All Forum Posts by: Brandon Curson

@Eric P. Thank you very much Eric.  Was using 1/2 months rent for the tenant placement fee and renewed yearly, which was more of an estimate.  Would agree that this cost could be significantly higher, up to 1 month's rent per year.  With a good tenant, who renews several times, this cost would be reduced, minus renewal costs, however, I would agree to say to make the tenant placement fee near the 1 month's rent mark so you do not under estimate your costs.

Are you an investor in the area Eric?

Look into what utilities the tenant pays and which utilities the LL pays.  Your biggest concern will be that most MF's have the LL pay for electricity (sometimes) and water/sewage (almost always).  These can account b/w $200-$700 expenses per month which most people do not account for when running the #'s.  This will quickly turn your 2% home into a .5% or 0% property.  

Make sure to always account for all costs that others blatantly forget:

Insurance, taxes, prop. manag. (10%), tenant placement fee (4.25%), vacancy (8.5%), big expense (10%).

Over 1/3 of your rental income will be gone due to the above, and closer to half, due to the high taxes in Cleveland.  When you add on mortgage, utilities (remember you will most likely pay water/sewage which is expensive), you will begin to see the true % the property will fall under.

Good luck and never forget to overestimate your expenses; it will save you in the long run.

Looking for any and all information pertaining to a respectable, reliable and cost efficient PM organization in the Cincinnati area. 

After scouring the internet for hours, I found only one company, RPM Midwest, and after doing due diligence on them, my gut and wallet are saying run away.  

Are their any reputable companies in the area or this a gold mine waiting for someone to come in and not nickle and dime every client they have until there is no one left?

Out of state investor specializing in MF units in the area.

Hopefully someone has the answer to this conundrum! 

-Brandon S. Curson

Hello All,

I am looking to begin a large rental investment portfolio in the TN area.  I would like to purchase 2 homes/year for the foreseeable future.  The niche of choice would be multi-family housing that fall between the 50-150k range.  Central TN is preferred, however, any TN deal is welcome.  College rentals are also very intriguing to me so these would be viable as well.  Please let me know if you know of any agents in the area that have expertise in these criteria.  Thank you for listening!

Best Regards

Brandon S. Curson

Hi All,

Waking up one morning to an alarm saying "You Finally Made It!!!", I was ecstatic to finally take that trip to the bank to file for my first loan application.  Listening to my favourite music and grabbing a Chic-fil-A biscuit (we all know how good they are) on the way to the bank, nothing was going to bring me down... or so I thought.

Finally getting to there and seeing plenty of happy smiles ready to sign me up for a loan, I thought with a 763 Credit Score and 50k worth of savings, I was in the drivers seat.

When we started sharing information, everything was golden until we came to my work history.  After determining that I was a 1099 with only 1.5 years work experience, the loan officer quickly shared a look that made that oh so delicious chicken biscuit want to come right out where it previously entered.

After searching through every loop hole, we came across the conclusion that there was nothing this bank could do to get me in the door.  Now, sitting here amazed that there is no bank that will touch me, with what I once thought was a great entry point, I turn to the BP community for help, guidance, and a new chicken biscuit.

Is there anyone who has been in my position and has managed to get into a 30 year Conventional Mortgage? Discussions have been made about doing a 5/1 ARM then refinancing after hitting the 2 year experience mark, yet, that would require double fees etc. Consideration has been given for waiting another 6 months then closing, however, there is a good deal lined up and losing that, along with a possible interest increase, have encouraged me to look for other options!

If anyone has any knowledge or advice on the matter it would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks for reading and hope this story made you hungry for a chicken biscuit and lemonade!

Best Regards,

Brandon S. Curson

Wow, thank you all so much for the support and information.  Did not realize how lucky I was to have a core team like that; especially one you can trust.  Looking forward to taking all of your advice and putting it to work.  Will update you on the progress and share any locations to see if y'all think it may be a good buy!

Thank you again and looking forward to any future comments or messages!

I am looking in the ATL area as well because those are the areas my team know the market.  I would also be interested in FL since I lived there for a few years, however, a property management company would have to be used outside of ATL and TN which is making me search those areas first.

Yes he is a great uncle that wants to see me succeed!  I have worked with him fixing up houses before so he knows I will be right there with him as much as possible.  Also, it is a way to get our family together which we always enjoy!

@Devan Mcclish

@Brandon Turner

Thank you Brandon!  It was actually your website, realestateinyourtwenties.com that brought me to this site.  You had some great videos and posts, especially the Your First Investment Property Should Be & How to Buy a Small Family Property, that have convinced me that multiple family properties are the way to go!

If you have any advice on how to start or can share an article you have written before (I am working on reading them all!) then please share and I will jump on some new information!  Looking forward to following in your successful footsteps.  Thanks again.

Best Regards,

Brandon S. Curson

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

@Adrian Chu

Thank you both for the comments, I have been making sure to check out the podcasts and potential properties in my area. My friend has been nice enough to let me use his MLS info to look at properties in ATL. I have found some descent multi-families that might reach my 50% + $100/tenant rule.

If I were to want to look more into the Nashville/TN area, how would I join or find a way to login into TN's MLS listings? Are there other websites that may be able to provide similar or better results than the MLS listings I currently use?

Any an all comments are greatly appreciated at this early stage in my career!

-Brandon S. Curson