All Forum Posts by: Michael R.

What are your policies on dangerous and exotic pets?  

What are your policies on non dangerous and non exotics?  

Have you decided that you want the extra expenses that animals will add to your rentals?

We don't allow them in ours, but I have read on the forums and listened in podcasts that those that do allow pets require meeting the pet.  At the end of the day if there is an animal on your property, YOU need to feel comfortable going to that property.  If the dog doesn't behave well in front of you, it will not behave well in front of any other stranger (repairman, mail carrier, etc).  Any clause won't prevent someone from suing you.  This is America -- land of the litigious. If you are looking to avoid liability, don't allow them.  

As for what you would be liable for -- seek the advice of an attorney and find out what the local laws are (City, County, State etc).  

I hope that helps.

I can't do that for you -- but you wouldn't want me to either.  Think about it like this, would you want me to find a hot stock for you?  Investing in real estate is like investing in any other asset class and should be treated as such.  Other reasons that I won't are that you haven't defined your specific objectives or your strategy.  You may benefit from looking into finding a wholesaler - but even then, you need to know what you want and how to analyze what they present to you.

Keep listening to the podcasts and read as many of the books as you can.  I prefer audio books - but the financial analysis books I prefer hard copies of.  Podcast 120 may help you -- but again, you'll learn the most by going through all of them because all of them cover so many different investing styles.

I hope that helps.

For any partnerships you form, seek the counsel of an attorney. Even however you elect to operate with your son. This should very much be treated like a business.

The Commercial Project Manager, why would you use him to inspect residential property? Is a reputable home inspector not available? I ask because a regional residential home inspector is going to have historical knowledge of your local market and the homes within that market. Where as a Commercial PM, if he doesn't inspect homes on the side, is really just going to give you his or her perspective. Not that their perspective is not valuable, but if I were buying a SFH for my family, I would call a home inspector, not a PM. If you need a reputable inspector I can recommend one to you that will travel to MD.

I would also agree that anyone you bring in to pay for services should be brought in on a short term, per project basis. Let the relationships you build with others happen and develop naturally over time.

I hope that helps.

These sound like fire code violations to me. Look up the codes in your municipality. Due diligence was mentioned and I second that. Your question was are you liable. Liable for what?  If there is a fire in the stairwell and people die, I wouldn't want to be the owner of the property. An umbrella policy won't cover negligence.

Great question - and as @Tyler Flagg mentioned - the next decade or so is tough to project.  I was in the service and recall the govt would dump tons of money into a base only to shut it down two years later.  A lot of this can have to do with how the Federal Govt budgets their money.  

I also agree to look for investments where there is more than one industry or source of tenants in order to minimize your exposure and risk.  I have also found that most bases are not in the best parts of the cities that they are situated in.  

I hope that helps.

I don't want to tell you what to invest in -- really that's going to have to be what works for you and what will get you to your goals. For me at this point - while I own two SFH's (one as a rental and one as a primary residence) neither of these were meant to be true investments at the time of purchase. I have made a place for these houses as part of my long term equity building strategy. If I came across a SFH that fit my objectives and investment strategies and was a good deal, I would not pass it up.

But in general what I have learned here on BP is that I need a strategy and criteria.  So for example - my current strategy for my next acquisitions will be cash flow.  For this, I will look for multi family properties with 3 or 4 (no less than three) units.  While true that I am building equity, that is just a bi product in a multi family situation.  Cash flow is the main objective. 

So from there -- what are my criteria?  Location, Unit #, purchase price, cost of debt, taxes etc etc etc etc....

I strongly suggest hitting the podcasts up -- yes there are well over 100, but start at 1 and go :-)  I listen to at least one a day.  Your list of books will grow - but eventually you will start to have an understanding of what is a priority for you to read and what you will shuffle to later on your list.

The ARV (After Repair Value) is crucial to knowing the value of the prospective deal. If you search BP you can find cost estimate worksheets in excel formats. J Scott also wrote a book which is available in the marketplace called The Book on Estimating Repair Costs

Also -- you can evaluate deals leveraging the Bigger Pockets Calculators -- this may help you get an understanding for what numbers you need to consider when evaluating a deal.

The big thing to remember is that the numbers don't lie and they need to make sense.  If you struggle further -- the BP community is here to support what you are trying to do.  Because we are all trying to do something similar.

How old is the house?  How old is the roof, the water heater, the HVAC?  There must be a reason it is below market -- why else would someone dump a cash flowing property?

Hire an inspector, have the sewer scoped - and set the inspection up for a day or so after a heavy rain to check for water anywhere.  Run the numbers on the calculators on this site and know your numbers.  If you don't have financial criteria -- this property is a good one to start developing those on.  All the best.

Consider making a list of the things you have done that have gotten you where you are as well as a list of what you need to do to get where you want to be -- then make a list of the things this organization is going to do for you.  Evaluate the pros and cons of each I suppose.  If you have truly done everything you can then go for it.  But the self defeating self speak of "I won't / can't do this on my own" is a red flag to me that perhaps you may not be transparent with yourself.  I say that because a sentence later you suggest that "I know it will take extraordinary effort that make that happen, but it that realistic?"  So you're defeating yourself mentally and then questioning if even getting to the level you want to is realistic.  

Have you truly done everything that YOU could do? As @Brie Schmidt stated, it's personal.  And I am all for formal training, just make sure that you have truly done everything that you can.

I hope that helps.  

Edit to say:  With the lists you make -- if you decide to move forward, make sure that you have some measurable goals and outcomes that you want to get out of your training. 

All the best.

 The response from the closing attorney actually makes a lot of sense. You definitely want someone representing your best interest.  Best of luck!

Re: the lower offer, I asked how you found this property because (and more experienced folks please correct me if I am misspeaking) if this is a retail MLS sale, you would need to justify the price. If they are at 99K and you want to be at 74K be prepared to list the estimated repairs and costs and justify your price. Whereas if you found a motivated seller who inherited the property or was an absentee landlord you may have some leverage.