All Forum Posts by: Charles Perkins

I have no opinion about Ohio other than I have no desire to invest there.  It does seem like there are a lot of posts about Ohio though and most of the time I ignore them.

I'm sure there are many property owners on BP, not all are in Ohio though.  My properties are in Washington State.

I use a checklist to review the property before move-in.  Anything that a tenant will note is something I want to address before move-in. 

Everything should work as intended.  I have had carpet in the past but would replace it when it gets worn with something easier to maintain.

While I have never had issues like this, I have seen plenty of issues waiting to happen.  

One example, I grew in a then rural area. Our home was right next door to a shop that had alot of oil tar waste.  Across the street they dumped tanker trucks of oil sludge in a field of coal dust.  We lived in what remained of an old coal mining town.  Today, this is a highly developed residential area close to the downtown of a newish city.

I doubt that the current residents know about what is buried on their land.

This is a great example of how tax planning is as much or more important than tax preparation.  By the time most people come to see a CPA many tax savings opportunities have been missed.

Besides the lender agreements, you will want to consider the income tax implications.  Without knowing more about your situation it would be difficult to know the tax ramifications in your particular circumstances.

The reality is this is not simply a real estate investment decision it also involves personal lifestyle, life changes, and other factors.  A good financial advisor that understands your situation and a good estimate of future cash flows would help greatly.

Calculating cash flows is actually the easier part of this endeavor.  Your lifestyle, life events, and other income all come into play.  Building reserves for emergencies and creating other contingency arrangements is also a good idea.

When I retired I already knew that I had more than enough to retire because I had already been living more than 10 years exclusively on my rental cash flows and building reserves for retirement.

I agree as well.  Investing in buy and hold properties here in Washington has been very rewarding for my wife and I.  Even within these various strategies there are different ways of evaluating properties.  

An investor generally does well because they can see the potential, have knowledge, skills and resources to then bring out that potential.  All of this works because proper due diligence was spent in the beginning to more fully be aware of what one is dealing with.

This is state specific and the laws change from time to time.  Here in Washington there have been a number of recent changes to the Security Deposit statutes.

You will need to know the difference between normal wear and tear as opposed to actual damages.  It is necessary also in some way to document before and after conditions, this to might be laid out in statutes.

It doesn't happen overnight, but with persistence, wise investing, good money practices, good due diligence practices it can be done over time.  It helps to start out with money because otherwise you will need to build capital.  

To build that kind of portfolio you will also need help with financing, locating, inspecting, repairing, etc.