All Forum Posts by: AJ Leman

@Jesse Stein Greetings from Iowa city!

Just commenting to say that we had a difficult time finding a decent mgmt company in Iowa City, so we started our own! We only manage our properties. Happy to answer any questions about anything IC related.

Good luck-

AJ

@Max Matthias welcome!

I’m a teacher at City High and real estate investor. Nice to meet another educator. Love to connect in any way.

Best-

AJ

Hi @Bryan Stocklas,

I grew up in the area and my brother, J is a realtor there. We own about 50 units in and around the area. He would have a good handle on the management business and your options.  Shoot him a text if you are interested: 217 - 778 - 5320.

Best of luck!

AJ

We are invested in Iowa City, Champaign, and Danville (IL). Each market presents different pros and cons. Danville is a cashflow play, while  Champaign and Iowa City are more of appreciation plays. I like investing in Iowa as the state’s finances are in better shape than Illinois. 

Best of luck!

Hey Tyler,

We invest in Danville and own about 25 units there. It’s been a great market for us. Cash flow was our original goal, but now we are seeing some appreciation. A few larger industries are moving back there as well (hospital and casino). Good luck and let me know how I can help!

Best-

AJ 

Nice work! Congrats on the deal - looks like a good one!

Best-

AJ 

@Zachary Elliott Yep, that is the plan.  And if we don't use it, then it is just 10% extra cash flow.  Honestly, we are quite lenient with our deposits (probably ought to be more strict), but this stratergy seems like a win-win in many cases.

Hi @Ciji Masser,

My wife and I started in earnest in our late 30s with 4 kids.  She was in grad school.  I'm a teacher, so we didn't have lots of cash.  One of the keys to our success, which I think others have mentioned, was partners.  Our partners allowed us to leverage their skill and money to grow our portfolio to places where we never thought possible.

Best of luck on your journey!

AJ

Cheers to you on investigating deals and getting started.  I started with a duplex that we lived in, then eventually rented out, and finally 1031'd into something bigger.

Good news is you don't need a lot of money to get into the deal with 3.5% DP. Bad news is unless rents can come up quite a bit, there may not be enough monthly cash flow to do the deal. Cost for separate water metering usually depends on the municipality, etc. You could RUBS it or charge a flat fee as well. Since it is newer construction, your CapEx should be lower.

That said if you can find a way to break even, it may be worth it? Depends on your goals, the area, and other variables (i.e. are you going to live there, etc). We have a few deals that break even in cash flow, but because we were able to get into them with low/no down payments, we rely on the debt paydown, tax benefits, and (possible) appreciation to make it worth it. Really depends though.

Good luck!

AJ

Hey @Susan H.,

We do not use Rhino, however, we are beginning to offer all residents the option of paying a security deposit or paying an extra 10% per month in rent.  So, if rent is $700, the tenant could pay a $700 deposit or a non-refundable 10% monthly fee of $70.  Essentially, rent would be $770/month.  Many of our tenants like this for several reasons. 1) They feel they have had their deposit unfairly deducted from in the past, and 2) They would rather keep that large chunk of money now and pay a bit more rather than shell it all out.

It's usually beneficial for us as well because we make more in the long run.  Risks associated with it include the possibility of tenants leaving early and not paying rent on the last month, etc. However, this is offset by increased cash flow. I was made aware of this idea by some property managers here in Iowa.