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[rory]

so, I've been on the board of a mostly dormant nonprofit in my town for a few years. Mostly dormant because are goal has been to set up an all ages, community run arts center in our small college-y city. What we've run into is that there is not an abundance of properties, and landlords in the area are serious, notable headaches to work with. Though we've hosted events outside of having our own unique space, and raised some money, we have not ever been able to find a place to call home, either rented or purchased.

But this week, we've essentially stumbled into an ideal place at an ideal price for ownership. There is a small christian youth center one mile from my house, but in an area with mostly no neighbors. It has a nice 3 bedroom apartment above it, and below it is totally accessible, and already basically a venue space. We've been offered, likely as a land contract without a mortgage, that $5,500 down payment would solidify us into the building, and then we would have a monthly rate that would likely mostly be covered in the price of renting the apartment. I have close friends who are involved actively in the community who already want to rent  the apartment(who are also reliable, family folk).

But now that this opportunity is upon us, and we pretty much should 100% do this, I'm feeling really nervous! Owning property sounds scary, especially for such an endeavor. I feel like I'm not even sure we entirely know what we are getting into at all. Does anyone have experience with owning a building? Having tenants? Running a DIY space? I could honestly use any and all advice and encouragement.

[manmagic]

I have experience owning a building and having tenants. I owned a two family, where I lived in half and rented half.

Basically what this did, is it allowed me to own a home that I normally could not afford. My mortgage each month was $850 and my tenants rent was $900. While this doesn't take into consideration alot of things (taxes, water, heating, repairs, vacancy loss, etc) It allowed me to live in a place for 5 years for much less than it would have cost me to rent a much shittier apartment just down the street. I ended up selling it, since we had a son and needed a place with more than one bedroom, but while it lasted it was a smart choice, at least financially for me.

Now some negatives where all the shitty things that come along with being a landlord. I can't put all of that into words, but being a landlord doesn't make you feel like a good person and if it does, then you are most likely doing it wrong, at least from a profitable stand point.

However from what you have typed out, it seems like a smart move. Hope it works out for you and best of luck!

[momitsnowme]

I don't think I understand the difference you're saying between "mortgage" and "rate." Paying a down payment and then paying monthly to pay the rest of it is what a mortgage is?

[momitsnowme]

Nevermind. Just looked up land contracts. So it just means you owe the current owner instead of a 3rd party? And it isn't really yours til it's paid? It still seems like a good deal as long as you are confident you'll be able to keep making payments until it is paid off.

[skateandannoy]

It still seems like a good deal as long as you are confident you'll be able to keep making payments until it is paid off.

Exactly this. Definitely surround yourself with 100% trustworthy people on it because there's so many laws around property ownership and management.

[rory]

Nevermind. Just looked up land contracts. So it just means you owe the current owner instead of a 3rd party? And it isn't really yours til it's paid? It still seems like a good deal as long as you are confident you'll be able to keep making payments until it is paid off.

Right. Which, hey, as far as an arts collective goes, it just about as unsafe as renting from most of the awful landlords here. But is still risky. But honestly, I'm not sure if we could possibly convince a bank to give us this sort of loan.