All Forum Posts by: Allan Smith

I you have let the tenant become the alpha. She's running the show, you are a squirrel trying to get a nut.

you need to get the frame back from her.

effective managers follow company policy firmly. If it were me, she's getting an eviction letter for nonpayment. Next time, hire a mgr to screen tenants and train them. This begins the moment the property is listed. A big step in that process is going over the lease with the tenant. 

Llcs are expensive to maintain.

if you live in it, it CANNOT be an LLC.

Holding rentals in LLCs is not the answer all the time. In fact many times insurance is better.

The terms are great. Just do some due diligence to make sure he's capable and trustworthy. 

The best advice I can give is a line yourself with somebody who has done this before. Maybe it's a mentor, maybe it's a assistant manager who has been doing it for a while. It's going to be tough to pull this off without experience.

but if I were to get to the heart of property management advice, I think I would say something along the lines of set policies for how to handle everything, and hold them firm. Don't bother listening to tenant stories about why they can't pay rent blah blah blah, just tell them they have until a set date before proceedings begin. I manage 50 units and I think that more than anything else has allowed me to have a successful business. Stay firm.

When I hear someone say afford more house, it raises red flags for me. Unless it's far more profitable, one should only purchase houses that they can easily afford and not stretch themselves. To me that means a sizable down payment if you're going to live in it. But if you can't afford more house with 5% and make more money & a better roi, than that would be different.

Not Great books on this topic that I could find. Partner with a builder and learn from how he does it. I learned one piece at a time, took me 7 years to start my first development. Don't know a better way to be honest.

I have used helocs many a time, and in a similar situation to yours as well. You have to remember that the HELOC is not designed to be long-term financing, so just make a plan to pay it back after you buy the new primary residence.

Haha yeah get the kids some special quiet shoes!

otherwise better insulation and construction quality is the main thing. Can’t tell tenants not to use their apt.

I would start with your local market. Go meet some investors and buy their lunch and when you find one that has accomplished things that you want to accomplish, that is an ideal investor mentor. I have had coaching clients myself, and I know a lot of other folks in my area offer these Services as well. Rumor has it one guy charges $3,000 an hour. But he has accomplished a lot!

What are your goals? What do you wish you knew about how to reach them? What help do you need with next steps to reach your goals? Don't forget to ask him how you can bring value to the mentor. Everybody with a business needs something, you might be able to help them get where they want to go as well. Perhaps you know a good referral for them. You can always ask a mentor about their story and what they've accomplished and just learned from their experience. While they tell their story, kind of like a podcast, you can ask questions that come up along the way.