All Forum Posts by: Bill Coleman

Thanks for the tip

I am in the same situation - $250k to invest. I ended up buying two single family homes and they will chew up $170k of my cash. I am still not sure that this strategy was the right one but so much of the advice out there is to just start and get some experience under your belt. I was having a lot of trouble finding information on how to invest such a wad of cash. It's a blessing but it can also cause you to spend more freely than if you had much less cash. I listened to nearly every podcast and asked lots of questions to the BP community but never found a good route. I still feel like I could have done more with the $ that I had. The trouble is that finding cheap houses in Denver right now requires mad real estate skills. I am hoping that I will find that golden piece of advice that will make the light bulb go on. 

I am looking for a reliable and inexpensive service that allows tenants to have rent automatically paid directly from their bank account monthly. Does anyone use a service like that? 

I've had Intuit recommended but it seems like you need Quickbooks as the interface. I have not fully investigated Paypal but not everyone has an account. I noticed that EvaProperty is supposed to have a payment module but I have not had a chance to test it.

Any additional recommendations are highly appreciated!

Message understood. Thanks for everyone's comments. Luckily the framer was apologetic and agreed to pay for $200 of the cost. The guy across the street wanted to dump stuff in there and the framer said no. Then the guy ratted him out and still dumped his stuff in there. 

 I agree that residents are going to dump extra stuff in there and it's not usually a big deal. 

I don't plan to have it there very long - maybe two weeks. And it is not on street but that's not so much of a deterrent. the guy across the street said that people were walking in the back of the house. And, there's a fence with a big beware of dog sign.

My dumpster arrived a few days ago and i've had a few issues.

In Colorado, garbage services do not want to take construction waste or many other things that you would expect a garbage company to take. So people get tempted to throw that in a half full dumpster. So far I have not had that issue but it could easily happen.

The worst is that people are dumpster diving for metal. I am concerned about liability.

Lastly, a neighbor saw my framing contractor unload 4 trucks of construction waste into my empty 30 yard dumpster which is now 3/4 full. He is being talked to now.

Does anyone have any tips on how to discourage any or all of these practices?

I was told by my insurance company that if you are named additional insured, then if the tenant cancels the policy, you will be notified. 

@Monica Zakaria  I started when I was 19 but it was not my choice necessarily. So I never discount youth as a barrier to entry.

My sincere recommendation based on your analysis in your first thread is to get a job that in Real Estate investing that allows you to touch multiple areas of the "sport." Get comfortable with the lingo, the finance side, and most of all, the ways that you can participate in this business. You don't have to be a landlord. Start listening to the BP podcasts - they are pure gold! Attend local real estate investment associations and just start talking to people about what you are trying to do. You might land a job as a part time assistant to a big dog in the industry and you will learn a ton. 

Since you have plenty of time to figure it all out, i would go slow and let this opportunity unfold naturally. Hopefully you can land a mentor too.

Good luck! We were all beginners once but remember that we are all always learning too.

I used to paint all of my rentals as well. Got a sprayer and that sped things up a little but it wasnt a dedicated sprayer so it didn't really save me any time (Sears unit attached to compressor). Painting is painstaking work and often times never ending. Not a good use of my time so I will pay a pro to do the bulk work and then do the finish work myself. 

With practice you will get better or keep hiring pros. 

One big tip I learned when I used to work as a professional painter is brush care. Clean all dried paint with a wire brush and then once the brush is rinsing clean, dry and coat in a very very thick coat of the jelly-like hand cleaner that you can get at any auto or mass merchant store. Work into brush and wrap in a rag. When you go back two months later, the brush will be soft like new.

My advice, and this is what I did when I was getting back into the game, is to listen to as many Bigger Pockets podcasts as possible. Start from the top and work your way backwards. There is so much info it's hard not to want to write everything down. You will hear opposing approaches to this business and both are working. Some say be your own agent while others swear by their agent. Some leverage like crazy where others say no debt. You and all of your partners should listen to them and then figure out your approach because it doesnt always have to be about buying properties. You can carve out these little crazy niche businesses and make good money. Good luck.

Brilliant!