I thought I’d buffer my landlord horror story post with just a brief description of why being a landlord is good.
My cousin currently has a 3 family building as well, but 2 of the units are sitting empty because she does not want to deal with the hassle of tenants. She also has some work to do because they are filled with her and her parents stuff, but I for one think this is insane. She often sites my horror stories as an excuse for not wanting to be a landlord and her brother also had 6 units that sat vacant for years.
Even my 3 worst tenants were still worth renting to financially. Maggot boy and NYC girl both paid about $8000/each in rent before they moved out. Both of them only did about $1000 in damage and clean-up fees combined. That’s still $15K more than we would have had if the apartments sat empty. The other critical thing was that they were paying the heating bill during that time. If you live in a cold climate, you still have to heat units in the winter, otherwise your pipes burst. Bird Poop Lady lived in our apartment for 10+ years and paid us almost $50,000 in rent. Our best tenant who lived in our place for 20 years and sadly had maggots rained down on her by a bad one paid Babci over $100,000 in rent over the course of that time. So in summary, being a landlord can be very worthwhile. Babci made close to $200K in rent over the course of 30 years (and she charged very low rent), and sold her house for a profit once she was done with it for good. Those proceeds are now her retirement savings. She’s done alright for herself and she wouldn’t have been able to be in this financial position today without her blessed rentals.
I haven’t done a round up in a while so I apologize for not summarizing my favorite reads sooner. I blame it on my wireless not working. It’s so much less fun being on my computer at my desk vs couch surfing.
Yes and Yes has a great post on how to love your life even though you hate work.
Nicole and Maggie talk about things they’d like to do if they get tenure. I always like posts about people dreams and aspirations. It really gives you something to work towards.
Money Reasons thinks our little blog community is turning into the Borg from star trek. He and Everyday Tips both wrote a health post on the same day. Then Me and Punch Debt in the Face both referenced Pee Wee Herman on the same day for totally different reasons. Also Me and Everyday Tips both wrote about our future life in retirement and posted it at the same time. I swear we didn’t call each other the night before and talk about what we’re going to be writing about. I’m sure there are other examples that I’ve missed too. It’s just weird man.
I loved Molly on Money’s article on Budgeting and Baking Soda. She tells the tale of how she’s editing out all her crap and getting back to basics on what real necessities are. She seems to have eliminated half of her personal hygiene products and almost all of her cleaning products with just baking soda and vinegar.
I really enjoy Crystal’s Kindness Commitment Fridays where you write about some random act of kindness that you did throughout the week. I don’t know why it hasn’t caught on bigger yet as I think it’s a fabulous concept. Maybe it’s just because Crystal Clear thoughts is still so new and building an audience. I do encourage you to shoot over there on Fridays and write down your good deed for the week.
Speaking of Crystal, over at Budgeting in the fun stuff, I liked her guest post on 5 personal safety tips from Diedre at Transformx. Having lived in the roughest neighborhood in town while in college, I had plenty of tips of my own to add to the conversation.
Money Crush Speaks of the Biggest Spending Mistake People Make after buying their homes. I distinctly remember having very little money for the first year after our house.
I’m curious if Invest it Wisely is going to go completely car free. It sounds like he uses his car very little as it is and I hope he at least tries it out for a little while. I’ve always been in love with the freedom my vehicles brought me, but I did spend a year in the UK without a car. I missed having one, but I was also in the best shape of my life back then from all the miles of walking I did.
Frugal Dad had a guest post on why Entrepreneurs should hold down a job after college. I personally learned everything I know about business from working and not from business school. Theories are one thing, but seeing how business’s work first hand while being paid to do it is invaluable training. A few years in the workforce is good for any up and comer.
Okay, I know I have a ton of other great articles I read and hopefully I’ll get to a few more next time.
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