All Forum Posts by: Chase Busick

@Enrique Jevons great post!

A lot of beginners can benefit from reading this in order to save them money over the long run.

I think that many people jump into real estate because of the end result they hope to accomplish & the glamor they see of how great It can be. In general it is a very consistent business with a lot of moving parts.

Not to mention the fact that things slowly degrade over time, you have to deal with people, their usage and ultimately ensure they care for the rentals. All long term hold investors should greatly take pride in all their properties and stay on top of seasonal/preventative maintenance & checks in order to avoid huge expenses in the future.

@Anthony Taylor Did you end up disputing this or settling on it with your PM?

I like @Adam Bartomeo's answer because it gives some decent insight & context behind why it might be applied. It is still strange that they'd apply this fee when they'll probably still charge a decent amount for leasing. I get that they probably don't want to do more work than absolutely necessary & this is why they may charge when they have passed along applicants for you to approve.

I haven't seen this fee utilized myself, but is interesting to hear about.

@Ethan Price, Surprised nobody from Indianapolis has replied!? LOL

I'd definitely recommend getting onto Meetup.com, EventBrite.com & Facebook Events Pages to find local real estate related events. 

Your city I am sure has local REIA meetings, micro investor meetups (from wholesale, to just getting started meetups, to more experienced meetups. Definitely get connected in order to grow with your local community, as there are probably a ton of events in your area & a ton of people to learn from!

@DJ 

@DJ Richmond, I think it is a fairly good idea in order to separate the utility, put the responsibility of the utilities on each individual tenant in order to ensure they have the most accurate bill for their usage. With that said, it would be more affordable for them if you just bill them which will cut out the additional fees, but with that said, then have to ensure that evenly split which is hard to do.

We just went through this process for separating water utility at a duplex & was definitely a hassle (which I think was mostly from the plumbers that went with because they aren't as on top of permitting & got super busy. From what you'd most likely have to do is have the contractors apply for local permits in order to add the new gas lines, apply for adding an additional gas meter at the location, then having the plumbers or HVAC contractors for the HVAC gas lines do all the work, go through inspections, pass, then finish the metering process with the utility company. I'd definitely try to get a better estimate, but I can assume for MA it'd be around $2-5k once all set & done just for most of the metering, additional gas lines, permitting/inspections, etc. Then however much your HVAC systems will cost. 

Like most people recommend, always try to get several different opinions from people who normally refer out. Try to get a contract signed, get contractor agreements signed (W-9, waiver & release's, Insurance request, general timeline of project & something that states they'll get paid upon the city inspectors approval). Can always request more, but those are some general to help you be protected + on top of record keeping.

@Lauren Adair

Yeah I'd recommend getting referrals from those you may know in the area. Ask your agent, hop on Facebook & try to get into the investor groups & ask. Can look up online & may just have to go through a decent amount to find someone reputable at a good price. I know that for here, we have more handyman services popping up that you can go through.

Moving forward, I'd definitely try to find some more people that are extremely reliable, as well as contractors that can help with bigger renovations so you are better prepared later on in the future.

@Kevin Lindahl

Most of the others posts are really great & hope you came to a conclusion on what to do.

Usually it will be best practice to inform them as soon as possible, that way they aren't caught unexpected when that time comes. People need time to fully prepare for drastic increases. Even minimal increases will still force some into a bind that don't earn a lot of money. Most of the time, there are a lot of hidden things going on in most peoples lives, even the ones you know.

I understand you are trying to raise it in order to keep up with your payment, which is fine. If it is not fully up to the market rent because of the condition, usually having it still under to reflect the condition is great because then you may not have to deal with vacancy. Most people around the industry I think are caught up with immediately having to do things that will inadvertently cost them more in the long run. 

@Lou Burnett 

If you are just starting out & have one or two rentals. I'd just recommend utilizing a free software like apartments.com (rent collection is free). This is a great place for just starting out & I am sure there are others too. With Apts.com I think they have most general forms if you don't have any from lease, to application, to others. You can take applications, screen, take maintenance requests & market/advertise on there.

You can also utilize marketing/advertising on Facebook Marketplace, Zillow (which they also have a ton of the same features as Apts.com), etc. Most will syndicate to other websites for marketing. 

With Tenant Cloud, I know it can be a little pricey just starting off & unsure on the price for BP's. You should try to actively keep costs as minimal as possible when first starting off, unless it is an absolute necessity. You can always do trial periods on some, grow, then when need be scale & try new systems as well. I know a decent amount of people who use Tenant Cloud & like it, but has it's own things they need to internally update on like most others.

@Latron D Jolly

Both @Amber Stout & @Melissa Justice's posts are very good especially if needing to use some of the money to fund the one in Panama City. I'm sure both of them would be able to go over funding options very well if need help with construction loans too. 

With that being a major event/purchase, it may be best to figure that one out in the mean time in case you need most of your money for that vs buying an additional investment property & possibly having to utilize some of your own money for it. With that being said, you can buy rental properties with most banks if you have a company utilizing their commercial loan options or going with a mortgage broker as well (that normally shops around & in multiple states to offer you the best financing option). Most of the banks will need the DSCR to be at least 1.25x or higher. Some will also want to go into a review of your financials, & personal as well. You can still work out some value add deals where they'll pay for most of the renovations too, but if you haven't done that many renovations, there may be a higher possibility to go over budget.

Private & hard money can also be an option, but may be more expensive - then if you need money to fund renovations that may also be more out of pocket unless find an additional lender.

Working with a Realtor can provide you with some assumable options & owner financing options if on market. Assuming someone else's loan will lock in a lower interest rate on a fixed loan & most likely be a great rate - but may need to come up with some additional money to pay the difference if the loan has been in effect for a long period of time. Most owner financing options on market are contract for deed, but there may be the occasional legit owner that is willing to finance direct.

@Marcus Powell

Some popular property managers that many investors utilize are Capital Real Estate & Asset Management, Hometown Realty & Two Doors Realty. No order & I've utilized the first while deployed but decided to take back over self managing. 

I think that looking at how many they are currently managing is very important, as well as whether or not they get most of their revenue from sales, if they have a full time team, etc. If you are looking at single family homes, can connect you with good vendors in the area in order to help service. Usually most of their fees are around 10-12%. Would love to hear about where you are thinking of investing & potentially connect more! 

@Mark Trumble

Usually if managing yourself, I would just inspect yourself. You can find some generalized checklists of things to check from general condition, to how well all the locks work, condition of appliances, CO2 & smoke detectors, they're not smoking inside, nothing is broken, rules not being followed, etc.

You can do this quarterly, bi-annual, or annual depending on how much you want to be over & ensure your property is good, as well as them properly taking care of it.

You can also have any of your working order professionals take pictures throughout the period if have any Maintenance requests you need fulfilled & get their general thoughts on the condition of the home in its current condition (since it will be not as much of a notice & not cleaned/prepped to an official inspection)