All Forum Posts by: Brett McCurdy

Welcome to BP David Cornett ! I'm located nearby in Kensington. Good to see another local here and I hope to chat with you at some point soon!

Can't advise on your particular market but if the property is stagnant then the question is would you buy that property again today if you could, if you answer yes then you might want to hold.  If you wouldn't then sell it and recover whatever costs you can. 

Sounds like you holding based on appreciation so you have to analyze the direction of your local market and see if it's worth holding on to.

Also, agree that's a huge drop in rental amount...   Can you make some cheap improvements to justify raising the rent a little?  

Also, can you make any use of the 30 acres that would prove profitable while you hold onto the property (if you decide to wait out your market)? The same way an owner of a small SFH might rent out a storage unit maybe you can provide something on the 30 acres that might be mutually beneficial to you and someone else.

Just paid $499 and $550 in DC metro area.

Also run the comps yourself (search BP on how to property run comps for that particular neighborhood) and don't trust the sites comp calculators (I.e "zestimate", "your house is worth_____")

As an agent I use the multiple listing service but I will still check Craigslist for listings not added to MLS (mainly rentals or FSBOs). Postlets, Craigslist, rentals.com, and Redfin should be plenty for others. Just double check that listings are valid and accurate by calling listing agent on the sites. loopnet app is ok for commercial and industrial for non-MLS users also.

Yes! Don't listen to the other "grinches" out there saying this is a wasted expense. There are multiple reasons why I believe this MARKETING STRATEGY is effective. One person mentioned they are not employees, true, but they ARE a vital part of your overall business chain. We have done this at the firm I work at for over thirty years and it has proven very successful. To many managers fail to see the ROI on MAINTAINING great tenant relations and solely focus on their acquisition systems and not RETENTION measures. For example, we have a 22 unit apartment building where we send a check to each tenant (WHO ARE IN GOOD STANDING) at he end of the year saying happy holiday or happy new year and "thanks for being a great tenant of ____". This is a small investment to help encourage FUTURE on time and rapid payments! Other benefits include Tenants refer other tenants (because they are treated right) and those referrals are usually in good financial standing as well, tenants are not as "quick to blame the landlord" when something breaks and maintenance requests actually decrease because they have a positive image of landlord and try to fix minor repairs, it also shows throughout the company the attitude of owners and that this is not just a numbers business but a PEOPLE BUSINESS. Increasing your touches with every person in your business life cycle is never a bad idea. Treat this activity like you would any marketing activity and track the results but we have had great results. Also, we found that a check is received by tenants much better than I gift card (plus you don't pay fees on each card you purchase, that's waste).

Andrew Bartley greetings and welcome to BP! I look forward to connecting with you and seeing you around the BP community.

Crystal Davis Hi Crystal, welcome to BP!

@Account Closed   Russell and Teresa mentioned that age is a protected class in MD which is exactly true and you shouldn't post anything saying "no college students" "only people over ___" etc.   BUT you can adjust your preference to amount of income (or debt-to-income ratio) when you are screening.  Source of income is also protected class so be careful but my guess is a lot of students aren't going to be loaded at that point in life so you may set the bar high when screening for income levels and attract only top-earners to your rental.  If your rental is smack dab in the middle of UMD campus than you might be limiting your applicants to much and need to stick with the college students (maybe consider a cosigner though for financially weak applicants).  

I'm searching for a general contractor or experienced handyman in the Montgomery County area that might be seeking a full-time position with a property management company (or p/t to f/t if they are not available f/t now).  Tried running ads through craigslist but you know how that goes....  Thought maybe someone on here knew of somebody.

Any referrals would be appreciated?