All Forum Posts by: Andy Collins

I have used family for hard money loans in the past,,much better rates than HML!

No problem on refinance, we just made sure the title company did the paperwork just like any other hard money loan,,,great for me, great for family lender

I saw a house in the same neighborhood as one of mine listed for rent at a super cheap rate, but then I realized I knew the house, it was a foreclosure still on the market. I e-mailed the guy, he sent me a application to file out (include ss #, etc) and said he was out of the country for a week,,I wonder how many times people filed out the application and sent it in.

You have to watch out if the water usage is way beyond what it should be, it could be a broken pipe or bad toilet, but also it can be that the tenants are running a dope lab.

We had someone steal water from a house for that very reason, in a very nice neighborhood,,,of course at first the police were told about my tenant' usage, but I had talked to the water department and was working with them.

is the rental property in your personal name?

Unless this is an expensive refrigerator, or you have your rental property in a LLC or incorporated,, then I wouldn't really worry about it,, (maybe that' not the right way but that's what I have done).

Just take the refrigerator over to the rental and have an excuse to buy your wife a new refrigerator,,used refrigerators aren't really worth very much unless it is a built in or something special

It really depends on the condition of the lawn and the time of year, generally you aren't going to take a bad lawn and turn it into a nice lawn in less than about a year.

you can kill weeds, as you said water water water, and some fertilizer, if you mow the lawn frequently it will look better than it really is, because the weeds don't have a chance to ourgrow the grass.

Sod is the only 'quick fix'

It's going to be hard to buy a duplex for that much and make it cash flow.

Your going to have to look into the cheaper neighborhoods, not 'war zones', but less expensive neighborhoods.

I have $100k SFR in the Mesquite/Garland area that cash flow just under $500 each per month (of course I bought then when prices were cheap).

$700 cash flow from a $500k investment just doesn't make any sense from a cash flow standpoint.

andy

I have a rule, I don't run up and insult great big guys (or anyone really, but that doesn't get the point across), and I don't play games with the IRS.

If you are audited and it doesn't pass the "smell test", even if they can't get you on that,,they will get you on something,,,,I don't want to do anything that even looks inappropriate

Two to three years ago I was trying to hit about 1.7, and doing it (upper blue collar),,today, I'd love to find a 1.4 deal in a nice neighborhood,,they are hard to find,,,,so you have to make the decision, do you sit on the sideline or take a 1.3 deal,,,,,

The deals from a few years ago spoiled me!

I not only look at school districts, i look at specific schools that are 'in demand".

There is a high school thought to be the best in a suburb I have rentals in,,I will jump at a house in that high schools area if the price is decent (where you live determines which high school you go to in this specific town).

I never have to advertise those houses, I put a sign in the yard and people driving around trying to find in a house in that high school will find it.

Most of the renters I have are parents with school age children,,school districts/schools are everything

I always tell every tenant I'm not looking for outstanding credit from their report, I just want to know that in general they pay their bills, that we all have issues in life.

Most of the time they will then open up and tell me exactly what I am going to find,,if its bad enough I save all of us the hassle and recommend not running the application (but if they still want me to of course I will).

I have had very few people just look me in the face and lie,,of course I said very few, I have had it done,,and sometimes they are really good at it,,which is why I run credit checks, background checks and rental history on everyone