All Forum Posts by: Asury Johnson

Clarksville, TN and Oak Grove, KY

Near FT Campbell, Ky

@Jim K. I'm drinking and reading this right now! I have nothing to post, though :(

@Brad Hasseler we manage our own properties and bought homes that were under management. It seems like one of the most common issues are lack of inspections or unreported issues. I know some PMs charge for each requested inspection on top of the 10% they typically charge. We tried a PM twice for our homes and did not like it. We were generating more activity and interest our vacant homes than they were. I mean, we are the ones ultimately financially responsible, so we were marketing more aggressively to get these homes rented. Thankfully, we were in a month to month contract with the PM and cancelled with a fee, of course. We eventually hired an assistant to help do inspections, phone calls, emails, and applications. We learned early on to train our tenants which made self management less stressful.

@Sheila Campbell I saw you're in the military. So are we! I believe you are eligible for $463,000 using your VA. Depending how much your current home loan is you might be have enough eligibility to use it to purchase a quadplex and house hack. You could rent out your current home and live in one of your units for a yr. I know at least 3 other service members that take advantage of this strategy. Especially since VA loans typically don't require any money down. If you don't have have enough VA eligibility, you can check Navy Federal for a military mall, which is very similar to a VA with a small origination fee that was attached to the end of the loan. You have options, girlfriend! We currently have 2 VA loans open and one military loan with Navy Federal.

We use Buildium up collect payment. Before using this software, we made tenants do direct deposit at our bank. Our bank has local branches that are open 7 days a week, so no excuses.

@Victor Mondragon wow! So sorry that happened, especially in your back yard! We've had our share of horrible guests. One neighbor even asked if one of our AirBnB was a rave house. We now have Ring doorbell cameras and get alerts. We instant take action when we witness a rule a violation, like unauthorized guests. You have the right to cancel the reservation with no refund for rule violations. We have extra fees for violations as well, smoking being the most common one. Just tonight we made guests leave because reservation only had 2 guests, but we noticed at least 4 total guests. One showed up with a speaker and alcohol..not a good sign. We called her and shut it down. Thankfully, the common guest isn't this inconsiderate. Just be vigilant and firm. This is YOUR house and YOUR terms. They can leave if they can't comply.

@Jonathan Jaffe we use SW Repose Gray, which a true gray,imo. Our painter uses a premium flat paint from Ferrell Calhoun. It's easy to touch up and clean.

With rentals we never replace anything unless it needs to be. Paint goes a long way in making the place look fresh and modern. We typically do replace the gold hardware and fixtures with nickel. We use Repose gray from SW for walls, a true gray, imo. Women usually love it as it matches all furniture and decor. If cabinets are dated, we paint them white, this makes small kitchens and bathrooms look bigger. We noticed less turnover when we started making the homes look more modern. We've had families tell us they're in love with the home and become attached.

@Sean Wilt we have over 400 airbnb reviews, average a 4.9 and am a super host. We we'll periodically get 4 stars and even 3 stars! They never say anything bad or what they complain about is already in the listing description or notes! I've had 2 guests before leave a 1 star because they were questioned about smoking. We recently started using Smartbnb to automate messages with our guests. We send a message after the first night saying something like, "We hope you've settled in and are having a 5 star stay. Let us know if you need anything". After check out is also sends them a message mentioning the 5 stars again. The idea is to prompt guests to give you a 5 star review. We've only been using it for a week and so far we like it.

@JJ Neerman I wouldn't refi if I didn't have to, unless you promised a time frame and it's in your contract. That's the beauty of subject to, you're leveraging someone else's money. If he made those big ticket improvements and only requires some cosmetic work, depending on how much he needs to be current, then it might be worth catching up the loan into if it leaves you a good amount of equity or can produce some great cash flow.