All Forum Posts by: Cliff Harrison

Well Done - nice job recognizing the opportunity and executing.  The house looks great - although my personal preference would be for no carpet!  Congrats!!

The appraisal at $100 over the asking price is interesting.  That seems so common.  I've always wanted to get appraisals completed where the appraiser does not get a copy of the contract.

In my opinion, 5% maintenance is too low.

And you need CapEx. On most of my properties I calculated this out to over $110 per month based on average component failure rates and the replacement costs.

On most of my properties I am budgeting 20% gross rent for combined Expense and CapEx. Some of them are well under budget and some are well over. Since I just have less than one year of actuals to grade myself so far I'm optimistic that my forecast will work out in the aggregate over the long run. I also use 10% vacancy. I mean, why not be conservative when evaluating the deal - don't use numbers from someone who needs to sell you the deal.

Good luck and thanks for posting!

Cliff

Hi Aaron - for next time, please put me on your buyer's list.  This house looks solid for a $35k buy, I'd like to have it in my rental portfolio.  Congrats.  

Cliff

Start local.  It's challenging to be in this business even when you are local.  When you go out-of-state you increase the number of challenges and opportunities to be taken advantage of.  

Can you post the numbers provided that yield your 10 percent ROI? I am guessing they are not conservative regarding vacancy, maint, and capex. Also make sure the rent is not above average for the address. I use rentometer for a quick check.

Hi Victoria. Welcome to BP. I live in OP and invest in KCMO, Grandview, Belton, etc. I buy, fix up (if needed), and rent out as my preferred model. I use wholesalers, direct sale by owner, and MLS as sources. Let me know if I can help out.

Cliff

 Hello AJ welcome to BP - this is a great site.  I live in OP and invest in KCMO, Grandview, Belton, etc.  Buy and Hold but am going strongly considering doing some flips since I have lucked into some good contractor contacts doing rehabs on my rentals.

Do you do your own work, use subs, etc?  Please put me on your list for wholesale deals also I am always looking to pick up distressed property in my areas of interest.

regards,

Cliff

Hi Sara - I live in KC and have 21 units mostly SFR. I prefer south KC such as 64137 and Grandview and Belton areas. I agree with the advise to be very careful on your location. Be wary of houses inside the 435 loop. I considered getting started with turnkey myself but found the prices were quite a bit higher than even rent-ready MLS properties. Since I am a long term hold investor the slight benefit of having the 'first' tenant in place isn't that big, and I actually prefer to select the tenant. In these particular areas and with the quality of properties I finding tenants is no problem at all. I self-manage a few and have a professional PM company managing the majority, but even where the PM manages I typically advertise and show for new tenants (using Postlets so easy). As I get closer to leaving my day job, I am considering how to offer some consulting and helpful services to out of state investors on a fee-for-service model. The idea is to help investors do-it-yourselves with a local helper instead of going turnkey. Haven't worked it out yet but I have a great network, good analysis skills, and don't need to make a lot of money at it.

Hello and welcome to BP. I am also in OP and investing here in the metro. I mostly have SFR with a couple duplexes in kcmo and Grandview. Hope to see you around.

 I use a local smallish PM company that is currently managing around 300 doors that I am pretty satisfied with.  I mean they are honest, reasonably responsive, and do what they are contracted to do.  Do they delight and exceed expectations - not really - but my situation sounds 500% better than yours.  I get replies to emails and they answer the phone between 9 and 5 most of the time (weekdays only).  I will give you a referral to them if you share some information with me regarding your experiences.  I also manage a couple directly.  Also I use my own contractors for some maintenance work and they are fine with it.  

Cliff