The "2 am broken toilet" excuse, upgraded

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The "2 am broken toilet" excuse, upgraded

Keith Torsen
Sacramento, CA · Member since 2017 · 54 posts · 19 votes

So I've been busy looking at deals, talking with people about my real estate journey so far, am 100% open about it to everyone I meet, pretty much.

Today, I had a conversation with a coworker.

"I want that one house that pays you a ton of money every month." His cash flow number was $2,000 per month... I'm still pretty new at this, but I've got some general knowledge on options he can have to go that route. We get to talking, and his number 1 excuse:

"I don't want a lot of houses, because I dont want to deal with Fair Housing tenants. I want just one or two houses with really great tenants."

He then goes on to talk himself out of THAT because his mom had a bad time owning houses.

This is a guy who spent years watching his mom landlord, spending 5 years in his 20s as a loan officer (I'm guessing broker), and now drives big rigs for our employer)

I'm honestly just wondering how common such a specific excuse like this is, and why someone wouldnt be open to ideas that give him exactly what he's looking for?

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Steve Vaughan
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
7y

Everybody has heard a tenant horror story.  They share them when you talk about landlording.  I stopped years ago.  Now I'm just retired if anyone asks. Between naps.

The way to stem the 'dreaded' 2am toilet call isn't to not bring your phone to bed or not give your tenants your number because you would rather get gouged by a PM. Horrible advice and a big reason I don't check in much anymore. 

During the move-in, show them where the stop valves are for sinks and toilets.  If anything goes wrong, shut it off and call me at a reasonable hour.  I'll walk you through it or take care of it the next day.

Educate and set expectations.  Or hire a PM, get over-charged by an emergency plumber call for no freaking reason and have payments the rest of your life.

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  • Lynnette E.
    Rental Property Investor · TN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Brett Grant:

    I had told a friend I was looking to get into Real Estate to retire early. His response was asking why I would that? Social security payments were based on the last 2 years working so you would want to spike your pay so you can maximize your social security when 65.

    I looked at him and ask if he was looking forward to working 15 more years, just to work harder and spike his pay starting at 63? He seemed confused by the question and as if that was the only option.

     You need to have another talk with this friend.  Pensions generally look at the latest/highest salaries.  

    However social security looks at your highest, inflation adjusted 35, yes, 35 YEARS of salary.

    He can go on the social security webpage and enter his old salaries by year (the website even will give you your old salaries) and one can see the if you play with the data and even add nothing for  a few years in the future, it really does not matter much in the benefits.  Averaging 35 years of salary makes any few years salary pretty much inconsequential.

    He should at least be told to look at what basket he is putting his eggs in and see how it works.

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