Hello everyone,

I'm looking for resources (other than GRS, am reading through the articles now) on mortgages, buying a condo, and other real estate advice.

Any links to websites, names of books or anything would be greatly appreciated.

I'm trying to educate myself thoroughly before getting started. Thanks!

What kind of advice are you looking for? Is this the purchase of your first home? Are you looking at how much you can afford and what mortgage products are available?

mtgprofessor.com is great.

Aside from that, real estate is highly local. You can get good general advice online or in books. But specifics can be very different where you are so talking with friends and other locals is good.

Well, let me explain our situation and perhaps that will clarify (to you and me) what type of information I need.

Student loans to be paid off in about a month, no debt at all other than that. We have about $100K saved up and I'm researching mortgages right now (probably sticking with fixed interest rate, 15 or 30 years). We probably won't move in right away and would want to rent it out for about 2 years but ultimately, we'd like some place we can live in. I'm researching the areas (DC/VA/MD) now and have lived there before so am familiar with the areas.

- I think I know how much we want to pay but don't know what information is available for buying to rent out a place and buying a place to live in ultimately. I've heard formulas about what makes it 'worth' it to buy a place to rent out, but more information is always nice.

- Is it difficult to buy a condo with the plans to rent it out? I know there are rules about this sort of thing.

- I'll check out the mtg professor site now, thank you.

This subject is difficult to google, since there are so many real estate agency websites and mortgage websites...Not really unbiased.

I'm not trying to be rude with this.. but I am honestly wondering what you are thinking...

Do you currently own a home? Or would this be first home purchase? Why would you want to buy a place and then play landlord? Unless you're looking at it from an investment perspective. But if you have $100k in the bank I would think you'd be looking to just pay cash for any property you'd rent out.

If you are seriously considering not moving into the house for another 2-3 years.. why not just spend the next couple years getting enough $$ to just pay cash for a house. YOU WILL HAVE SO MUCH BUYING POWER!

The real estate market is down right now yes... but but I really doubt in two years it will have made THAT much a recovery to offset the costs of insuring and property taxes.. and if you buy a condo the HOA may forbid renting out units on top of it.

It sounds to me like you're rushing into this and are going to give yourself a headache.

Again, I'm not trying to be rude -- but I honestly think you're taking on risk for not much reward.

But if you do get a mortgage get FIXED !!!!!!!!!!!!

ARMS and balloon payments involve too much risk..

Why not find a good loan officer that you can bounce ideas off of? They are going to be more useful to you than any website, as guidelines are changing so rapidly in the current environment. Just my $0.02

Saro,

Potatoslayer makes some good points. Real estate prices are very low right now but there is no real evidence they will go up in 2-3 years. If you had a dream house you had found and wanted to buy that particular house then there might be a good case for acting now. But if you are just looking for a place then I'm not so sure you should be doing it.

Aside from that, you need to look carefully at the rules for making the house/condo "owner occupied." You usually have to live in it within a year or so. TCstr8's suggestion to talk to a loan officer is also good. Someone should be willing to meet with you just top earn your business when you find a place.

If you choose to buy now and rent it, and assuming that is allowable with your financing, make sure you understand the financial issues. It's fairly hard to make money by renting. Some people do make money but remember you will have expenses in addition to the payment. Your rental income will be taxed, your property taxes will be higher, you might need to pay a manager, and you might get called in the middle of the night and have to pay the 24 hr plumber. No chance to shop around for the best price. You'll pay $300 just because the tenant used too much TP! And expect to repaint and make other repairs when the tenant leaves. You might have a security deposit but it will rarely cover the actual costs of painting, cleaning , and so forth following even a good renter.

That said, you CAN make money as a landlord, just be sure that you go into it with open eyes. If that is what you are trying to do then be careful. If instead you are just trying to buy as an investment because you have extra cash right now, I wouldn't.

I'm renting my house out with a property management company at the moment, and I was told that unless there was serious damage, I couldn't count the costs of re-painting, carpet cleaning, etc from the security deposit as it would be "normal wear and tear". So I'm assuming that I'll have to fork out about $1,500 after my tenant leaves.

I'm also making $108 more than my mortgage payment every month, after property management fees. (Assuming no expenses/maintenance that month.) That would cover insurance for the year, but not come close to property taxes.

I think that is fairly typical.

I rent out a place now but short term so the rules are different. You can't withhold from a security deposit for normal wear and tear or other things that you would normally have to do between tenants. You can't charge for your time, for incidentals, etc. And you need to document all expenses and "mitigate damages" (keep them as low as reasonable).

Often, and economic theory says it should be this way though reality doesn't always make it happen, the rent that the market will bear is equal to the current cost of a mortgage with taxes combined in and accounting for expenses that would be the same if you owned. That is, there should be no benefit to owning vs renting. The current US federal income tax deduction for mortgage interest distort this and makes mortgages cheaper which draw down rents as well.

In most cases when people make money as a landlord it is on older properties that are fully amortized, property they acquired when rates were much lower or that they put a lot of sweat equity into. There are many exceptions but almost every landlord I know of who is making a profit fits in one of those categories.