All Forum Posts by: Al Pat

I didn't have a truck until on my 8th rental property. What I had was 1998 Toyota Corolla with 260k miles. When we decided it was a time to upgrade, we bought gently used 2014 Toyota Tacoma. I like doing small repairs myself. My handyman charges me for labor if I buy material. So, it works for me. May be next question you will ask is "Do I need she'd to store extra material?"...hahaha. This year I bought a she'd to store leftover material from repairs such as extra carpet, laminate flooring, tiles, drywall, lumber, etc. It already came handy to do several repairs. Anyway, my recommendation is to build your rentals portfolio with what you have and then when you reach that point of scale, go get truck. You don't need a truck to be landlord.

@Zack P. I personally don't like any SFR property that is less than $1000 a month. With that said, all my investments are in metro Atlanta so I can get that. At the cash flow you mentioned, it's a tight rope and personally wouldn't pursue it.

I am a big fan of 401k and highly recommend to everyone. I have been maxing out my 401k until I reached income point where I am not allowed to. however, I have been investing my personal savings into real estate. I think the point is: you need to create your safety net or nets. I use my rental income to invest in select Vanguard funds, mainly VTI.

@Colleen F. I would first shut off the water main so she can not rat hole her self into the unit. For this very reason, I have separate meters and shut off valve on my duplex units. Hope you have ability to do the same.

My properties are owned by my LLC. To my tenants I just the property manager who is helping them solve their residency problems. This has helped a lot when collecting late fees on behalf of the corporation 😉. I agree with many here as to no one at your work needs to know what your investments are unless you have theirs as open book but even after that they don't need to know. Tenants for sure don't need to know who owns the property.

I have bought most of my SFHs when market was low during 2011 through 2015. All we're bought with cash. My most recent purchases were couple more SFHs and duplex that I have a loan on at around 4.5% and 5.6%, I will continue to have that mortgage payment made from rent. All in all, ROI aside, it gives me better cash flow. My properties quadrupled in price since buying in 2011 and 2012 so temptation to cash out is there but these are my retirement income streams so not taking unnecessary debt.

@Ashley Davis once after doing the letter, you still can not get in touch with them then go place an empty lock box on the door know with the door tag envelope with the same letter. They will call you for sure. Use this trick as last resort so it doesn't loose it's effectiveness.

@Ashley Davis, Congratulations on your purchase. I have bought properties sight unseen as well as after fully inspecting it - both ways. At the end of the day, deal is done and you own the property so look forward. I would NOT recommend on knocking on the doors but rather place a letter in the mail box introducing yourself and your contact information advising where the rent should be deposited. I actually asked them for the best time to meet them, preferably over the weekend. I also have a tenant information update form that I place with the letter so I can have their current information, name of all tenants, contact information, employer, emergency contact etc. In the end it all worked out good with tenant occupied properties. One good thing about these kind of properties is that they are living there so at least it its inhabitable and may not need major work and rent is coming in. Figure out the eviction if they are non-paying. 

Some people are just too cautious and never makes a deal whereas others like us jumps in and figures it all out. You will be just fine. Wish you all the best.

@Jamie Engledow, I disagree. I have a tenant who has been with us for about five years. He recently called me and said he has bed bugs. He works on renovations contractor and believes one of the houses he worked on had bed bugs and that came along with him. I am helping to treat it but he accepted responsibility and discarded his mattresses and sofa. For the OP, I would refuse the tenant based on other reasons. How they know that you learned about their bed bug issue? What you learned about tenant in their background check or due diligence is for your knowledge and decision making. It should NEVER to be discussed with potential tenants. By doing that you are creating headaches and problems for you and their current landlord. don't ever discuss reas their application fee rather than falling for the threat

@Abigail Timbol, there is a local Meetup group in Atlanta. You might want to start attending monthly meeting to develop contacts and get guidance. Good luck.