All Forum Posts by: Jay Orlauski

Omar, your story is a sad one so far... I hate to say this, but I think you need a property manager. At the very least, you need to read up on your local laws regarding tenants - you should never have your tenants telling you what the laws are .. and then you not being able to confirm or deny it - they can sense that you don't have a complete grasp on the law or the procedures so they are taking advantage at every opportunity and have been bilking you for months. You should have never taken $50 off their rent .. should have never give them $50 credit towards their  electricity being out - none of that was your responsibility - especially considering that when you made arrangements for an electrician - they denied him the opportunity to repair the problem - 100% on them. 

Also does your lease allow him to run a business in your home and as someone else said .. does he have business license to operate a business at that residence? You are not responsible for his business - you are responsible for YOUR business and he is the one costing YOU money.  These people are bullying you - and the next set of tenants that are bad will do the same thing if you don't get a grip on it now. At least you are getting  a good education right now on the subject matter, but I would suggest that you spend a lot of time learning your rights and responsibilities so that in the future, you can deal with tenants with a lot more knowledge and confidence - a tenant tried to quote some obscure ruling to me once and I recited the corrected language of the law because I knew it and she could not say anything after that because she was just trying to be a sofa lawyer - trying to quote some **** heard on Judge Judy or something. 

I am not familiar with the tenant laws in your area - so I cannot advise on how to proceed on that level - I can say this though  - it sounds like you are too nice of a person to be a landlord - and perhaps you need the assistance of a  professional management company to help you with ugly confrontational situations like this - At the very least -please read up as much as you can about your rights and responsibilities as a landlord - I can tell that you have done some research - but I feel like you need a lot more if you are going to be successful in this business. Being a landlord mean being thick skinned, being able to be objective, and to some degree having to be 'the bad guy" sometimes - not everyone is comfortable taking on these roles - best of luck to you - I'm looking forward to seeing how all of this turns out. 

While Fresno may be turning into a sellers market - I have to disagree with the statement that "Fresno is not known for growth" as a matter of fact , one of the reasons I chose to stay in Fresno was the massive growth i was seeing when I first got here 15 years ago. Back then I was looking at new high rise structures going up all over North Fresno and thought to myself - " now here is something going on" Even now, growth is still happening at a pace so rapid, my GPS can barely keep up with it - and of course they chose to put high speed rail here in Fresno because it is a hub of activity and has access to the bay area. The jobs and industries it will bring ill continue to bring growth to the area. I have seen a lot of investors coming over to Fresno from the bay area to get in on some of this growth , but now it is getting overcrowded with buyers and investors are starting to look elsewhere. There are still deals to be found - but they are not going to advertise themselves on the MLS - the deals require someone willing to turn over rocks and knock on doors. The days of opening a real estate magazine and finding pages of cash flow opportunities are long gone. I see continued growth for Fresno and the ones who can afford to buy and hold will benefit from the eventual high speed rail. That said - I myself and looking for opportunities outside of Fresno - but still trying to find them here also. I'm not giving up - I just watched a contractor friend of mine get two properties under contract for pennies on the dollar and and were hoping to scout out another couple of gems that no one really knows about right now.

At Anmmar - If you have deals in Merced - I would be interested in seeing them - I am starting to look outside the Fresno area but have no feet on the ground in Merced.  We should get together and talk about finding some deals there - I'm trying to expand out of Fresno

@Jason - I still like investing in REITs - I'm just more careful about where i put them. I have since liquidated my REITSs to make for some real property, but I would invest in them again. 

@ MIcheal - speaking from experience I can agree with you - buying for the dividend can be a deadly mistake  - nothing worse than watching your equity AND your dividends dribble away month after month - some of these higher yielding funds are very attractive at first - but can really come back to bite you if you're not doing your research

@Ricardo - I used an FHA to buy a duplex that lived in and rented the other side out also. I've done it twice actually - I have not had a chance to use the FHA 203K program yet, but I am planning to try it on the next home I move into. As far as being a vet - your VA loan would help get you into property with no down payment - however it may be a challenge finding a lender who will do rehab with a VA loan - though they do exist - don't give up if the first couple of lenders say no - there is always a lender for every niche out there.

If it is a publicly traded trust then it is very easy to get into. You basically open an brokerage account which you can do online and then research which REITS you want to invest in. Many of them pay you dividends monthly, but most of them pay quarterly. You can have the dividends reinvested to purchase even more shares for you so the next month it pays out even higher dividends. Just watch out for REITs with really high dividends - these are the most volatile. A REIT's value will go up and down with the market depending on a wide range of factors - but basically they trade like a stock, so you can still lose money or gain significantly - it all depends on how well the REIT is managed.

It is simple to take you money out since it is liquid and can be redeemed almost immediately - in some cases it may take 3 days for the transaction to clear, but accessing your money is easy with brokerage accounts - just transfer it to your bank. You can add money to it each month if you like or add money anytime you want or never add money - it is up to you how much you want to put into it - you usually have to buy a minimum of 1 share at a time ( unless you're reinvesting dividends automatically) and shares can cost anything from $3 a share to $100 a share or more - it all depends on the size of the REIT and what the current value is. A REIT is quick and easy way to get into real estate as long as you are not interested in managing the investments and don't care to get your hands dirty. They have professional management teams that runs the funds for you so all you have to do is sit back and collect dividends. They are not risk free - but they can be a great way to get your feet wet.

Welcome to BP Willetta - I'm sure that you will meet many experienced investors with a wealth of knowledge here. I do not have experience with the LBO model yet, but look forward to hearing more about it. I am always curios about learning different aspects of the real estate market. 

@Nick - hard money could be feasible if the target property is distressed and need to be rehabbed - you can use hard money to buy & rehab - then use a conventional loan to refinance it. At this point you can either sell it or keep it - just remember that your cash flow will affected by the refi so be sure that before you start the project  that it will cash flow after the repairs and refinancing.  It can still be a buy and hold situation if you picked it up at the right price to begin with. You might even be able to refi and take some cash out for your pocket and STILL cash flow each month. 

There is a site called Home Advisor that I have used in the past - you put in a request and a few contractors call you back so they can bid on the project. You can also look  under their "Pro-Reviews" section and see local contractors in your area and read the reviews that other clients  have left about them - then contact them for a quote -  It's a good starting point - I have found a few good contractors that way  - also it's free to use the service.