All Forum Posts by: Andrew Carlson

@Nathan Gesner

The previous owner of my building allowed cats. I’ve had two bad cat piss turnovers which entailed removing doors and door frames, cutting out studs and ripping out gyp-crete. Nothing compared to what you got going on there. Just keep going!

@Angeline Rebottaro

Consider one of those round wooden saunas! My friend put one in his air bnb and the slow winter months are now booked solid. Plus, less maintenance than a hot tub.

@Zachary Stanley

Self development is definitely possible, but yes, some people just have ‘it’

‘It’ is a combination of things…..right attitude, right goals, right mindset, right time, right place and the hardest part of all…the right people have to see something in you that makes them work with you before others.

@Glen Wiley

I think they start charging at 6 units.

@Grant Stuard

Some people are just born around real estate. Maybe their parents didn’t fund their deals, but they put them in front of the right people.

@Quinn Dudek

There’s a couple books I recommend you read, then, take that $400k and put 25% down on a $1.6 million apartment building. Find something with low rents and crappy units that you can fix up and pump up the value. Don’t start buying single family homes. Those are for families. These are the two books. Enjoy.

The complete guide to buying and selling apartment buildings by Steve Berges.

Multifamily millions by Dave Lindahl.

The most important thing to remember is that you can do this.

@Collin H.

I agree, these are not great places to invest. My brother in law was tossing around the idea of buying a house within a resort we got to every year. He showed me the numbers they gave him on the house we were staying in (which was also for sale). After the FIFTY percent management fee, the house broke even…before even factoring in debt!

@Glen Wiley

Apartments.com is trying to sign me up for $120/month. Far from free.

@Bill Brandt

Also, SFR rents tend to be higher than apartments, so you're probably getting better quality tenants.

When I bought my building the previous owner allowed cats…..oh boy. I had to cut studs out of doorways because they were so saturated in cat urine. No more cats in the building.

@Michael Hoover

I’ve struggled with the same thing. The hardest part for me is letting a unit sit empty while the contractor has to find time to get your project done. The best remedy for that is get a project lined up as early as possible- for example, when a tenant gives you their notice to leave, check out the unit with a contractor asap to see what projects/remodel needs to be done. That way your contractor has plenty of notice to get you on their schedule.

Another thing I’ve been doing on my apartment remodels is like a hybrid style where I do some of the work and hire a general for other things. Also, don’t forget about hiring a part time guy to work directly under you! That’s been another way I multiply my efforts. I hire a guy $18/hr to paint, and the two of us can bust out a unit super fast!