By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team
Real estate investor and Zillow Blog contributor Leonard Baron answers questions from readers regarding buying, selling and investing. Have a question? Send it to Leonard@ProfessorBaron.com
Rental properties vs. stock market
Hi Leonard — I will retire in the next few years with a little over $1 million. I fear the stock market at this time. Will property rentals be a good way for income in my retired years? If yes, is it better to buy the property with cash and have no debt and have rental income? Robert W., Buffalo, NY Hi Robert — You’ve got some good questions and significant decisions herein, and you need some expert guidance. A good fee-only certified financial analyst (CFA) or certified financial planner (CFP) should be able to walk you through options on what you can do with that million, and what income you can expect based on the risk you are willing to take with your portfolio. This will help you determine whether rental real estate, which generally has much higher risk than a well-diversified portfolio of stocks, should be part of your portfolio. After an education from a financial adviser, if real estate is part of the plan, that’s where my guidance could help. So to your questions:- Will property rentals provide good retirement income? The answer is probably not. Most real estate investors who have cash flow properties bought them decades ago, and now they are starting to pay off. But in general, don’t expect cash flow for a long time.
- Should I buy with cash instead of debt? Having a significant amount of money tied up in property during retirement is probably not a good idea. What if you need the money, your tenants stop paying rent, the property is destroyed or you need long-term care? Owning dirt won’t pay the bills! It’s much easier to obtain cash from liquid assets when in need.
ng was that if you missed the spring selling season, you missed the boat. Once summer rolls around and school starts shortly after that, families are more settled, the thinking went, and therefore less inclined to pick up and move (unless a job change or other circumstance forced them).
Also, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and the January cold snaps follow the start of school. In the past, no one wanted to take time to drive around looking at homes when all of this was happening.
Things have changed. Today’s buyers aren’t necessarily timing a home purchase or sale around school schedules because people tend to settle down later in life and live longer. The result is urban expansion; more single, first-time and millennial buyers as well as baby boomers looking to buy (and sell). Also, a lot of home shopping, at least initially, happens online and via apps. Buyers don’t have to take time out of their busy schedules to drive around — they can just sit down with a tablet on the couch.
As a result of the Internet, our hectic schedules and mobile lifestyles, the fall months are no longer a real estate dead zone. True, spring is still the busiest time overall. But there’s plenty of action happening after Labor Day through Christmas, enough to make it worth your while to put up the ‘For Sale’ sign.
Here’s why.
