All Forum Posts by: Matthew Whitaker

Hey @Stefan Abel,

Just a few questions you may have already considered . . .

1. Are you putting any value on the time you are spending working on the project?
2. If you need to make a trip here, are you going to include those expenses as part of the project?
3. What happens if you don't make any money?  Perhaps lose money?  Are your parents ok with that?  If you are putting the money in and you lose some, how do you split what you do get?
4. Who makes the decisions on what the house will sell for? i.e. you get an offer, who has negotiating rites?
5. I know it is your parents, but how do you know if you'll get the money?  Say something crazy happens to your parents (sorry to be morbid) and your sister/brother isn't aware or doesn't care about your agreement.
6. Who is going to be checking up on the contractor doing the work?

All I can think of for the moment.  Hope at least one of them helps.

mw

Hey Jeremy, I wouldn't overcomplicate your business.  I would move in the direction of simplification and insurance unless you have acquired some incredible personal net worth.

I used to have an attorney as a partner.  He was a huge believer in this strategy.  If you get sued, the attorney on the other side is typically only after the insurance policy.  

Assuming you don't have a huge personal net worth, why would he/she (i.e. the attorney) spend a whole bunch of extra time to bankrupt you?  They make almost no money in that instance.

If you've ever been sued and I have, you'll realize that it is a huge game among attorneys.

Certainly, you are taking on some risk in simplification, but I believe it to be a risk worth taking versus all the other admin costs you will incur to protect yourself wholly.

Traci, I totally agree with @Paul Barbeau and @Robert Leonard above. You are on the right track when you are thinking of "working for free" to gain experience.

I always tell new college graduates to consider this.

Just think what your personal value would be today if you had taken this advice from 22-24?  

There are very few succesful people who wouldn't take you up on this offer.  And, the money you "give up" will be peanuts compared to what you will learn and the delta on your future you.

I think it's a great idea.

Best of luck!

I agree with both @Mike McCarthy and Aidan above.  As an investor you have to treat the home like a business.  Treating it like a business forces you to think objectively and do things because they are the right thing to do even if they are hard.

One of the hardest things to do is separate the emotion of them not paying rent, with your obligations as a landlord.  As Aidan eloquently put it above, they are unrelated.

Best of luck with this.  This is very common in rental investing and if you do it long enough, separating the emotion will become like second nature.

Hey @Patrick Welteroth,

Zillow is by far the highest driver of leads in the rental property space.  As someone mentioned above, they post to a few other outlets as well.

SOME markets have a huge Craigslist following, but we've found that to be very market specific and changes drastically from market to market.

Apartments.com drives a fair amount of leads.  And depending on who would rent it, Gosection8.com is a great source.

Last thought, not mentioned above, is Facebook. 

Best of luck finding good ones.  Biggest piece of advice is to make sure you screen them!

mw

Hey @Nicholas Groover , congrats on getting into investing!  I'm happy to connect.  Funny thing is I purchased my first house when I was 23 years old.  In fact, I still own it.  

Hey Al,

We are actively purchasing property management companies and I agree with Tracy's advice.  There are a number of factors that could move that needle up or down though.  Customer concentration, lack of systems, etc.  

You are welcome to pm me if you have any specific questions.  We've learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes, and finally figured some things out that could probably help!

mw

@Alex Craig

My only advice would be to not wait till the lease is up to switch managers. If you are already having problems, they typically only exacerbate the longer you wait. 

@Alex Craig I appreciate your 3 points of advice.  At gkhouses, we have 3 "Uniques" that tells people how we are different:

1.  We don't hire property managers - mostly because most property managers are failed sales agents.

2.  We communicate using uncomfortable transparency - looking at you Alex.

3.  We celebrate the tenant.  Who else spends $1,000 per quarter on their tenants who are doing things the right way?  Paying rent, keeping the house up, etc.

I'm biased to gkhouses, mostly because I own it.  But I'll tell you there are some other awesome managers here in Birmingham as well.

@Derrick Simmons , I'd suggest going to the investor meetup.  There is a local investor named J Benoit who puts it on.  Google search "J benoit meetup" and you will find the details.  There are all sorts of people there. You should meet J, Bryan Miles, Todd Murphy, Merv Plank and Jarrod Cook.  All these guys know what they are doing and would love to help out.

mw

@Derrick Simmons , 

My suggestion would be to find someone who has done it before who is willing to help you.  There are a number of local investors who still invest, but spend a portion of their time teaching others how to do it. 

m