All Forum Posts by: Bart H.

 IMO spend some money on a professional photographer.  that pictures are terrible, they are dark, at angles etc.   IT looks like you have a washer and dryer outside?  is that the case?

I would spend a little money on landscaping, put in some edging a few flowers, and a little mulch.  IMO it would really improve the curb appeal.

@Stephanie Jamgochian we raise our rents every year, I would raise their rent a small amount and then charge a small pet fee. Or at least charge a non refundable pet rent.

if we ever provide any discount on rent, say $20/m for 12 months, it would be no discount for the first 11 months, and 240in month 12 contingent on completion of lease with no late payments.

 DFW will have more price appreciation than Seattle/Washington over the next 20 years.  I honestly dont think it will be all that close.

Property taxes are insane here, and insurance is high as well, but I would worry about things like rent control and other headaches headed your way in Washington.

@Zachary Bellinghausen. No, we raise the rent on every single property every year.

Remember it’s going to cost them a lot more to move. I would kindly decline. Maybe put in an upgrade if needed.

 He is probably referring to the the costs incurred while doing the renovations.  Ie interest, utilities, property taxes etc.

 Property taxes are insane, and the various counties in DFW have been pushing the valuations.  We have seen our property taxes go up $2000-$3,000/year for several years now.

Careful, a common scam is to offer a property that the person doesn't own for a super great price, and just needs a deposit to "hold it" until a proper closing can occur, and they don't want to use lawyers or title companies.  Then poof, off they go with you earnest money.

I don't know that I am the best person to answer the question because the bread and butter of what we do is to identify neighborhoods before the masses and buy mis-priced properties.

We often live in the house and we usually look for value add, places we can update, fix etc.

Also for us to buy a property, we want multiple exits.  Flip, live in it ourselves, rent it, tear down and rebuild something new.  Whatever the case we want a lot of exits, and we want to buy under market.

As I said, turnkey doesnt fit our model, and we dont invest out of state (with one unique one off exception due to a child's college, and we are losing our shirt on that purchase).

I think turnkey is fine if you do your own research, but I think its a mistake to consider turnkey a buy and forget investment.

Maybe others who specialize on out of state purchases or turnkey investing could give you a little better guidance than I can.

 One of the problems you have with that area, is St. Louis itself is hemorrhaging people.  In 1970 there were 670K people (1930 there were $820K), since then every decade Stl has lost 10%+ of its population and is down to 319K as of 2010.

I dont see the catalyst to turning the area around.  

 I have never done any business with them, but from several years of reading the forums it seems as though Memphis invest is a reputable company.

But be careful, what you get a turnkey company, you are basically saying, I want to buy a house that has been fixed up.  And I think XYZ turnkey company is going to fix it up well enough, and then manage it well enough that it will cash flow at a high enough rate that I can make money over the long term.

Almost by definition you are buying a property at retail and hoping the rents will make you money.  Back in the day, property values were skyrocketing upwards, so you had a lot of price appreciation to help you out.  I dont know if that is the dynamic in Dallas.  Over time prices I think will go up, but its not a rocket ship.

Now everyone had different goals in investing, and if you are looking for a relatively passive investment, Memphis invest might be your guys, I just want to put it out there what you are doing.  There isnt a single turnkey company in the world selling you a property under retail.  IF thats ok with you, have at it.  It is not part of our business model.