All Forum Posts by: Deborah Burian

Section 8 passed the unit, saying the tenant promised him I would fix it... that I'm a nice lady and I take care of things :-). Appliance dude coming out on Monday. There is no leak, just a broken stove.

@Ned Carey - I'd love to do something like that to help me think about how to facelift a funky property... did you use a tool or photoshop? Thx.

It actually looks weird and awkward to me... the window shadows are still there even though furniture would be blocking the space. Leaving the nerd-out aside, I think it might be off-putting if the property looked that different.

$2,000,000.00 under "control" at 2% rule... $40,000.00 in monthly rent. Add 50% rule... $20,000.00 after expenses. Subtract mortgage... lets amortize for 15 years at 6% (my standard commercial deal) $16,877.00 = very crude monthly cash flow of $3123.00. Not that exciting, is it? If you have to share it with anyone, it's even less exciting... Wait - I thought the guru said I was gonna be rich?!?

Now - once you get all or part of it paid off, it's another story... but not an overnight one.

In our investing career we have worked with 3 primary realtors. The first saw what we were doing and started buying houses we were looking at and trying to wholesale them to us (really). The second was excellent but ultimately retired and the third we use to this day. We have looked at hundreds, if not thousands of houses (probably thousands when I think about it) and as it turns out, the main thing that mattered was the realtor's ability to follow through. Do they return phone calls promptly, answer questions, even if the answer is "I don't know but I'll find out", show up on time for appointments and otherwise keep the commitments they've made.

In our community, it is common for the realtor to set up an MLS feed, using your parameters for area, size, price, etc. You then get a daily email of properties on the list, any changes in status, etc. We chose our realtors by going to open houses in the areas we buy, telling them what we do, and if it felt like a match, asking them to set up the MLS thing. Maybe one in a dozen or more actually set it up. That one was our next realtor. It was a very unscientific approach but it worked really really well.

@Curt Davis - looks like he paid 35K, renovated at 8K and now has an estimated value of 65K.

@Haim Mamane Palman - beautiful. I really like what you did with the fireplace.

@Carole G. - Lots, loads, tons even, of information here from very skilled investors. @Michael Quarles makes my eyes cross when I read his posts about marketing his business. Ditto @ Bill Gulley and a host of others including virtually all the moderators. Personally, I've been at it for 11 years and it's my full time job yet I learn something here every day.

Thanks for all the feedback. Frankly, I don't have time for the drama right now (@Ben R. was so right) Appliance dude or new stove it is.

One more time... there is no leak. Not gonna blow up the tenant. Or the unit. Or the Section 8 dude.

Tenant called and said she had a gas leak. She's not always completely accurate but I was in the area and went by to check. Sure enough, there is a slight gas odor in the kitchen. Have the stuff with me, check the unions, they're fine, no leaks. Check stove burners, everything working as it should. Gas odor is dissipating. I'm pretty certain she has bumped a burner slightly on and inadvertently created this situation. She wants me to look under the top of the stove. I raise it up, higher than it was intended to go and break the feed to the front burner... it looks like it just snapped off but I can't really tell because I'm afraid if I keep lifting, I'll break the other ones...

Is this a DIY or should I call the appliance guy who will then charge me half the price of the stove just to show up? Naturally, this is my first and only Section 8 tenant and the Section 8 inspection is tomorrow.

For the folks that are following the rent saga of my new multi-family, as of the 8th, I have 7 of 8 rents... Last month, the first full month of the adventure, on the 8th I think I had 3, maybe 3 1/2.

Progress is being made but I still have one guy trying to give me an ulcer and today in court, the judge allowed him additional time to pay. I wrote the whole thing up on the blog here...

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3976-the-next-adventure---small-multi-unit

Every day is an adventure.