Boots on the ground are vital when buying out of state
Hey all, when buying out of state if you do not have people you can trust you are rolling the dice, and in most cases you WILL lose . I have been doing business in Cleveland about 10 years, , 8 years offering properties. Well I have seen it all. My colleagues are doing all PM and things are fine. Well the client for one reason or another switches the property to another PM co. Well sure enough 1 week later the owner is calling screaming and yelling, his house is a disaster, its falling apart, the sky is falling . Well many PM Co's will tell the client it needs this and that and OMG, we cant PM a property like this etc, all BS, simply to charge fees. How come there were no complaints, it passed all inspections, local and state, but now its a mess, again, all to generate fees. One of my clients has a 6 unit, he was told that it needed 6 new heating systems, , hmm they all were not more then 4 years old, ( they last forever ) and working perfectly fine. Well she charged him, 19k!! They are only 1200 each , total, !! He is suing her and they are PM Co. again. I met a very nice woman on BP last week. She happen to be flying in as was I , we met at her building. She purchased a 17 unit , March 2017, $175k ( much to high) well more then 220k in rehab and more then a year later its not even close to being complete and is vacant, she is getting ripped off. We are providing her with a quote to finish and should take over, the contractor is going to get sued . I can provide dozens of examples . So make sure you can trust the person you are speaking with. Verify they have actually done deals, have them prove it, Do not pay big money upfront. If they cannot front the payment to the contractor for the 1st draw, move on, Let them have some " skin in the game " . I wish everyone much success.