Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out?

Re:Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out? by lizknope on Saturday April 20, 2019 @07:46AM (#19706011)

I bought my house for $263K in 2002. It is currently worth around $330K. In that time I have spent about $40K on repairs (not true upgrades) for 2 new HVAC units, new roof, carpet, water damage, broken appliances, wood rot, lawn seed/fertilizer.

I'm happier living in a house than an apartment but my house is a place to live, and an item of value, but not an investment I expect to make profit from.

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Re:Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out? by e12e on Saturday April 20, 2019 @07:55AM (#19706043)

That sounds odd - a 10% increase in (invested) value over 16 years? Isn't that below inflation?

(according to random site on the internet, it's a little below inflation: https://www.in2013dollars.com/2002-dollars-in-2018?amount=30... )

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Re:Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out? by sokoloff on Saturday April 20, 2019 @08:32AM (#19706189)

You can't reasonably count things like lawn maintenance, carpet, water damage, wood rot, and broken appliances as part of the investment...

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Re:Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out? by _ah on Saturday April 20, 2019 @12:15PM (#19707306)

Sure you can. If you were renting it out instead of living in it, all those costs would have to be paid on behalf of the tennents. It's part of the cost of doing business. So whether you rent or buy for yourself, it's all part of the investment calculation.

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Re:Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out? by sokoloff on Saturday April 20, 2019 @12:46PM (#19707500)

It’s part of the natural expenses of owning a house, but is not relevant to an anticipated inflation-based increase in value of the underlying asset.

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