All Forum Posts by: Collin Jacobsen

@Collin Jacobsen I'd echo what most of the others said-- if it's a good investment keep it for now.  Sounds like you have some PM knowledge yourself, so you could try self-managing from a far, and if that does not work then hire a PM company.  If you are in the industry, you would know what to look for in a PM company if you did need to manage yourself.

See if you cannot find some current college kids who may be below you to move in, so that you at least have a connection to one of the tenants who can help you as well.

I'd echo the same thoughts.  Don't sell, if you think you can manage it.  As soon as you sell, you have tapped out any future appreciation.  It sounds like you are young, so that appreciation could really be sizable in 5-10 years.  I have property in Des Moines and I live in Cedar Rapids.  I have some family that helps me out in the Des Moines area to managed those couple rentals.  There's not a ton to do when you find a good tenant.  Not to mention, if you want to make it back to Iowa City for an event, you have a built in write-off :)

@Collin Jacobsen I have a 4-unit that’s about 40 minutes away from me. I know it’s not 2 hours but it’s also 40 minutes for my handyman. We try to minimize calls to the property as much as possible and I have a local person who does the snow plowing. If you can build up a local team for various issues such as an electrician, plumber, handyman you should be pretty good.

I offer all my tenants a $100 referral bonus if someone they refer for a vacancy ends up renting a vacant unit and sometimes I send out an email blitz when I know I have a unit coming available. For me it doesn’t even have to be a former tenant, I’ll pay my friends the same amount if they refer someone good. So I have an email list to mail to. This has worked out really well for about 6 of the 10 vacancies I have filled in my 4 years of being a landlord. Most of the tenants in my 25 units are long term tenants.

I would recommend making the drive to sign leases and to do inspections and a couple times a year just to check on the property even if you have reliable boots on the ground because no one else will have the same view of your property that you do. You’re close enough that making a half day trip 4-5 times a year shouldn’t be that difficult and this is a big investment for you. Keep track of your mileage and expenses and maybe your accountant will let you write them off.

I would hold onto it! It should only go up in value and be in high demand if you take good care of it for years to come!

I have my current tenants try to find new tenants for me. They get their friends or I post on Zillow and have the current tenants do showings, usually bunched into a groups so it's not a major hassle for them. Then I give the current tenants a $100 finders fee if they find someone who ends up signing a lease. In my mind, showings are the biggest headache for self-managing from a distance, because of the time required and people no showing, etc.

I would second Tyler's suggestion. It's not terribly difficult to manage from a distance. I do it from halfway across the country for multiple properties. You need to find your handyman, plumber, hvac person, and maybe a cleaner, depending if that's needed. When you find a bigger, better place near you, then you can 1031 into it, if you don't want to hold it any longer.