to rent or not rent

[robertmcilwrath]

situation fourplex renovated and to be sold

as an investor would you rather purchase the building with 4 empty units, pick your own tennants and your rent
or purchase with units occupied

looking for opinions dont be shy

 

[invst4profit]

As much as it is nice to start out with a steady income my preference, especially in Ontario, would definitely be to purchase an empty property.
I am very selective about whom I rent to and feel that many landlords when selling fill there empty units without doing proper background checks.
In Ontario you are stuck with whomever you get and with whatever rent amount they are paying.

Definitely empty......

 

[Ready4Rent]

QUOTE (robertmcilwrath @ Feb 2 2009, 10:17 PM) situation fourplex renovated and to be sold

as an investor would you rather purchase the building with 4 empty units, pick your own tennants and your rent
or purchase with units occupied

looking for opinions dont be shy

Defiantly empty, while having tenants in there right away is nice, we find to often the tenants the previous owner has selected seem to be "just thrown in" just before going up for sale if you know what I mean.

John

 

[JBagorio]

I think it all depends. In most cases I do prefer empty, but in today’s slowing down market you might have to consider assuming the tenants. Just do your research... Besides you have the option to dig in and search for red flags to make your decision. Ask for lease contracts, request to interview the tenants, etc... I am sure doing so, will give you lots of insight.

Regards!

 

[ZuzanaHaska]

Empty! From my own experience most of the problem tenants and evictions were inherited tenants. Selecting your own tenants is always advantage, good luck!

Zuzana Haska
Linden Property Management LTD

 

[niteshk]

I would personally prefer a unit that has already been rented out. Ofcourse, you will want to look into who exactly is staying in the units and see if that is something you want to deal with. But, instead of carrying a 4plex emplty for a couple of months, having it rented out definately makes it easy on the monthly cash flow.

 

[Thomas Beyer]

empty .. pick your own tenants and rent level ..

ideally you get to show one unit and have them all pre-leased when you take possession !