All Forum Posts by: Kevin Nalley

Great job, just be sure to screen those tenants well....  a bad tenant can cost you a year or more of profits.

Dan Wolf (Semonin), he's a friend, investor, and a real "Go Getter".   I will PM you his number.

@Jeff Cross, definitely send certified mail AND regular mail.  I have consulted with my real estate attorney on this matter before.  It doesn't matter If they fail to sign for it, you have proof that it was sent.  This is the same process I use for evictions.

Are you sure you want to terminate everyone at once instead of fixing it up unit by unit as tenants move out?   If your goal is to flip, perhaps I can see why you might do that, but if your strategy is buy and hold, let them stay and fix one at a time.  I had a friend who bought a 24 unit complex about 10 years ago, terminated all the leases, then couldn't afford to complete the remodel because he didn't have any rents coming in... SMH.

As to your question, you need to give a minimum of 30 days notice via certified mail, also send them a regular mail copy as a courtesy.  You would collect their rent on the 1st of the month, they would have until the end of the month to be out.  Rents are pro-rated and deposits are forwarded to you at closing.

Non members are $25 per meeting, members are $20.  It's catered, the food is always good :)

@Stephen Lewis I paid for many rehabs on credit cards, though I would do that as a last resort because your credit score will take a big hit if you start maxing them out.  Once the rehabs were done I was able to get a loan via River City Bank to pay off the cards because I had a property that was rented.   Take it slow, look for deals on Craigslist and Habitat.   I once bought a whole set of kitchen cabinets for $100, included the sink, faucet, etc... guy put in a new kitchen and got tired of the old stuff sitting in his garage :)

Some other thoughts for funding...

- Have a car that's paid for so you can get a loan on it again?
- Friends or Family?
- Credit Cards (last resort)?
- Bank line of credit?
- Crowd Funding?
- Borrow against your retirement account, another last resort tactic?
- Hard money lender?

Keep us posted and let us know how you do.  For $2k, was this a west end house?  If so, watch your budget carefully, those $2k houses sound like a good deal, but the cost to rehab them can be more than they are worth when you're done.  

If you're talking about KREIA, it's the last Thursday of each month.  http://kreia.com.  This months meeting looks like a good one to me, I will most likely attend.   You don't have to be a member to attend the meeting...

@Fred Helm, have you spoke with Jeanna Ashley over at River City Bank in Jeffersontown?  

@Stephen Lewis Various places, I bought a couple that were for sale by owner, two more from a company that bought bulk REO's from the banks, then the remainder on the MLS, but that's dried up.

I bought my first property in July 2009 for $6k, it was an estate sale and it needed a complete rehab, I ended up with way too much money into that property, but it was a great learning experience. Second property was a FSBO, an apartment building on Portland Avenue (across from the Portland Museum), a wholesaler had it under contract and was asking $35k, I ended up paying $17k, rents today for $1700. My best deal to date was a listing by Econohomes, they were advertising on Craigslist a 3 bed, 1 bath home on Market Street for around $15k. At the time, that did not sound like a deal but I looked anyways, turned out it was tri-plex and I negotiated them down to $8k. I had about $8k in repairs and I have it fully rented today for almost $1300.

I was fortunate enough to have another business that was surviving the recession when I started.  Banks were not loaning money during that time so I had to find properties I could buy for cash, thus I ended up with Portland properties.  I don't regret going that route but, if I could do it over again, I would have bought Germantown properties for a little more ($20k - $35k) which would have tripled in value, higher rents, and easier tenants.  

Hi Ian, I have 22 doors in Portland :)   There's lots of advice I can give you, but the single most important is, screen your tenants well, background, credit, etc.   Proper screening can make you or break you, especially in the Portland area.