All Forum Posts by: Davon Lowery

So, a few days ago, I was inquiring as to what were some solutions for developing an online tenants portal for my tenants to use. @Ryan Coon from https://rentalutions.com/ reached out and told me about his product.  listed my 1 of my properties on there.

My listing.

https://rentalutions.com/l/20810

So, we fired our last handyman last month and we've been looking for a new one to knockout a few jobs we have. 

We found a guy last week, (on CL) seemed to have a troubled past; but hey, I wasn't taught to judge ppls character, exclusively by their outward appearance. 

Anyway, he and a partner of his, came out to one of our properties. They took some measurements, he was talking the talk and walking the walk so, lets give him a shot. 

Today we meet. He was late, he showed up at the wrong HD location, even though we texted him the address and verbally confirmed it the day before, and then he mentioned lunch b4 we even loaded the supplies in HIS truck. I'm thinking, this guy. 

So, I watch them load up the truck, confirm again that they know where to go, I start to pull off. I'm so enthralled in my convo that I didn't realized that I had left them in my dust; so, I just proceed to the property.

I open the gate the garage, begin to open all the other areas, moving thing around. I let the tenant know we're here etc... 10 mins go by, No handyman. 20 mins... Then reality sets in...OMG! you rookie/idiot, they got you...You know better than that. Did you get a last name, no! I know you took a pic of the truck and the license plate right; ahhh, I forgot to. 

Now, I let my team know; they go into Adam-12 mode, call the cops. We going to Sting them, i'm already creating a new CL account. I have a video camera. I'll have my sister tell them to meet us at Lowes, yeah yeah thats a great idea. I say quite, too embarrassed to talk, I'm the leader remember.

Now, I'm listening to all this while I'm driving back to the HD, maybe they forgot something or returned the supplies for the cash etc... I get to HD, start talking to the manager, surprisingly everyone sprung into action, they are calling to get the surveillance video, calling other stores, attempting to block the items from being returned w/o the receipt, which I had by the way.

In the mist of all these advocates working for me, i get a text. "Ok we're here, can we get the gate open". (I locked everything up b4 I left.)

The moral of the story, there are good ppl and not so good ppls; nevertheless, we need to always look to protect our interests, this is our business and our lively-hood. Albeit, the total was only about $150 worth of supplies; nevertheless, this could have been a very different scenario, in that, what if it was 10k worth of Drywall, wood, fixtures and appliances; I would have conducted myself very differently.

Turns out the dude is like Jesus with table saw and a pile of wood.

 I am grateful for my experience and wanted to share it with someone who might always give someone the benefit of the doubt; but who also just needs to be careful.

Thank you for reading my story.

@Ramon MartinezGreat to hear you are ready to tango with the LA courthouse steps, there are some heavy hitters that buy down there. I attempted to research properties, mainly in the IE, Riverside area, but the property descriptions were difficult to discern, w/o the background and no experienced person to reference, I didn't pursue it further. 

Keep us posted on how it turns out.

great question Ernie. 

A Flipper aka house flipper, is an individual whose niche in REI is acquiring property of his/her desire with the intent of not occupying the property, rather creating equity/value in the property, subsequently selling the improved property for material gain; i.e. selling the property for more than it cost to acquire said property + improvement, thus creating profit upon sale of said property.

Everyone has given some amazing advice. 

Ernie, I think you guys are in a great place, i.e. BP.

I would do exactly what was advised earlier, with only one caveat. 

I would form a relationship with a flipper who was comfortable with owner-financing and don't worry about the bank at this point (if you decide of the LLC/Corp).

Why a flipper? I presume that you and your girlfriend want to advance you business, what better way then to partner with someone who has experience with REI in volume.

That way you both gain experience in the business, learn creative ways to find lending, the pitfalls of REI (not like you see on the TV shows) and you can possibly have input on the layout of the property, which could be valuable selling point in the future.

It may be more expensive,but now you've acquired a home but more importantly, you've acquired and education; which we know is priceless. 

I've been hearing on BP about new solutions for landlords receiving rent; but, I'm not sure which way to go. PayPal charges a free, as well as several others. On top of that I'm a small guy in the biz, then this just popped up on my FB timeline Rentalutions

Anyone had any experience with them? 

Up to 5 units for $25 a month to start out, after the free trial is over.

@Jeff B.They make it look so easy. Especially in CA, where we rarely have weather to hinder a viable work day.

@Valerie HiscoeYou are right the creativity is the rim shot.

@Manolo D.Interesting point. I can see myself getting swept up in a design, you are right I have to stay within reason.

@Aaron MazzrilloTaking a slow day, sifting through ideas may mean the difference between that sale or another 30days on market.

 Thank you Shawn. Those zip codes are fine, my area is the 53210 area. I had been looking a little longer than you have; not to say that you will have to look longer. 

One thing that helped me was clearly defining my purchase parameters. I feel like once I did that the 'kid in the candy store' felling went away. 

Don't fret things will come along.

@Gwen EvansThank you Gwen.

@Nicole A.Great info. If they are serious about our property, they will wait until the day of showing. That is true. I have been advised I should do showings on particular days and not rush out just as soon as I get a call. Thanks.

Typo met 'of' Oops, I guess that is my first problem. I wish there was a way to correct that, Oh well.