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- Marcia Castro Socas was a landlord for many years.
- She believes that the landlord-tenant relationship in renting rental property is often overlooked.
- She said that purchasing the cheapest place doesn’t always make the best decision.
To be financially successful is one of my top financial goals. invest in real estate. As passive income, I’ve always wished to own several properties around the country. I am years away from buying my first investment home but I’m trying to figure out how it all works.
Find out how much it costs. I need cash to pay the down paymentI am interested in learning more about the area of real estate investing.
To help you figure it out, I spoke to Marcia Castro SocasA real estate investor, home renovator and broker, she shares her top tips for new investors. Here are her words.
1. Sometimes, paying a lower price doesn’t make you the best bargain.
I love to browse properties for sale when I have free time. I can see which ones would interest me if I had the funds today. Because I don’t have a large budget for my first investment property, I search for properties that are the lowest priced.
Castro Socas says it’s not always the best move to search for the lowest priced home.
It was a fixer upper that needed remodeling when she bought her first investment property. She knew it would take time, and she was prepared to invest the money. Need to pay the mortgageWhile the house was being repaired. However, she did not realize the amount of money she would need to repair the home. This cost was much higher than she had anticipated.
Castro Socas explains that sometimes it’s better not to invest in a property that needs a lot of work. “The lesson I took away from this experience was to honestly assess how much cash I have and how much work it is possible to afford.
2. Don’t let outside news change your real estate plan
As someone who is eager to become a real estate investor, I always wonder if it’s the right time to purchase. Also, I worry that I might be entering the housing market in a recession which may make it more difficult to rent out the property.
Castro Socas recommends not letting outside news change your long-term plan. She did this in 2008, just as the real estate markets collapsed.
Her rental properties lost a lot of value. Other real estate investors were quick to sell them to make ends meet, but she kept hers.
Castro Socas says, “Rather than listening to that news, i saw that every property, except one, was earning rental income above the mortgage amount.” “So, even though sales had dropped, this didn’t matter to me because I wasn’t in the market for selling. I was happy to rent the properties and continue paying down my mortgage each month.
Castro Socas has many of these properties still in his possession, even though they are now worth a record-breaking amount.
Castro Socas says that keeping a cool head and looking at actual facts, rather than reacting in panic to the market was a better strategy in the long-term.
3. It’s not about making money as a landlord.
One of my main reasons for wanting to get into real property is to earn passive income and increase my financial wealth.
Casto Socas said that property ownership is not about making money. Casto Socas states that although it can be easy to only focus on the return on investments and income, being a landlord is all about the landlord-tenant relationships.
Castro Socas says that tenants who feel a personal connection to you tend to care for the home better, stay longer and are more likely take on minor repairs themselves.
Castro Socas, in return, ensures she keeps the good relationship. She takes care of tenants quickly and treats them well. This mindset, she claims, has helped her increase her income over the years.
Castro Socas explains that “with several tenants who have lived in rentals over eight years, my income was higher since there aren’t any vacancies on these properties.”
