How is renting out in the States?
This is mostly a question targeting my american readers, if I have any. How are the laws regarding owning a apartment/house and renting it out for a profit?
The laws here in socialistic Sweden are so annoying, you can barely make a profit if you are going to do it legally. The only way to profit is under the table(yes, white collar crime is common here). Real estate speculation is, excuse my language a bitch here. United States has always been seen as a wonderful land by the right wingers in Sweden because of lower taxes, easier laws. I’m wondering how it really is… would really appreciate if anyone could answer, the optimal would be a person who has lived both in Sweden and US.
Tags: profiting on real estate, renting out your house apartment, right wingers in sweden, socialistic sweden, sweden real estate
March 20th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
As long as you avoid the couple cities (New York, San Francisco) that are rent-controlled, it is easy. A lot of the cities (like Saint Louis, where I owned a 4-unit building) require pointless inspections, but other than that there is nothing preventing someone from renting out an apartment or house. I have to ask, what is so arduous about doing that in Sweden?
March 20th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Of course, making money doing it is a whole other story … but I am sure you have things break and have deadbeat renters in Sweden too
March 20th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
This will give you an idea how it is here:
1. we have rent controls all over the country, if you were to take a market price the renter can avoid saying anything just to be able to rent but when he/she moves, that person can go to the government and complain and get the money back. You can wait up to 2 years. So you can rent then screw your landlord.
2. 1 appartment/house isn’t considered a company so the taxes aren’t that insane, but still 30-35% on your profit. If it were through a company it would be 50-60%(even the smallest companies here pay those kind of taxes). For a $100 profit more than half disappears.
A side note on the taxes: after around $3000/month you pay 50-55% on the extra dollars earned ( INCOME TAX, not corporation, dividend tax) So if you were to run it through a company more than 60% would easily be taxed away because the company is first taxed then you’re income is taxed and that will end up leaving peanuts with all the risk taking.
3. You don’t actually own your apartment here when you buy it, you’re buying the “right” to live there. So you don’t have the rights to condone entrepenour activities. You have to get permission from the board, and getting the permission is hard.
4. You do own your house though, but alot of municipalities don’t allow hotel-like-houses.
To sum it up: permission is hard to get, everywhere is rent controlled, and the tax is HIGH. So how does the rent market looks like here? I can tell you there is a huuuge black market. Many are not living at their real address here in the capital, Stockholm.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
When did you start blogging, I have watched a youtube video on blogging and started my own site, please check it out and give me your thoughts.