All Forum Posts by: Chris Shuptar

There is nothing wrong with buying "turn-key". I just picked up a "turn-key" property in a desirable area for $100k. I close this deal on the 28th of this month and already have a tenant that signed a 3-year lease starting January 1st. Technically it will sit vacant for a couple days... but after that, I'm cash flowing nearly $600/month! Over $7k cash in my pocket every year is a pretty good return in my book. As for common expenses that come up with rentals, well, every big ticket item is literally brand new installed August of this year (water heater, furnace, A/C, appliances, etc). So I don't foresee having any expensive things to replace any time soon... hopefully. :) Sure, I'm not walking into immediate equity... but the cash flow alone is worth it to me.

So, I am closing on my second deal on December 28th. It's a 2 bed 2 bath townhouse in a desirable area. It was obviously a flip for someone else because literally everything is brand new and mint condition. I've checked the comps in the area and the $109,000 asking price is right on par. Here is the thing; due to the top quality of the school district, it's very common for people to rent or buy properties around here merely to have a mailing address. They typically live just out of town, but if they have a mailing address within the school district boundaries, they can send their kids to the good schools. With that said, I have people contacting me to do just that. They are willing to pay $1400/month just to basically just say "they live there". I'm paying $109,000 for the place (full price). I walked into nearly $30k of equity with my first deal... but on this second one, I will essentially have no immediate equity. Is it worth the nearly $600/month in cash flow? I know most of you always look for crazy deals... but at what cash flow do you abandon your typical formula and pay full price for a property?

Jd Martin , on a side note, do you go out of your way to remove carpet in your rentals? Is the cost of hard flooring worth it? For example, I just bought a townhouse on Monday and the basement and bedrooms are carpet... it's clean but not perfect. I've been thinking about doing tile in the basement for a few reasons. Do renters prefer carpet or would they rather have the hard floors?

I have never had a tenant expect a furnished unit. I picked up a new townhouse yesterday, and I've been on the fence about putting up window treatments and some "odds and ends" to make it look more complete. I'm just not sure what people really expect to see when they are looking for a place to live.

I'm curious to know from either a landlord or tenant perspective. What things are necessities in a rental property for you to even consider it "rentable"? Example; window treatments, furniture, lamps, etc. I have a friend that mildly stages his rentals to make them more marketable. Is that really necessary? Do renters expect that?

Thanks for the info!

Interesting. I will have to dig further into this. I might stop by my attorney this week and discuss it further. Thanks for all the info.

What are the main differences between a series LLC and a holding company?

The few real estate investors that I know have all done series LLC's with great success here in Chicagoland. That is the only reason why I chose to take the same path.

On a side note, why wouldn't you recommend a series LLC?

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm not too worried about it. Even if there is some sort of acceleration, I have enough money to pay off the note. I don't owe much on the house.

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to keep doing my homework on all this stuff.