All Forum Posts by: Cameron Tope

Hey Raul,

I would put 50-80% in a general market index fund (VTSAX) while you wait to find a good rental property. 

I'm not sure what the rest of your portfolio looks like but my net worth is 67% real estate, 32% stocks and 1% crypto. That allocation wasn't intentionally designed - it just worked out that way. 

In Texas, about 6 weeks. But you can complete it faster with in person classes. 

Yes, the NARPM designation is the bare minimum for a reputable property management company. 

Hey Kari,

When you can't bring cash to the table then you need to find other ways to beat the cash offer. 

One of the things I do with my buyer clients is get them to write a one page summary of who they are along with a picture. We include this on the offers. 

Contrary to popular belief, it's not always about the money for the sellers. 

Play to your strengths and be consistent. 

Real estate investing is a numbers game and you have to put in the reps. 

Best of luck!

Hey Marquis,

There are numerous companies to choose from. 

A great place to start would be gathering a list of questions from BiggerPockets to ask the PM, then visiting NARPM at http://whyuseone.com/ to find a list of PMs with the proper certifications and licenses. 

Best of luck!

James, 

Cash the check but as the others above mentioned, this could lead to a problem. 

We would call and check in with the tenant. Then conduct a property inspection to ensure everything is okay and no one is living there that's not on the lease. 

Hey Jason,

We do not require tenants to carry insurance but we reiterate several times in the lease and other material that their belongings are not covered in the event of an accident. 

Some tenants don't have a lot of belongings to insure so you don't want them having to pay for something they won't use. 

Also, we are dealing with single family homes and not large multi-family complexes. Large mutli-family owners would be wise to require insurance as a water issue in one unit can damage another. 

Agreed! We learned this one the hard way and damaged subfloor on a pier and beam house. 

We install WeatherTech mats under all the sinks in the bathrooms and kitchens. The mats are like $30-$50 depending on the size and we charge the tenants if they're damaged or removed upon move-out.  

Hey Dan, 

In addition to what @Nathan Gesner and @Theresa Harris stated above, ask questions about how maintenance is handled, how they determine an emergency and how they screen tenants. 

Also, make sure that the property manager is familiar with your area and property type. 

I put together a list of about 30 questions to ask a prospective property manager on our website. The list is too long to put here. 

Best of luck!

Hey Anthony,

I use a flat $200/mo for each single family and it varies for multi-family based on shared larger capex items. 

Brandon turner wrote a great article breaking down the $200/mo figure (it was more like $180 but I rounded up to be conservative). 

Unless you have a large portfolio of multi-family units I wouldn't use a percentage of rents for Capex because an AC system costs the same whether it's in a 100k or 500k house.

Hope that helps!