All Forum Posts by: Brian Ploszay

Austin has a trajectory upwards that is independent of some of the challenges we face today.  Long term, it is good real estate.  I would not sell.  But if you were planning to liquidate portions of your portfolio, there are good arguments that now is a good time.

Perhaps you can graduate to networking events that have more seasoned local investors.  For me BP is social media, but with a real estate focus.  There are groups like this on Facebook, but this is larger.

The real estate market might have some strong changes in the next two years.  I'd like to gauge national investor sentiment.  BP is a sounding board for investors.

Two years.  There was a title issue on a piece of land I was under contract to buy.  It eventually was corrected and I bought it.  Land went up in value during that time.  I didn't even bother to build - resold it with the plans and took a profit.

The stats from Chicago seem high.  Most of the workforce housing is far less per unit.  Perhaps mixed in are new high end construction units.  Or units in premium neighborhoods.  Maybe they took only the survey on the northside of the City.  Price per unit is one of the first stats I look at.  

I am not raising rents, but my rents are more towards "market" before Covid.  At this point, keeping tenants is the priority.  You should be fine raising rents if they are below market.  Whenever I buy a building, I usually lose some tenants.  

If inflation is around the corner... as someone said on this post, then look at the implications for interest rates.  They of course will rise.  Any material increase in interest rates will send the values of investment / commercial real estate down.  And the housing market becomes more expensive, as loans cost more.  

I have a contrarian view here.  Invest in California. 

This happens all the time.  It is part of the landlord's job to make and enforce the rules.  This also includes inoperable vehicles that are on the property.  

To be a landlord, a good trait is to be fairly tolerant.  I would not strictly forbid any material to be stored outside.

What they do on the inside of their unit is their business.  Unless of course, it damages the property.

For apartment buildings, I've built storage unit lockers in basements.  Apartments are small and people have overflow.

The demand for your units is greater with pets.  The customer (tenant) wants housing that allows pets.  Nothing much more to understand.  

I dread larger dogs or errant peeing cats.  Also, some dogs don't bark.  Others do.  The barkers cause disruptions for the apartment units.  For rental houses, no issue.

It is reasonable for a buyer, not only to view, but also inspect a building they want to purchase.  Don't be intimidated by tenants;  It is the seller's problem that access is challenging.  Get it under contract with an inspection provision, then demand to inspect the units.

I do not like to purchase buildings sight unseen, or without inspection.  Occasionally I have done this when buying a foreclosure at a sheriff sale auction.  I have ways to justify that risk, which is usually to purchase the property cheap.

The other day I went into a property that I was interested in purchasing.  The pictures made it look good.  But it wasn't.  It was just an incredible photographer.  Who probably cleaned the photos up a bit in photoshop.  

Going inside will also allow you to meet the tenants you will inherit.  There have been buildings that I have turned down because I didn't want to deal with the current tenancy.