All Forum Posts by: Charley C.

@Corby Goade  I build new apartments in phases. Usually doing about 40 leases in about 20 days when I open them to the public

Many of my units are for student housing near a campus so we got parents there for the day, they don't want to have to go home 100s of miles away with their baby's housing still up in the air. On the other side of the complex we got older retired people who hate going on line for anything. So I would say may be 10% of my applicants appreciate the online approach.

If I am going to pay people in my office to process an application, I don't want to give all the $$ to a 3rd party which at this point is turning I to a third wheel protracting the process.

I use my screening report. They were useful when I was smaller and didn't want to pay a monthly subscription fee, or pay for an inspection to be approved. I know what it takes, just need know what vendors work best for apartment complexes.  

I was really zooming in on starting something there in Playa (love that place) but its now going to the hell. If you are talking about 5th ave. Now we got the cartels , a hoard of street hustlers pushing drugs to me every 50 paces and even the shop-keepers get rude and heckle at people for not going in to their shop. Still love the place but not as much now as I did before

I would look at Cozumel. Protected island with locals that lived there for generations instead of the influx of desperadoes ruining Playa Del Carmen.  Cozumel is a short ferry ride to and from Playa Del Carmen

Can anyone tell me a good place to find the proper vendor to set us up with pulling credit ourselves?

Currently I use a third party service where the applicant goes online with their own PC after they get home. I have to wait for that night, or the next day or the next. Meanwhile other people are trying to lease the same spot, further complicating things. Its eating up a lot of time. None of those services are 100% user friendly as well (my older applicants hate it).  Many of our traditional type of tenants would rather fill in a paper form, get it done. Write a check that moment, then move forward in to a lease right then, right there with in the same hour. We just out grown our need and desire to use the third party credit reporting plat forms. I'll take all the help I can get.

David, its a mix of apartments but the student housing are 4 bedroom town home types (like town homes with no garages) stairs on the inside. "stick frame" construction. I rarely will buy an existing building and rehab, all my multi-family started from the ground up. No single houses

Be sure you claim every nickle that you deposit even if you saw no 1099. 

Its really more of a problem for the PM and not you. 

market to someone to move in one of the units (like may be one of your tenants) FHA is 3% down FYI

dont forget facebook market place. and never ever forget to put a sign

figure out the PITI if some one pays your price, then tell them how much the rent is coming in (on the advertisement)

don't forget to offer a seller carried second lien (if its a good price on the sale)
 

@James H. if you are incorporated or under $600, then its not required to send you a 1099

if you are not the above, then you manager is an amateur and you can expect drama

Always nip it fast, first time ever 1-day its a late notice no charge for a day or two (we all make mistakes). Next time they have to pay to the letter of the lease and mine are very punitive. 3rd time directly to the eviction notice. 

I don't need those kind of self centered late-paying people in my life. Even if I have to eat a vacancy for a month or 2, its totally worth it.

Good discussion. I too would like to hear some input as well. I am now building 40 beds (10 4-bedrooms) next to a university to lease them by the room. Leasing by the room is uncharted waters for me. 

@Ralph Chiaia  best answer is to create cash right before the down turn. Sell sell sell. I was too young-too-dumb and too broke during the best times. Not to mention cash outs on homesteads were illegal in Texas in those days. Now the real question after saying that is "when is the down turn"

All down turns where right after a false flourishing economy (aka the correction), always when governments play God to manipulate the natural economy, always always it will get things jacked up. The Arabic governments
manipulated us in the mid 80's to snuff out US production by dumping oil on the market year in year out. Houston lost about 20% of its educated population. We actually had too many engineers doing nothing.. then Reagan (our government) had no choice but to snuff out inflation there by protracting that down turn even longer. It was 1990 before we started to see the upside. In 1990, I brokered and sold a hot urban 22 units of apartment complex for only $130,000 for all 22 units! I was too young and too broke to buy them myself. Many more examples than that. now if Bernie gets in or some one like that, expect a sequel but worse

We still get downturns from the wrong self serving interest propping up the interest rates unnaturally high. If rates go over 5% for any stretch of time, sell sell sell

I am a very skilled spec builder so my experiences personally have had enhanced opportunities. I can't give you a short answer to really share my real examples to best match this post . Most of my knowledge first came from having a front row seat watching others as it played out. I seen this one guy that works for me always do cash outs, he made good with that. I like to sell sell sell and did well. The details of the circumstances will dictate what to do

 I stay out of stocks for the most part. I hate them