All Forum Posts by: Dominic Mazzarella

I plan to do this part time as I currently have a full-time W-2. Mr. Mazzarella, if you have any advice or tips, you'd like to share I'd greatly appreciate it!

Well it's good to have goals and ambitions, but maybe just focus on getting that first deal done and see how long that takes. I started in real estate while still working a finance job and it was tough until things started really moving, which wasn't right away.

0 Votes

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Quote from @Jared M Rinehart:

Hello all,

Like everyone else on this thread I am a new investor. I have zero assets. The interest with real estate investing started for me a few years ago when I made some bad decisions and bought a SFH on OT that I couldn't afford without it in the name of improving my family's quality of life. Once the overtime was cut, I was getting desperate to make ends meet. I started researching how the wealthy created their wealth and maintained it. I started looking and researching things that I never would have in the past. (lots of get rich quick scheme traps out there) We went through trying to sell our old house, then getting it ready to rent but the funds dried up. With two mortgages I decided to move us back into the old house which was a lower expense and sell the new one.

Now a year later with some career changes we are back on the right side of things. I am excited to start this investing journey and forever change my family's life. I am working with a family friend who is a successful realtor and young investor, whom we share similar life goals. I am currently looking to invest in my local market for my first asset. I have some very aggressive and ambitious goals, and it will take some creativity to make it happen. I am focusing on MFH 2-4 doors.

Acquire my first asset in 90 days.

Acquire 3 assets in the first year.

Acquire 12 assets in 5 years.

Quit my W-2 in 5-10 years.

Sincerely,

Jared

Do you plan to do this full time? With no assets, those goals might be difficult to achieve while also having a very busy full time job. It’s not impossible, I’m sure.

0 Votes

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Quote from @Christine Yeh:

Has anyone bought a single family home and rented out to section 8 / vouchers? I've seen this a lot as a strategy to ensure payment(gov subsidies). Looking for any feedback on anyone that has. Pros/ Cons. We want to have a 3 bedroom family home for a rental.

A lot of folks use Section 8 as a strategy for consistent rent, and in many cases it works out well. The payments are generally reliable once you're set up, but there can be some hoops to jump through upfront, like inspections, paperwork, and the time it takes to get approved.

The tenant pool can vary a lot by area, so doing your homework on the local housing authority and screening just as carefully as you would with any tenant is key. Some landlords love it, some eventually move on from it. A lot of horror stories you hear about section 8 housing are from a particular area. For a 3-bedroom family rental, it could be a solid option if you find the right fit. Definitely worth exploring further.

0 Votes

Buffalo, New York

I don't think the short term volatility we are seeing in equities right now has much to do with baby boomers trimming their holdings. That being said, price dips are usually a good opportunity to buy. Personally, I like having exposure to both, but lean toward real estate when I want more control and less daily volatility. This is honestly probably a question for your financial advisor or CPA or some other professional who has a better understanding of your current financial picture.

2 Votes

Quote from @James McGovern:

If you have a tenant that is way behind in paying back rent and you want to put this on their credit report, what web sites make this easy to accomplish and have low fees?

Your goal here should probably be about gaining leverage and not ruining someone's credit for the sake of revenge. That said, there are a couple of services like ClearNow and RentReporters that let landlords report payment history, but they’re more commonly used to help tenants build credit. For reporting missed payments or debts, you’d likely need to go through a collections agency or become a data furnisher with one of the credit bureaus, which comes with setup requirements and compliance rules. It’s not super simple or cheap, but possible if you really want to go that route.

0 Votes

Quote from @Nathan Driscoll:

Good Afternoon BP Community,

I purchased a piece of land for recreation 5 years ago and now am under contract to sell at a 500% increase. I got lucky that this piece of land became very desirable. I would like to use this $750k to reinvest via a 1031 exchange into a few SFH. I'm not opposed to MFH but prefer SFH as a new investor. I was curious what you would recommend on how to begin? Also how/when would you begin to scale up?

I appreciate any advice you may have. I already have a realtor and 1031 exchange company I'm working with.

My advice would be not to assume that the route you need to take is SF to MF. My first property was a 40 lot mobile home park and not once did I wish I started in single family rentals. MF let’s you scale and honestly has a lot less headaches than you think. Good luck with whatever route you choose.

0 Votes

Greenville, South Carolina

Quote from @Duska Stanic:

Hello,

This is my first time renting a property and I'm struggling to find a reputable company for background/credit check. Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated.

For tenant screening, three popular and reliable options among landlords are RentRedi, TurboTenant, and Avail. They’re all pretty easy to use, offer solid background and credit reports, and typically let the tenant cover the cost. You’ll probably be in good shape with any of those.

0 Votes

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Quote from @Allison Park:

Hello,

I have my first tenant in a 3 bd 2.5 ba townhouse. Had a couple of questions.

1. Who is typically responsible for regular HVAC maintenance (spring and fall)? It was not specified in the lease.

2. She wants to install fans that she will leave with the property. Any conditions I should consider? Licensed electrician?

For HVAC maintenance, if it’s not in the lease, it usually falls on the landlord to handle seasonal servicing. That includes spring/fall tune-ups. Tenants are often just responsible for things like changing the filters. But that should probably be in the lease.

As for the fans, yeah, definitely require a licensed electrician. You don’t want liability issues from DIY electrical work. I’d also put it in writing that the fans stay with the property and that they’ll be professionally installed.

2 Votes

Raleigh, North Carolina

Quote from @Tricia O'Brien:

Hello BP Folks!

Has anyone accepted tenants for a SFH who have a gross income of only 2.2X the rent or 2.4X the rent, and did that work out well for you?

I hired a new property manager for my rental property in California (SFH, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, fenced in yard), and told her my screening criteria were: Gross Income at least 3x the rent, credit score at least 600, good landlord references. Asking rent currently is: $2300/month. After 2 weeks, she presented me with an applicant with income 2.2X the rent and then a week later someone with income of 2.4X the rent. I declined them both. When I told the PM, "She makes 2.2X the rent," she said, "They're close to 3X the rent."

In looking at Zillow ads for another PM company, I noticed that this company is asking for a minimum gross income of 2.8X the rent.

Is this the new normal? What happened to the old standard of gross income of 3X the rent?

It feels too risky to me to take someone that you know from the beginning is going to be paying almost 50% of their gross income on rent and utilities, plus they might have credit card debt too.

I told the PM to lower the rent to $2200/month, and she said it's still going to be hard to find someone that makes $6600/month.

What to do? What are your minimum income requirements?

Thanks in advance for your input! :)

The 3x income rule has always been a solid baseline, and personally, I still stick with it. Anything less than that starts to feel risky, especially with inflation and other debts tenants might be juggling.

That said, I’ve also seen more property managers push for 2.5–2.8x lately, probably because rent prices have outpaced income growth in a lot of areas. They’re trying to get places filled, but that doesn’t always mean it’s the right long-term move for owners.

If it were me, I’d hold the line at 3x unless I was really confident in the applicant’s stability. Lowering rent slightly might help expand the pool a bit, but you’ve got to protect yourself too, especially on a property where the margins aren’t huge.

Always remember, property managers don't always have your best interest in mind. If they fail and make a huge mistake, it's still you that has to pay for it.

1 Vote

Quote from @Mark Lester:

we recently add a follow up Dispo for the cold callers ,and what that means is the call is a lead but the owner is not that motivated to sell yet so we add it to a spread sheet called follow up and we contact them every 3 weeks to see if things changed
and now after the first 2 attempts, this is actually working !!

Congrats Mark! That solid work. I will keep calling someone unless they explicitly tell me not to. And even then I still might call them in a year just to check.

0 Votes

Destin, Florida

All Forum Posts by: Dominic Mazzarella

Dominic Mazzarella has started 7 posts and replied 245 times.

Post: Still wet behind the ears.

Post: Still wet behind the ears.

Post: Section 8 housing strategy

Post: Real estatate vs stock market returns over the short to medium term

Post: Ways for landlords to help ruin tenants credit

Post: $750K to 1031 Exchange - How would you start your portfolio?

Post: Reputable company for tenant screening

Post: First Time Landlord Questions

Post: Safe to Accept Gross Income of 2X the Rent for Tenant Applicants?

Post: NEW strategies for cold calling