How Many Homes do YOU Own?

[WeDidIt]

Poll question: How Many Homes do YOU Own?

So, DU, How Many Homes do YOU Own?

[enid602]

1. zero

I sold my home of 17 yrs (in Phoenix) back in June of this year. I´m prbably one of the lucky ones.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Just one!

And that is more than enough...

:P

[WeDidIt]

3. I think everybody should own one

before anybody can own two.

[Xithras]

7. Nice thought, but not everyone can (or wants to) own one.

As a landlord, I feel no guilt about owning multiple properties. I have yet to have a tenant with either credit or employment good enough to own a home. If there weren't rentals on the market, where would these people live?

[WeDidIt]

4. Isn't somebody going to have their staff get to me?

[Xithras]

5. I picked four, but the bank really owns three of them.

My house, my vacation cabin (445 square feet with no hot water and only a fireplace for heat, so it's nothing showy), and two investment rentals. The only one I own outright is the vacation cabin. I have negative equity in both of the rentals, and have my main home about a quarter of the way paid off.

Oh, and if rents keep dropping around here, that number may drop by half real soon. I used to get $1500 a month for one of my 4br rentals, and it's sitting empty right now at $1350. The mortgage on the place is $1275, and there are other rentals in the area renting as low as $1100 now. If the rental market doesn't pick up soon, I'll be giving them back to the bank.

[Lucinda]

8. Ouch!

We live in a community with tons of vacation rentals. Lots of owners are in a bind here too. Single family homes are still doing well here though oddly enough.

[Xithras]

12. The rentals are homes, not vacation places.

Not many people are interested in taking a vacation to Modesto California :) They're nice houses in nice residential areas, but I'm now competing for renters with investors from the SF Bay Area and L.A. who are buying up many of the REO's and turning them into rentals. These guys are buying these repos for a fraction of what I paid, and can therefore undercut my rents. One of my houses has been sitting empty for two months now because of this, and my renter in the other home has already asked me to lower the rent on his house, because he's considering moving to a cheaper place otherwise. That three bedroom house rents for $1300 a month, and it's understandable that the tenant wants a break when comparable houses all around him are now renting for up to $300 a month less. That house has a $1200 a month mortgage (I offered to knock the rent to $1200 so I'd break even, but the tenant hasn't got back to me yet).

I've already accepted that I may lose these properties, so my real concern at this point is whether the banks can go after my home or cabin during the foreclosure.

[bullwinkle428]

6. I HAVE owned 4 over the years, but never more than one at a time!

[question everything]

9. The bank

That's an interesting point: Does McCaine have mortgage on any of them?

[AlCzervik]

10. with a full time staff?

[Clintonista2]

11. LOL! Best.Poll.Ever

[chiefofclarinet]

13. College student here!

Let's see, I'm a undergraduate at a state university, my parents are middle of the middle of the middle class, and I'm eating ramen noodles and Kraft Mac-n-Cheese as my staples. Hmm.... Given those criteria, I either:
1) Live at home (no, home is 4.5 hours away)
2) Live in a dorm (no, 2 years is enough of that insanity)
3) Live at work (no, though it feels like it sometimes...)
4) Live in an apartment (DING! DING!)

Even though my rented apartment is small, it's still better than dorms. (My apologies if that conjures up bad memories.)

[Clintonista2]

14. hehe tell me about it

I was not on even on speaking terms with my dorm roommate by the end of the year during my first year. Terrible memories.