All Forum Posts by: Michael Jones

Call a plumber and pay to have the hot water heater fixed/replaced. Even if the other company took a part, there is no part on a hot water heater that can not be replaced. Yes it may cost a few hundred dollars but so will a lawyer. it just depends on how you want to spend the few hundred dollars.

A single mentor, in my opinion, will not bring many more answers to the table than is right here in the BP forums. A single mentor might also limit your vision to just the way they like to do things and their comfort zone. My advice would be to pay no one and read read read read through these forums and ask questions and post and then read some more and ask more questions.

There is tremendous value here that is free and this is coming from an investor that has multiple units and manages it all myself. There arent many secrets to this business and you can sum it up to using emotional intelligence, common sense, knowing the law and managing people when they do the unexpected.

Read and ask more questions and keep your money in your pocket to buy property.

My view at purchasing a property has a few areas that I must be satisfied with to make an offer. They are prioritized in this order:

1. Neighborhood. Its the one part of the deal that I can never change or fix.

2. Cash Flow. Will it cash flow where I need it to be? This may be after some repairs, rent increases and or tenant upgrades but will it cash flow?

3. Condition of the building. Cosmetics are not important on the insides of units but can be indicative of how the building has been taken care of. But carpet and paint will need to be replaced over time anyway so i pay little attention. Its the bones. I look at roofs, ac systems, plumbing, structure, windows.....the big dollar items. If these are risky then this will kill cash flow and I am out.

4. Current tenants. Is the unit full? if not, what is the issue. As an owner I would never sell a building with an empty unit because it hurts the value so why is this building for sale with empty units? I want to personally see every unit and have a copy of the file of every tenant in the building. That one meth head that is cooking or that one sex offender in unit x will kill cash flow. How many are on month to month and the more the merrier because I know i can flip the unit to a new tenant at my discretion.

5. Equity that will be in the building/business when I complete and minor repairs, flip units to better tenants and move the rents to current market rate? Increasing the rents to fair market rate is the fastest way to ensure that number two is also successful. I have yet to have a tenant move out due to getting an increase when i buy a building and the first time they meet me they are being notified that the rent is increasing so it isnt a soft sell. 

6. Laws regarding tenant/landlord in that state and county. If it is difficult, lengthy and expensive to evict a tenant then it will be more difficult to manage the tenant and the lease as well.

A turd always smells worse when you kick it!!!!

Here is what I have been able to discern from your words and how you feel about this former tenant:

Bat **** crazy, she needs to be taught a lesson, stupid kid, her friends are all stupid kids, they are a "classy bunch", her text are rambling and crazy, she is a peice of work, crazy person, and unemployed 19 year old!!!

I would say the real action that is needed here is better screening of tenants moving forward to avoid this type of conflict.

Put him in. Just dont let him borrow your car.

If it were me I would have all three be equally responsible for the full rent. Notice I did not say "their portion of the rent" but rather the full rent. In otherwords, if the rent is not paid and I have to evict I am evicting all three of you and it isnt my issue to manage how the money gets paid and from whom. Pay the rent or be all three will be evicted just like a single tenant.

I have units in B areas. I place only used and would never pay for a new stove or refrigerator.

I simply keep my eyes out for good working stoves and fridges and usually have a couple spares on hand and if something goes down that is not an easy fix I just grab the trailer and dolly and exchange it.

And in my area you can find working white stoves and single fridges for $100.00 each if you pick it up yourself.

28 of 28 paid in full.

Find a mentor that has started small and at one time had the same questions you currently have. They will understand your fears and concerns and will be passionate about helping someone else. This type of person will also love to talk property because they have lived it and feel a sense of satisfaction in having navigated the ropes successfully. Ask them all of the questions you can. You can read alot of books and listen to a bankers opinion all day but what help are they going to be when you enter a unit for a filter change and smoke alarm battery check and you discover things like tenant has moved in a roommate, are those bedbugs on the wall, why is there a pet tiger in the bedroom...etc...

You will need a voice to call to say what in the hell do I do? this isnt what I was after when I decided to to invest in property.

Call them. They will have been through it and be able to say "here is how i always handle that issue....."