All Forum Posts by: Austin F.

All my college rentals are filled in February for a May move in, during that year lease nothing moves. There is a little action between semesters, and right before school starts.

I also rent all my units jointly and severally to groups of friends. If someone has to move out due to interpersonal issues I leave it up to the dwelling unit to find a new roommate. I tried to fill a room in a house once, and I found no one wants to live with random roommates, and those that do are weird and create issues with the existing tenants.

Another thing I have found is key for college students is finding where THEY are looking for rooms. Private Facebook groups kill it with students in my market, while Zillow advertisements sit.

Also make sure you're speaking students language. My students would rather die than make a phone call, so I communicate via text, and Facebook messenger. At the signing of every lease I create a group chat text message with all students at the property so I can easily send notifications toeveryone, and they can see that their roommate already told me about the broken dishwasher. 

I think the real important part here is that you are using the "zestimate" to calulate your value. Look up comparables and come up with a real After Repaired Value. Having an accurate ARV is critical to the offer process.

My market is a small (20k) town, and my target property is an even smaller section of that town.

I am trying to come up with a way to market for duplex/triplex type properties that aren't on the MLS. My idea was to virtually drive for dollars with street view, write down addresses with 2+ mailboxes and send them a pretty custom typed hand stuffed letter asking if they wanted to sell, or connect.

Made a small sample list (50 contacts) Sent it off to be skip traced, and got back phone numbers when I was expecting mailing addresses (.20 cents per name). No worries, I can pull mailing addresses off the county website, it will cost $2 per address, that is a much bigger financial commitment, and I am unsure if this is the right tack to follow.

I'm not sure what my question is, but looking for some guidance from this who have done this before. Am I on the right track? I am only looking to convert one to two deals at this time.

Some of my other concerns are being viewed as a nuisance by people I may know in the small community, putting my personal cell out there either on mailers, or cold calling. These may be un-founded fears? 

I try and lay out my thoughts in a non emotional place first. Do all your research, ask questions, refine your thoughts. Then go for a walk, a drive, whatever you do to relax. While you're relaxed think about what you want, define the asset and returns you want, WRITE IT DOWN!

"I want a 4 bedroom home on a hill that has a 10% cash on cash return after management"

Once your goal is defined and written it becomes much easier to focus on that goal, become an expert on that asset, and find your deal.

Make a spreadsheet, or some type of metric you can quickly plug possibilities into. Once you can turn emotions and pictures and descriptions into numbers it becomes much easier to remove emotion.

"This place returns at 8%, therefore it is not 'the' place".

Good luck, this is a challenging thing. I try and remember "Be hungry, not desperate".

My rental policy covers lost rents in the event of something happening, and also will pay for the tenants hotel. I personally would move to release the tenant from the lease as the property is now untenable, and having them on a lease is just another complication.

I would have an in person sit down meeting with your agent and ask them all the questions you asked us. Like Mitch said, don't sign anything but the best person to ask insurance questions to should be your agent, they should have all the answers and should be able to help you through this.

Generous use of the word should because I have never been in a situation like this.

Put one of my units into Innago, and it seems like I will be switching everything over to them come renewal season.

Free for me, free for the tenants, allows me to upload my own custom lease, allows me to build a custom(ish) application.

I can send applications via email, or post a link which is neat.

I had some issues with a few things and was getting text messages on a weekend to get it sorted.

Rent is quickly deposited in my account, like next day quickly, I would have to double check.

What are you looking for in a software? 

I long ago made a policy where I will not under any circumstances comment on the amount of security deposit I plan to return until after the keys are on the table and the tenant is gone.

Now I HAVE done a quick walk through in the week BEFORE move out to give my general opinion of the condition of the property, and any specific things I see that I MAY consider after move out. I only do this if I have time, I like the tenants, and only verbally.

I've found the only tenants who ask are the ones who know they're losing money.

As a general rule for myself, I keep it fairly tight around people who I know have less than me.

I'll tell them what I do, and if they press how many units I have, but never real numbers unless they're really persistent in which case I'll drop a percentage "my last deal I got a 20% return, I was really excited about that".

Around people who are hustling I don't mind sharing numbers at all. Mostly curious about how different strategies are returning, and trying to figure out how I can adjust, or incorporate some of their strategies in my own investing, or sharing ways I have succeeded. I find people who are out actually hustling are competitive, but not jealous like those who are sitting on a career W2 job often seem to be.

In my city rentals must be inspected and registered, not sure about yours. There are people who have sold a 4 bed, and the inspector comes in and says its only a 3 bed.

Make sure you call the city and/or check his registration to make sure you won't run into issues there