All Forum Posts by: Doug McVinua

@Jeremy Dube You are most likely obligated to this lease for the duration of the one-year term. I would be looking at how much you are paying for landscape and pool maintenance to minimize your negative cash flow in the short term.

When the lease is close to renewal you should look closely at the Monthly rent to see if you could increase it enough to place yourself in a better cash flow position.

The Arizona rental market is strong and we have been increasing rents on almost every property.

Open Houses can be good, it's an opportunity to meet new faces with at least some interest in real estate. Some of the interest can be snoopy neighbors, especially after a flip as they want to see the finished product. Sometimes others have an interest in selling and are curious of values.

The best opportunity has always been picking up new buyers. They come in, you provide some level of value, build trust and you can assist them in finding the right home.

My first year in real estate in Iowa (1986) I got my license on a Friday, held an open house on Sunday and sold the house to a couple that walked in. I had to sublet the apartment they had for it to close but we got it done and I had a new apartment. lol

Moved to Arizona in 1998 and lived the first year almost entirely off Open House because I had no contacts or book of business.

They can work!

@Account Closed I would tend to agree with Ken that it's odd that any title company isn't responding and that it's been 3 weeks. 

Do you actually have a contract or is title requesting documents, earnest money or something?

Glad to contribute advice or whatever, Ken brings up a good point!

@Emil Hovgaard When you reference Arizona, of course, it's made up of a few markets but the Phoenix area dominates.

Phoenix is a metropolitan area in the Sonoran desert with very few damaging weather events outside of the occasional monsoon storm in the summer. A monsoon might generate an inch of rain in 15 minutes but with the overall rain gauge running close to 8 inches per year we are pretty dry, hence the desert. We don't really do snow, rarely ever freezes, don't do tornadoes or earth quakes etc. It's frankly pretty benign outside of the hot and dry. Hot and dry is actually pretty easy on a property and doesn't tend to cause crazy, over the top damage. We do raise a healthy population of termites and about half the properties will need to be treated for termites, rarely have they done any damage and the treatment for most rentals is less than $500 total.

Phoenix has all of the major sporting events, tons of recreation, a major university and land to grow!

Phoenix by and large is a newer city with the population growth really taking off starting in the 70's and still growing today. Why, the weather is great and the job market is pretty decent. We are experiencing solid job growth as the politics have created a favorable tax environment for companies to move to AZ from states like California. Tech companies like the area as we have a good base of software and hardware engineers etc. Intel recently announced a new fabrication facility in Chandler, Google, Apple etc all have a presence. 

@Robert Blusiewicz Welcome to the Phoenix market! I would be glad to share contacts with you that I might have anytime you need them!

Where is your Phoenix property located, what city?

@Jonathon Federwisch Having been in the Phoenix market for 19 years, good Title comes and goes. I tend to like the smaller companies as they have a higher level of personal service just because of how they operate.

Amy Diaz with Thomas Title in Gilbert, AZ has been really good and Amy has decades of experience.  Gilbert is a suburb, doesn't matter as it's all Phoenix. Of course, Bigger Pockets won't let me post their contact information for you.

@Nicholas W. The tenant doesn't sound like a good tenant to keep, if cash flow is tight you could let her stay for a few months until you have established the cash to complete the turnover.

1. Make sure to keep the Lease Month to Month so she can be given a proper 30-day notice per the Arizona Landlord Tenant act. The owner could give notice before her next renewal and it would carry over to your ownership.
2. Sooner than later give her notice so you can raise the overall quality of the tenants in the building. Rarely, rarely do tenants change habits!
3. Manage the unit diligently in the short term

@Chandler Buckner Agree with you 100%, best time of your life to house-hack!

I asked you the question so you could reflect on the "Why". Most of the Why sees to center off the financial aspect and was sort of expected but wanted to see clarity from you.

Based on your answer the numbers of this really matter. If the resale market is where the value is and the numbers are better then that helps find the answer of what's best for you.

If you go resale your connections in the trades industries will be helpful as you begin to fix things and or need help. You will also gain a lot of knowledge and experience related to repairs etc that will help you for life. I'm a Property Manager and the knowledge of housing and mechanical things is really helpful in managing vendors and issues that arise.

When your experience is a little larger and your pockets deeper you can dive into development.

@Chandler Buckner Why do you want to House-hack? 

@David Martinez Welcome to Arizona Real Estate and the BP world.

Let me know if I can ever answer a question or help you in any way. I'm based in Gilbert, AZ, a Real Estate Broker and a Property Manager.