All Forum Posts by: Dennis Callaghan

@Nik Corbaxhi

Good point. I have been doing individual leases for years but have been thinking about switching to one as you have mentioned but dont know exactly how to draft it up because I know it has to be a little different. The main one is a have alot of kids who leave for co-ops for a semester and get sub leasors in their place. I dont know if that plays well with one contract or not. I think it is time to get a lawyer involved.

Hello BP, I could use some help here on what my legal responsibilities are. I rent to college student here in NY State and an arguement has ensued over a desk between two tenants in which one said they owned it and let the other borrow temporarily and the other is claiming it was given to them. I was sent a text with screen shots of their arguement by the female tenant from the male tenant and it was alot of name calling and cussing but no line was crossed from either one of them ina threatening matter. The female who sent me these has know said she feels uncomfortable living with him now. Is this my responsibility? I can easily enough talk to them although I feel I am not their parent and they are now adults. Thank you.

@Joshua Mellor I have also looked in Geneva but was steering more towards college rentals. The closer to William and Smith the better the rents. I didn't put in alot of work because I too live in Roc and not willing to venture that far out yet.

@Cody Malave I have a mix of both, some in LLCs and others not. I started roughly 6 years ago and the first 3 properties I got now have great equity in them because it use to be a hidden gem location but no longer is. Those properties I have in an LLC because I have more to lose. The other 3 I have I paid much more for and are leveraged pretty high with not a lot of equity so I have really good insurance on them and are in my name. I do also have good insurance on the LLCs props as well. In addition I require that tenants have renters insurance with a minimum of 100k liability in case a guest of there's is hurt on the property or something of theirs is ruined or stolen. I just make sure none of the money intermingles with each other and even go as far as not transferring money from one acct to another on Mobile app/PC and do it at the bank.

I am a few months short on this thread but I wanted to tell you what I do. I have only purchased single family homes as a easy bail out plan if I ever had to but I never will because things have gone well so far. I have done both ways but I do understand the "helicopter mom" comment yet I have had no issues with either. I actually do individual contracts instead of all under one roof due to how many times I have had students get a 6 month co-op but I push that they get sub-leases or they are stuck with the lease agreement and have been successful so far (6 years). I have also had zero issues with parents and still never have had a loss of funds and that's without doing any background checks ever. I feel a lot has to do with the Colleges that you want to buy property around and also the tenants themselves more than their finances. The college I do business around is a technology school so they are more serious and less about partying etc. When I do a walk through with them when first showing the house and I ask them questions such as what they are going to school for, are you on any of the sports teams, what fraternity are you in etc just as small talk because I have learned over the years from asking other student tenants which has worked amazing for me on whom to look out for. Lastly, I make sure whether they have a co signer or not that they have renter's insurance which is very cheap and I have them show proof. I direct them towards Lemonade.com which has the best pricing for it, typically $5 - $8 a month. Overall students are not hard to manage, you just have to be honest and stern on what you expect from them.

Hi @James Gates

As some others have asked also how have you been able to refinance on so many rental properties so quickly without risk of going over your debt to income ratio? Also are you getting these refinanced through an LLC or personal because I have had a tough time finding the ability to do through LLC? Thank you

I cannot answer all your questions but I can share what i have done. I have found it quite difficult myself to find a lender who will allow lending to an LLC that isn't at least two years old. I am going on two years in December so I will try myself soon. I have done two "Cash Buyouts" (term they used for HELOC on rental) and some banks are loosening up and allowing it more, even ESL is recently doing it now. The standard is typically 75 or 80% unless you have a good relationship with Keybank to actually get 85%. Keep in mind that you will still have closing cost on a cash buyout (5-7k) according to that house value locally. Also, don't be married to that home value, an assessor will come in and low ball it everytime and possible say it's worth 85k and then you get 75-80% of that. Would it still make sense if that did happen?? Something to consider. What area of Rochester?

I personally have some properties in my name and others in LLC. I was fortunate to find some deals over the past few years so the ones that have higher equity on I place in LLC, the ones I have mortgages on with little equity I've kept in my name.

Hi Paul,

The Hells Angel's are one street over from there and also the reason for there not being alot of crime in that block so I wouldn't leave that out. Also if you are not aware the city has plans on revitalizing that area which I have the link below and they had a meeting 2 days ago on it again. The city owns pretty much every zombie home in the area and they are giving homes to people who agree to live in the house. Could be a different neighborhood in 4 years and you got in early but has to be a gamble your willing to take.

https://www.cityofrochester.gov/BullsHeadRevitalization/