All Forum Posts by: Emily Howlett

My first thought is that you won't be able to force appreciation unless you happen to get an awesome deal upfront. That will also affect how much income you'll make - profit margins will be slimmer. 

I'll second what @Conner Olsen said - short term rentals. Way more income in a much shorter amount of time, and if you get your systems set up right, the same amount (or less) of work as a long term rental. I'd be looking for "experience" type rentals (unique properties) or getaway type places for the folks looking to escape the cities. 

Rentometer is a great option as well as perusing Zillow for similar listings. You may also want to look at the options posted in this BP thread that asks a very similar question. 

Honestly, as someone who has invested multiple times out of state, I would say make the time and spend the money to go see the property, or at the very least, the area, in person. You can have an awesome agent, but they may miss things or not see something that you would consider a red flag. If you totally trust your agent and still want to "see" the property, can you do a video call with them? Make sure everyone's phones are completely charged, because it may take a while for you to see all the things they're talking about! 

I've done out of state investing with AirBnB, and currently in the process of setting up a second property. It really depends on what markets you're looking in, local regulations, etc, but you could totally self-manage and be fine. It's actually not that painful once you get a team in place (cleaner, handyman, utilities, etc) and your airbnb systems set up. I'd be happy to connect and provide my experience so far! 

Keep in mind that in some situations, intentions don't matter - if you even unintentionally violate certain rules (fair housing for example), the event still happened, therefore you're at fault. 

@Chance B. - Yes, typically the seller pays for the buyer agent's commission, but that's not always the case. If you fall into that category of "the seller won't pay that part of the commission", then yes, you as the buyer will be responsible. That said, you can negotiate the final number that goes into the contract before you sign. As for the recording without your permission, my initial take on it is that some homes that you tour will have security systems recording you and they don't always disclose that. That said, you can ask the agent. Short version: that part doesn't sound fishy, but ask more questions to see what the deal is. 

If you want to be sure it's really a broken keypad, ask the tenants to try changing out the batteries first or updating the code. That gives them some involvement. Otherwise....Fix it. Echoing a lot of the other comments here: you establish a good relationship with the tenant. It's not something they would have thought to fix going in. It improves the rental for a relatively low dollar amount. Just because the other tenants didn't mention it doesn't mean they didn't notice it - they may have been annoyed too and just kept quiet. It's not going to negatively impact your bottom line (and if it does, you have much bigger problems).

As many folks have said here, if they were fine with things after the move in inspection, and you've been timely in cleaning up any (major) issues, you have no obligation to provide them a discount. In your lease, does it clearly delineate what things you are responsible for (examples: major systems/issues such as plumbing...unless issue is determined to be caused by tenant negligence, electrical, etc)? If not, it may be a good idea to add those in. That way when they come back with "the upstairs wasn't vacuumed", you can say 'not on the list, and wasn't noted in the inspection - go get a vacuum :)" (in a nice way, of course)

From the sounds of it, that could be a workable agreement. Usually it's a matter of balancing out the interests of the people doing the sweat equity with the interests of those contributing solely in a financial way. It seems like you've done this fairly well. Adding in an exit clause can be a good way to allow everyone an out as well. I wouldn't say, from my experience, that there's a "normal" way to split things up. That said, it's a good idea to consider equity and cash flow as separate aspects in the agreement. Again, it really comes down to what everyone wants out of the deal and what they're contributing, and you should definitely have compensation for being hands on and managing things.