Where they're buying: Texas
Number of properties: 4
After her custom home-building business hit a dry spell following the housing bust, Julie Fine decided if she couldn't build properties she might as well buy and sell them.
When Fine's on the hunt for a new investment, she tries to find nice, modest-sized homes -- 1,500- to 2,000-square feet -- that will be easy to rent to smaller families (she wants to avoid large, extended families or groups of unrelated people who make for less reliable tenants), she said.
One of Fine's most recent scores was a three-bedroom, two-bath home built in 2006 in Terrell, Texas. Fine paid a mere $43,000 for the place, which needs only modest repairs. And she figures she can get at least $1,000 a month in rent for it.
Fine takes out mortgages to pay for her purchases so her returns tend to be modest. Even after the mortgage payments are made, plus all the other expenses, she expects to make a profit on each buy.
"It's my goal to have positive cash-flow of $200 a month on a property," she said. "Some, I may get only $140, some $360."
There are times when Fine will sell a place to the highest bidder for a quick return. But she has a core holding of four properties that she intends to hold for several years.
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