All Forum Posts by: George Tak

Reading is nice but if you really want to commit, you need to sit down with a mentor and discuss a plan of action that will be suited to your current life style or work schedule.  Before you ask someone to mentor you, you should have an idea about two things.  One, how much time you're willing to devote.  Two, how much money you're willing to save.   Real estate investing takes time and money.

Miguel and Laura,

My comment is assuming you want to become a Realtor to have a career in the real estate industry, and not just get a license for your investment purposes.  With all due respect, the cost of the education and maintaining a license is a very small fraction of what you can earn.  You should be thinking about making high 5 digit or 6 digit income.  If you earn $100K a year, then education and license maintenance is peanuts.  Instead of calculating what the costs are, I suggest you seek out a good broker who can teach and support you enough to make high earnings.

Will, if you plan to live in your new property for 2 years before renting, you might want to look into HUD homes. HUD homes are initially offered to owner-occupant buyers and then to all buyers after a period of time. If you're patient, you will find great deals. One catch, you will need to work with real estate agent who is registered with HUD.

Most industrial spaces are not NNN. Very few. Most of them are industrial gross. Adam, I think you meant SIOR, not a CCIM.

I am also picky about who I refer.  So, normally, I wouldn't have done anything.  But, I am just trying to help you out because you're part of BP.  Others have helped me and so I am just paying my debt to BP.

Don't worry about a healthy kickback.  Actually, I am a commercial and a residential real estate broker and so I accept commissions for a living.  But this one is free.

I just hope I can refer you a good agent.  Well, I will be in touch tonight.

You should drive around your property and look at for lease or for sale signs.  There's usually one or two dominant commercial company in the neighborhood.  I would approach them.  If you're still desperate, I can look at my CoStar for you and recommend some to you tonight, if you want.  Please contact me and let me know your   I don't have access to it right now because I am outside.

Clyde,

Have your broker go to CoStar and list the property.  It is free to list there.  CoStar's members are mainstream commercial agents whereas LoopNet's members are other than mainstream.  It costs ton of money to get a membership with CoStar and so most "part-timers" don't buy membership to CoStar.  One word of advise: please use a commercial agent when it's a commercial property.  You want to go to a foot doctor instead of a hand doctor when you have an issue with your foot.  In the commercial real estate world, there are mainly 5 different fields (retail, industrial, office, multifamily, and raw land), not just one as in the residential world.  Therefore, to narrow it down more, you need to find an agent who specializes in the warehouse (industrial) field.

I don't know where you property is and I don't know how it looks like; and so I am not talking about your specific property here.  But it is common for office warehouse to be vacant for a long time.  That's because industrial tenants look for price and convenience before location, location, location.  In addition, the combination of warehouse space and the office space has to fit with the tenant.  If a potential tenant likes your warehouse space and but don't like your office space, then you don't have a lease, and vice versa. 

Lastly, be flexible in TI (Tenant Improvement) you're willing to provide to your potential tenant.  That's another deal breaker.

Take any course.  They are all about the same.  I would recommend you take the in-class course, though.  The teachers will emphasize what's important.  You're going to miss that taking the online course.  Anyways, getting the license is not really important, assuming you're getting a license to have a career as an agent, and not getting a license to become an investor only.  The most important thing is getting a good broker who will teach you the ropes.  Good luck.

Welcome, Jeff.

Tim, congrats on your first rental.  I would definitely install a sprinkler system in DFW area.  You know what happens to the dirt in the DFW area if it is not watered properly.  I have several rentals and in my lease I have a special section that specifies the tenant water the lawn so many times per week depending on the season.  You are renting in order to build wealth and so you must protect your properties.  If you don't have a sprinkler system, the chance of your rental getting a foundation problem is inevitable.  If you have a sprinkler system, there is a chance that the tenants won't water the lawn as much but I will bet it will be more than if you didn't have a sprinkler system.

When you're leasing your house, don't be afraid to negotiate with the tenants so they will not damage the house as much.  If you think that the specific applicants to your house are going to ignore what's on the lease, then find someone else.  If you're using a Realtor to rent your house, instruct him/her not to take the first applicant but take the first good applicant.  I really feel bad for landlords when the Realtor take the first applicant.  Have pride in your home and accept only the people that will take care of your home or at least not damage as much.

There are so many ways to keep track if your tenant is watering the lawn or not.  One way is for you to offer paying 25% of the water bill.  This forces the tenant to show you the bill every month and you can determine if the lawn was watered adequately or not.

As for the current tenant, just ask them if you can install a sprinkler system so that they can just program it and forget about it.  This happened to one my investor clients.  My client installed the sprinkler system after the tenant moved in.  The tenant actually thanked my client because now they don't have to water the lawn by being out there for hours.  If your current tenant is not cooperative and is worried about extra $25 - $50 per month, this is what I would do.  I would pitch in $25 per month until they move out.  However, I will increase the rent by at least $25 (plus any increase you want) for the water when the current lease expires.  Again, there's a lot of different ways to protect your house and negotiate the lease - but protect your house!