All Forum Posts by: Charles Carillo

@Tyrel Ferris

Do you have natural gas at the property? When I have had oil in rentals; we would install gas furnaces/boilers for each unit with separate meters. This is the best however; it is expensive but, you will be saving money every month. In this scenario, you would have all of the gas bills in your name until the leases come up for renewal. At that time, you can require tenants in the new lease to pay their gas (heating) themselves. If they don't like it, they can move out.

@Edward Kanive

I would setup a phone meeting with her and work through the issues. It is a hassle to switch managers so I would have a call with them first to address your points prior to just firing them. It seems like they are not that assertive with your property and these issues (in most instances) can easily be corrected.

Maybe find your own people to make repairs or do unit turns if you want this sped up. You can also call the utility companies and have them automatically put them back in your name when someone turns them off. We do that; not sure the process with the companies in your area though.

@Jen Stekkinger

I would suggest you speak with local banks and credit unions. They will most likely be your best option when it comes to a deal like this.

@Ryan Zimmerman

Here are my favorite books:

Multifamily Millions by Dave Lindahl

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy

The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings by Steve Berges

Commercial Real Estate Investing by Dolf De Roos

Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received by Donald Trump

Tax Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright

Commercial Real Estate 101: How Small Investors Can Get Started and Make It Big by David Lindahl

Raising Private Capital: Building Your Real Estate Empire Using Other People’s Money by Matt Faircloth

The Definitive Guide to Apartment Marketing by Josh Grillo

Investing in Apartment Building by Matthew Martinez

Crushing It in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate by Brian H Murray

The 7 Secrets to Successful Apartment Leasing by Eric Cumley

2 Years to a Million in Real Estate by Matthew Martinez

Burn Zones: Playing Life’s Bad Hands by Jorge Newbery

Commercial Mortgages 101: Everything You Need to Know to Create a Winning Loan Request by Michael Reinhard

It’s a Whole New Business!: The how-to book of syndicated investment real estate by Gene Trowbridge

@Brandon Elliott-Pandey

LLCs are limited (as the name states). LLCs are only one part of the equation though. What entity is actually owning the LLCs and how that entity is formed will help concrete your asset protection plan. 

@Randy Choi

A couple years back, my wife and I setup a very in-depth asset protection plan. Feel free to DM ME and we can discuss. I am not an attorney and I do not want to provide specific details in a public forum.

@Qui Van

The 3x is a rule of thumb as you said. You can accept a tenant that makes less but you are taking a chance that they will be unable to afford the rent and their lifestyle. You could also accept a tenant that can provide a bank statement with a certain amount of money in it or request a co-signor or request a larger deposit. Make sure you also run a credit check and a background check.

@Ruby Trinh

Our PMs have sent many (dozens/hundreds) past tenants to collections; in short, these tenants never pay. Maybe ask them how they would handle it or what the process is but don't waste much time. They are not going to pay. Just fix the apartment, re-rent it (with a more in-depth and complete background check) and move on.

@James Mcsweeney

When you hire a property manager, you still need to handle the asset management. You need to review what is happening at the property. The owner should be aware of how many water meters are on their property. 

1. Both water meters and plumbing should have been inspected during the due diligence/inspection period when you were purchasing the property. I am not sure how you were able to inspect the plumbing if the water was off. Obviously, there was an issue if someone flushed a toilet or turned on a faucet and no water came on.

2. How did they/you advertise the unit? In the lease, were you covering cold water? If you were covering the water then it does not matter if the 2nd meter was under your name since you needed to pay for it per the advertising/lease. It would be a different story if the tenant was paying for water and the PM never transferred it; but, no one even knew this water meter existed until it was rented.

3. This is a lesson learned. Have the PM call your HVAC technician from now on. 

I think you should change your PM and find one that is going to be more hands on in the future with better communication (you may need to pay more). I really do not think this was fully the PM's negligence. If you simply knew the number of water meters on your property and did a complete inspection; you would have avoided the majority of these issues.

@Trevor Alexander

This is a great question since I feel many people have been in this situation. 

Personally, I would self manage if I had a good on-the-ground team; mainly a good handyman. Upfront tasks are easily handled by working with a real estate agent. Speak to some that work rentals in your area; find one that will rent out your property when it is vacant (advertise, handle applications and background checks etc.). They will usually take a large portion of the first month's rent (that can be negotiated) and rarely have a fee for renewals (unlike most managers).

It might take a little work to find a good real estate agent that handles rentals that will give you a good price for just 1 unit. We used to have one that handled all of our rentals for a flat, one-time fee of $250 per new tenant rental.