All Forum Posts by: Cassi Justiz

I like to have at least my insurance deductible in reserves at all times and then I increase from there. So that's also enough to cover any cap-ex expense, a decent make-ready, or extended vacancy. 

I wouldn't want to have less than about $3,000-$5,000 per property available at all times. Obviously as you scale up your reserves per property can go down, but I'm definitely on the more conservative side when it comes to my reserves. 

You can have rentals in a college town without renting to students. There are plenty of graduate students, professors, and university employees that also need housing. I have a rental in a student housing area that is not student friendly. It's a little farther away from campus, so I attract people that don't need to be within walking distance of campus. I've had university employees and graduate students, but I've never even had undergraduates apply for the house. 

You'll definitely want to study the current rental market in that area. The college towns that I'm familiar with have all overbuilt luxury student housing and apartments over the past few years. Many students now have options to live in apartments for about the same amount as landlords were charging per room. 

@Brian Smith, 

You should double check your state's landlord tenant act. Many states have a provision regarding this. In a lot of states, if the landlord does not meet the deadline to return the security deposit (typically 30 days) and/or send the required notice to the tenants that their security is not being returned then you are void your right to retain any of the security deposit and may have to pay the tenants an additional fee for "wrongful withholding."

I'm no attorney, but a quick google search brought me to this site. You'll probably want to attorney up if you haven't already. It looks like the landlord obligations are pretty clear. 

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/c...

Hi @Norman Berman, 

I'm glad that you posted this on here because it's a common thought that you have to know everything about a house before you get into real estate. Depending on the market you are looking into and the financing you have, you can get cashflowing properties that do not require work. Now, those are not always going to be crazy equity "deals", but they can still meet the goals for a lot of investors.  

When you buy a house, you are working with people who spend 40+ hours a week dealing with "houses" in all various capacities. Your real estate agent can tell you what inspections you want to perform and what you should be looking for. The home inspector that can check for any defects but they can usually give you great maintenance recommendations as well. If you are working with a property manager, they can tell you what utilities are normally included, what kinds of weather proofing they do for homes in the area and they know who to call when something breaks. 

The minimum you need to know are your goals. Once you figure out what you want to achieve, you can find the right people to help you learn the rest. 

I would go have a chat with a lender that specializes in credit repair. They can give you some excellent tips on how to build your credit up and they can look at your current income and give you an idea of what price point home you are looking at. Unfortunately, making only $600-$700/month you are going to be very limited in your options since most lenders will not allow your payment to be more than 30-40% of your income. If you are open to it, a full time W2 job in the real estate space would be an excellent way to boost your income and your "bankability." Many property management companies or large real estate teams hire full time employees.  You can also look into getting a co-borrower to apply for the loan with you, but you'll want to make sure you guys have an agreement on what that looks like for each of you. 

Hey @Brian C. Dilley, 

I am going to echo what you've already seen here that getting in touch with a few Realtors in that area is a good start. Make sure the agent that you decide to work with has experience in that market space (if you want vacation rentals, work with someone that owns/manages them, etc.). 

I'd define your criteria (short vs long term rental, price point, ideal cashflow, etc) and go from there. I also recommend getting a property manager on board as early in the process as possible. You always want a second opinion on rental rates, expenses, etc. 

@Corie Bro, title companies are fairly inexpensive especially if they are only doing the deed for you. I'd at least call and see what they'd charge you to issue and file a quit claim deed. If you aren't sure how to do the paperwork, it's easier to pay a few hundred dollars to know it's done correctly than have to deal with messy title issues down the road. 

The quit claim deed is fairly simple, so you may be able to google it. But you still want to make sure it's done correctly. 

@Jason Priegnitz, 

I like OKC Abstract for title work. They are really easy to work with, especially for my out of state investors and I don't have to micromanage them. :) Win/win. 

I personally use @Johnathan Pannes with JTP insurance for my insurance. A majority of my clients that shop around end up going with him as well. 

Hey @Timmy Riggs, 

Generally speaking leases stay in place whenever you sell a property in Oklahoma. The exception to this would be if they were on month to month leases. The new owner has to honor any existing leases that you have in place. 

Also, to make your life easier when you do list it, you'll want to have copies of leases, applications, and tenant payment history on file because most diligent buyers are going to want to review this info during their due diligence period. With the latest and greatest eviction moratorium, people are definitely going to be doing more homework on properties with tenants in place. 

@David de Luna, This is the lockbox I ended up going with. There were other ones that had better features, but they all required subscription based models. 

This is one of the only ones that I found that 1. did not require monthly subscriptions and 2. would allow for one time codes without having to be physically present to update the box. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-Lock-Bluetooth-3-1-4-in-Wide-Zinc-Portable-Lock-Box-with-Personal-Use-Software-5440DHC/302283987

@Alyssa Dyer, I looked into a few options but most required a monthly subscription (and I'm not about that life. haha). Did you end up finding one that didn't require a subscriptions or did you go for a full service one?