All Forum Posts by: Georges A.

The first few deals are frds and family and then the job gets easier (or more accurately requires less physical time outside your work) unless you're a buyer's agent most of the time then you're out of luck that is def full time.  I know many part-time RE agents and they're doing okay. I don't know any RE that is not full time and making a killing

Not a lot but still, I get a high percentage of people wasting my time with really bad checks making me wonder why did they even bother submitting an application. As I mentioned, I use Buildium and I usually give them the option to receive the credit / background check via email and have them pay for it online. 

I still think as @Shaun Reilly  mentioned that you can find  a loop hole by having them pay for it themselves (e.g. Buildium and many other PMS allow you to enter an email and have the prospective tenant pay for the credit check). It's not really an "application fee" it's a "credit check" that they're willingly paying for themselves.

Oh wow!  Thanks for the update. I did not know that (and apparently neither did my lawyer).

Everyone is doing it in Boston that it was a no brainer for me not to do it. This will change now of course.

thanks for shedding light on this guys

Who told you can't? you're allowed to have an  "application fee" for around $30 I believe. You can do with it whatever you want. Usually credit reports + background check are around $20-25. I do that for all my tenants who submit applications. I would have been broke if I paid it myself.

Resource: My lawyer.

@Stewart Beal 

 could you please let us know which areas do you think are safe and which ones you cover? 

ah okay that's still does the job... Good, I can now drive home knowing that I will not fall asleep ;)

did you remove the Podcasts Tab from the app?

Yes look at MassHousing LPMI (new program where lender pays PMI). I am closing on a 3MF in East boston on Monday using a MassHousing loan. My advice is look into the up and coming areas around Boston. east Boston would be my top recommendation. There's a lot of gentrification going on there (you can see the cranes already). My next 2 areas I would recommend are revere and Chelsea. Boston itself, Medford or Somerville are already overpriced. Some neighborhoods in Boston like Savin Hill or Dudley square are also witnessing a major gentrification. Best of luck and let me know if I can help answering any questions. I spent a lot of Time researching this market

Here's my take on Detroit and why I would invest in it but not this year. - look at the historical data of the sales. For example a property gets sold for 50k, then 1 yr later will be sold for 20k then 6 month later For 5k, then a few months later for 1k. That's a consistent trend in a lot of properties there. That means that investors are entering the market for a quick flip, losing their money, and selling at a loss. - buy and hold would be my only option to invest in Detroit. However, I think they JUST hit rock bottom and didn't start recovering fast enough yet as many are saying. The only investors that are throwing the big bucks at it (like quicken's founder) can afford to wait a very long time before seeing any returns. I know I can't. So what I am going to do is take a look at it a year from now and see how that progress is going. Maybe I will lose some momentum but I prefer less profit rather than a deadbeat investment. - finally, who's going to manage it for you? The amount of corruption there is ridiculous. The avg response time for the police is 45min. I know I def don't want to move there. This is a very important question, as you're surrounded by bad quality tenants and potentially corrupted PMs. In conclusion, I think it's high risk high return investment. So stick to the areas that are relatively okay vs. the areas that are isolated and aren't seeing any signs of progress