All Forum Posts by: Deanna Skelcy

My husband and I purchased 2 SFH in the last year. One was rented out 3 weeks after we took possession and one we just finished rehabbing with a renter due to move in next week. Our renters bought a home 6 months into their lease and we graciously let them out of their lease. The new teanants just moved in last week and are the brother and sister in law of former tenants. They each helped the other move out, then move in. 2 days after getting the keys the new tenants informed us they did not have hot water. The switch on the pilot has been broken, the plumber said it looked like something was dropped on it. HERE IS WHERE THE PROBLEM COMES IN. Who bears responsibility for this? I feel like this should not be our responsibility to pay for. I still have the security deposit from the former tenants. The house was very clean when old tenants moved out. There were 2 paint chips and the leaves had been raked into big piles in the back yard and not picked up.

Being new landlords we were not prepared for this, how do we do a final inspection so that nothing gets missed?  Should we include an early lease termination fee for future?  Any advice is appreciated!

Thoughts on bank v. credit union?  I have a different small business and we are currently banking at a local bank that charges $5 per month for checking.  We are in the process of purchasing 3 rentals and I am looking to set up accounts for them.  I have seen some advise to set up a bank account for each rental.  I am not sure how I would keep track of 3 different debit cards.  What happens when I go to home depot???

@Frank A Castro Try writing a personal letter to include with your offer. Tell them about yourself amd what you plan to do with the property. Include a photo of you and your wife. My husband and I placed several offers on properties before trying this. The next 3 properties we offered on and included the letter all accepted the offer.

Hi Bill, my husband and I live in Michigan north of Detroit and are very new to this. We currently are about to have 3 SFH properties under contract in Detroit Suburb. There are many properties but you have to be ready to pounce. Good luck to you!

@Joe Villeneuve. As for different strategies, do you mean working with HML or securing a partner to bring cash to the deal?

We have been seriously looking at properties for the last 6 weeks and have offered on 7 so far. I know it is a competitive market and we are making offers at or above asking in most cases but will need to finance with a conventional mortgage which we have preapproval. There are multiple offers on these properties and in many cases, cash offers. We have some cash but have found that the properties we could pay cash for are in locations we would not really want to invest in. While we are getting to look at and make offers on some of these properties as soon as they hit the MLS I feel like we are losing out to other buyers. What are we doing wrong? How do we compete with other investers and home buyers??

We are new to BP and trying to learn more about the rental property business! We are working with a realtor and looking at residentail properties we would use as rentals. We also want to move towards multifamily and other commercial deals in the future. Looking for advice on ways to get that first deal done! Looking to potentially purchase a 5 unit older strip mall in a residential area. We have lots of ideas for the spaces that we think would add tremendous value to the surrounding community. Could also add recreation opportunities. How do we get started? We would need a couple of investors and bring the value of the property up (it has been empty for awhile). How would we find potential businesses willing to move in? Would we wait for the businesses before we build out the space? Or do we build to suit on the interior and focus on fixing up the exterior first? Any thoughts appreciated!!  Seeking other like minded investors willing to help with financing if we roll up our sleeves and do the dirty work!

We are looking at purchasing our first rental. It is listed as 2 units but is really a ranch with 3 beds and 2 baths on main level, 2 beds each with their own bath and kitchen area in basement. Our thought is to rent to college athletes (or other college students) in our town. We have ties and feel that we could establish a good source of tenets. What are the pros and cons of an idea like this? Would it be better to rent the unit by the room or as a upper amd lower, or as one entire unit? My concern is if we came up with an empty room or two it would kill any profits. Being new to the game, we would appreciate any and all advice from those of you that have dealt with this.

@Selena Williams. I have recently started my research to invest in real estate. Do you have any advice or sources to share on how to finance besides the 20% down and 30 yr?