One thing that non-landlords here probably don't realize is that the net (after-tax) income from a property will decline over time even if there is no inflation. The tax deductions from mortgage interest and depreciation are on sliding scales, both pointed down. I won't even go into complexities such as passive loss carryover, but while there are a number of advantages to being a landlord, there is still usually a good business case for raising rents a modest amount (say, 2.5%) on lease renewal.
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All that said, with Janesville's job market, this is and properly should be a renter's market (one reason the government is coming up with incentives for buyers), and rents are probably declining overall. They have certainly declined in markets like Manhattan.

g"that things get fixed ASAP and get a break in their rent to boot for helping us out!"

that is the way it should be. if a tenant does work or pays out of pocket it should be deducted from the rent as long as they imformed you of it first.
My guess is you are saying they get a better break than just the cost it would have cost you if somebody else did the work.

I had tenants for 2 1/2 years and I too never raised the rent because they paid on time and took good care of the place. they did want ME to replace lightbulbs though and I am pretty sure that isnt my responcibility but it wasnt a big deal. THEY broke glass in a cabinet and a screen once too and wanted ME to fix and pay for it . I didnt say anthing cause again they took good care of the place otherwise.

I agree with you 110%. You are correct, when people leave, we do raise the rent to make it like the rest of the places we have which is basically $650. We do have places that we are loosing money on though, don't get me wrong. When our payments and taxes go up and the duplex is still being rented out for $450/month each side, it does get rather tight when it barely covers the cost of insurance and taxes and then to have repairs on top of that. But our philosophy is if they pay on time or talk to us if they have problems, we would rather have people there than none at all. It was especially difficult this past year when we had to replace the roofs, etc on a few of the places, but our tenants actually helped out with the cleanup, etc. Sort of makes the loss easier to swallow when we know that they will help us out in return. We know there a lot of slumlords out there and it really ticks us off that those poor people who are renting don't get told that they can do something about it when things don't get fixed. Luckily, we have tennants that are electricians, plumbers, etc. that can help us out if we get into a bind so that things get fixed ASAP and get a break in their rent to boot for helping us out! Too bad there are so many crooked landlords out there that give the few good ones a bad name.

genrene-What would you have charged for that duplex 10 years ago? Would you be making enough to pay the bills if the tenants rented ten consecutive years without an increase? My point is your costs have gone up and you are forced to up the rent on places when new tenants move in. That being said, I commend you for being a good landlord. unfortunately there are many who are not and that makes renting all the more difficult in the long run for most.

I've been reading about what some of you are saying about landlords that raise the rent on their tennants. Sorry to hear that you had to have crappy landlords like them. We have it in our signed lease agreements that rent will never go up for them as long as they live in that particular house/duplex/condo. We also treat everyone's place they live in as their home. We call it their home. We do allow them to paint but do need to check out the color beforehand. (believe it or not we have had a request for black before, that we did turn down)If the color is an easy color to cover when they move out, why not let them paint? By law the unit has to be painted before someone else comes in anyway, so what is the big difference? All of our places are at least 1000 square feet plus a basement. We don't buy anything that we would not live in ourselves. This may sound like an out and out lie, but we would rather have happy people than empty units, especially in times like these. By the way, our most expensive house is a 3 bed 2 bath 2.5 car garage for $750 in Milton.

indys girl- great opp for you if the home is selling for an affordable price and you like the home. wouldnt need a realtor for either of you. I know a realtor that will help with this kind of sale for a smaller fee than actually listing the home. you should see how much she wants for the home.

CallitasIseeit-
that happened to us on the second home they gave us approval for $93 k I said I dont think so we bought home for 63k- it was what MY budget said we could afford and YES THIS IS ABOSOLUTLY part of the problem now. I work with somebody that rented and couldhardly afford it then bought a house for 2x the rent payment causse the bank said he could same with the 2 cars he had. 2 repo and one forclosure. do what you know you can afford NOT what the bank tells you that you can afford. the banks wants incomes before tax- I believe MOST of us pay taxes and it is atleast 33% less income than the bank thinks you have.

Look at the inflation factor as well. Every year my house payment stayed the same while my income went up. It even went down when I refinanced. A $550 payment in 1989 was a $480 payment at the end of 13 years. In that time my income nearly tripled. I could have rented a duplex for $450 in '89 but if I was still renting today it would be $1300 and much smaller than my house. Rent goes up as the taxes and maintenance go up. Math says she doesn't want to pay taxes and maintenance but SHE IS paying it. The landlords just keep passing their higher costs to renters.

the bonus toowning a home as an investment is simple. after 15-20-30 yrs it will be paid for. If you do this young it works well.
I plsn to have mine paid for when I an 50.
Then if I chose to buy another I could rent this one. or when I am old and had to go to a home I could rent it, sell it . OR if I am old I can still stay and get a reverse mortgage and live life off of the equity and stay in my home. good luck doing that with a rental.

and dont be fooled YOU ARE PAYING TAXES and getting no crdeit for it. it is in your rent . when yourr rent goes up that is your taxes that you dont think you pay going up.

the interest you pay is tax deductable and so it the taxes.

i would rather fix the problem and pay for it than bother with spme slum lord when they FEEL like fixing it.

I bought a home when i was 23 and should have done it earlier than that. i wanted a bigger home 2 yrs later and made $20k just living in it. I didnt do anything to it. bought another and fixed it up. yes prob over spent. bought another and fixed it up with very nice floors etc and plan to stay long time. if sold it would make $100 more than we bought it for minus the upgrades so prob about $40k for me.

may be less stress to just rent but that seems boring to me. I want to have colored walls and gardens all over . must rentals wont let you touch anything. - no thanks

I agree with justsaynotomath, the thought of paying for maintainence, repairs, and taxes is daunting. It is hard to find nice houses to rent in this area, and I'm sick of moving around all the time. We currently live a in a nice little house near Briarcrest, but the landlord has told us she is going to sell it, meaning that we would have to move out soon. Owning a home is a scary prospect for me. My boyfriend seems to be ready to buy though because real estate is so cheap. I'm on the fence, even though I'm more comfortable with renting for the time being but I don't want to pass up a good opportunity!

Buy a house below your means. It is a place to live, not a status symbol. The taxes are lower, maintenance is lower (especially if you do it yourselves). I bought my house with money down and took out a 15 year mortgage. When I went to pre-approve financing the lender gave me figures showing I could borrow 3 times as much and do a 30 year mortgage to lower payments. That is insane. I refinanced for a lower rate a couple of times and paid it off early. If I wanted to rent it today it would cost me $1200 a month vs. the $350 property tax and some minimal maintenance.

Well, it is rarely popular to say so, but renting does make better economic sense for many people. There is too much emphasis placed on the magical properties of owning a home. As you say, there are taxes and maintenance and keeping them up does take work. But it should be viewed as a home, and not as an investment, which is the approach that got us into the housing crisis. If people are straining their finances to own, they probably should be renting.

That is your opinion, math. Owning your own home is much better than renting. It is an investment and the place is YOURS, why continually pay for something that isn't yours?
I, on the other hand, couldn't imagine renting again. Maybe you didn't live in the right area, maybe you don't qualify to own??

home ownership is a scam ! i will never buy another house. higher taxes, higher payments, higher fees, and repairs. renting is a much better deal and without all the costs of home ownership. what else are they going to say ? don't buy homes, what a freakin joke !