s a breakdown on an actual rented property I own; what I pay monthly.

3 bed 2 full bath 2 car garage 1200 square feet $1500 monthly rent, republic mo

Mortgage: 965

Property taxes: 108

Insurance: 65

Money in reserve for repairs, maintenance, upkeep: 150

Total monthly cost: $1288

Total monthly profit $218

There are a lot of big companies who are absolutely raising rents to make more money. But inflation and supply chain means you have to pay more for maintenance; reappraisals mean taxes and insurance costs increase, etc. it isn’t entirely gouging, it’s more just a function of the world we live in right now unfortunately, and it probably isn’t as much price gouging as it is trying to not lose money.

After seeing the hate in this thread for landlords I was tempted not to post, but here we go.

Local private/small time landlord. 3 doors in the Springfield area. 3x rent in gross income is an industry standard. Just like most financial planners recommend that your mortgage shouldn’t be more than 30% of your gross income, by setting that requirement the landlord is assuring that the applicant can actually afford to live there. People have other expenses ranging from car payments, student loans, to food, gas, etc. the 3x isn’t to be mean, it’s to find qualified applicants that are going to pay their rent. There is most certainly risk associated with renting to people, and using filter requirements lowers the risk. I have an obligation to review applications, and legally I can’t just pick who I like the most, I have to choose the most qualified applicant. The person with 6x gross income to rent ratio and a 750 credit score is going to get accepted over the 3x/650 even if the latter technically meets the requirements too, because otherwise I’d be risking a discrimination lawsuit.

For the folks that seem to think this is unreasonable, imagine putting $50,000 into an investment to make $300 a month after you’ve paid the taxes, insurance, maintenance, put blood sweat and tears into making sure everything is perfect, and then being told in order to get $300 you are going to need to spend an additional $10,000 and wait a year, operating at a loss because you have to evict a non-paying tenant. So yeah, I’m aware that there is risk, and using effective screening does reduce it to make sure that my family doesn’t have to default on our mortgage to keep a roof over someone else’s head.

Also in response to bitmush, sorry you’ve had a bad experience with renting from the sound of it. Our goal in renting/property management is to provide houses we would be comfortable living in ourselves with timely management, good maintenance, and fairness; just in general treating humans like humans. We try and fix issues within a week; we charge a 1 month security deposit (3x is illegal in Missouri by the way, max you can charge is 2x), and we do a move-in checklist with any prior damage noted that we keep on file, signed by the tenants and us, to protect tenants from us overcharging for repairs upon move out.

Happy to answer any constructive and relevant questions. I’m just a human with a full time w2 job that wants to provide a service to people in the community, and rentals are a great way for me to help secure my retirement in the future while helping out too.