All Forum Posts by: Brett Baginski

Go on Zillow, Facebook marketplace, craigslist, etc and look to see what the other homes in your town are renting for and what kind of condition they are in.  A new bathroom will probably cost a lot more than new floors, painting the interior, maybe painting the kitchen cabinets, adding new hardware, and updating the old bath.  There are a lot of smaller things that can be done to improve the overall quality of the rental and make it more appealing.  

Now it also depends what your goals are with this property.  Are you trying to add a lot of value to the property and refinance some cash out down the road?  Are you looking to flip the house in a couple years?  If so, adding that extra bath might make more sense.  You would have to get quotes from contractors and also get comps on the nearby houses with an extra bath.

Do your regular screening due diligence and decide for yourself.  Call their employer and previous employer (if they have one), call their past landlords, get references, find out why they are moving, take a peek inside their car to see how it's kept.  Do they have kids that will be in the school system?  Could be a good incentive to stay in one place.

When I was renting my property I probably had about 20 section 8 families ask about the property.  Not one of them followed through with an application.  Whether it was because of my renting requirements or the application fee, I am not sure.  Your screening process should weed out the bad ones.

I decided to get business cards because it felt awkward going to meetups and being in a group of people exchanging cards and I didn't have one to hand back to them.  Mine is very simple.  

Name
Real Estate Investor
Phone
Email
Interested in single family and multifamily residential properties

I should have also included my Instagram like @Kevin Gray mentioned.  I left the back blank as I know people (like myself) like to write notes on the back of people's cards to remember them.  Ordered mine from Vistaprint, relatively cheap and it makes you seem more serious.

But no, you do not need one.

"What do you mean it's $50 to deliver?!?!"

So far so good!   But I closed back in October so it hasn't been too long.  Out of the whole process, the hardest was the partial rehab, and that's because I decided to do the work myself with my dad and girlfriend.  The upstairs is 4 bedrooms and a hallway, which we ripped up the old flooring, put down about 700 sq ft LVP, and repainted everything.  Spent about three weeks there, all weekend and every day after work on the weekdays.  In the end it was worth it for me because it would have been a few thousand in labor costs.  

Just make sure you have enough for a down payment, closing costs, repairs, and reserves in case anything big breaks.  Don't get into a deal that uses up all your cash.  Develop a strategy and try to stick to it.  Are you looking for something move in ready or something that may be much cheaper that you have to rehab?  Are you going to do the work yourself or do you have to find reliable contractors?  

Try to read as much as possible right now and listen to the BP podcast.  It's always good to hear the horror stories so you can do your best to not put yourself in that scenario.  Good luck!

I used the Tellus App, Cozy, and Facebook marketplace to list my property.  There was no charge and it covered most of the major platforms, including Zillow.  Not sure if that would change though in your location.  I got the most leads from Tellus, but FB marketplace was more quality leads in my area.

Depends what your goals are. If you aren't going to use the money right away, then maybe look into a HELOC. Mine was really easy to open and no charge. With a refinance you are going to pay closing costs and it will effect your cash flow on that property right away, but the rates would be better. I would reach out to a lender and see what they think. They can easily run the numbers for you so you know what your payments will look like.

I use Zelle and it's been great.  My tenants were already familiar with the platform from their previous landlord and I didn't want to complicate anything by changing that up.  Zelle is free, links right to the bank accounts, and is trusted by the banks as I have seen many advertise it.  Also with this, you cut out the middleman like Venmo since it goes directly into the bank account.  So there is never any additional transferring required.

The only hiccup was the first month, they had deposit the rent in $500 increments until our accounts were verified.  So I didn't get the full rent until 4 deposits, each 24 hours apart.  But now they can deposit the entire amount with no issue.

Hi BJ, welcome!  You are off to a great start by coming to the forums first.  You have to think about what your goals are and what type of landlord you want to be.  Do you want something local that you are going to manage yourself, or do you want to use property management right away?

If you haven't already, I would start off by listening to a lot of the BiggerPockets real estate podcast and read a couple popular books on the subject so you have a better understanding of the language, concepts, and how rental properties work.  You can practice analyzing deals right now also which will be extremely important later on. Go on Zillow and pick some houses in your area. Look up what the rents are going for on Zillow, rentometer, craigslist, FB marketplace etc.  Use the BP calculators here or create your own spreadsheet and work the numbers.  Make sure you account for all of the expenses (you will learn about this more from reading the books).  After a while you will learn your market and be able to recognize what a good deal is for you.

Next I would talk to a realtor and a lender so you know what your options are and you can begin looking at houses.  Seeing the property in person can give you a much better feel than just looking at pictures online, especially when you are just starting out.  When you find a property you like, run the numbers, and if it works based on your criteria, make an offer.

Good luck! 

Hey Vincent.  Congrats on your first property and being creative with how you went about it!  Looking at your profile and seeing you are a recent college grad, you are probably well ahead of your friends who are most likely living with their parents or paying rent.  To be only paying $200 a month plus utilities while owning a house and having that loan being paid down is a great way to get started.  I'm jealous sitting here with a monthly housing expense of about $1900 lol.

There's no rush.  I just bought my first rental at age 30 and trying to figure out how to do the next deal.  I took a line of credit on my house and now have to pay back that balance before I can put it to use again, so I understand your situation.  You got started much younger than I did, and probably most of the people on this forum.  Just concentrate now on making a budget, analyzing your expenses, and saving as much as possible.  Even if it takes a year or two, that's okay because you'll be back with more knowledge and buy the next property.