All Forum Posts by: Greg Moore

@Charlie MacPherson

I can’t argue with your numbers, or dispute your expertise as a professional seller of real estate. I can say, however, that data+machine learning will beat out human computation. Personally, I think that time is now, and those that don’t see it that way also don’t see the meteor speeding toward Earth. Zillow - love ‘em or hate ‘em - are sitting on mountains of data with sophisticated algorithms. All of that data+ML will continue to make its predictions untouchable by Homo Sapiens.

I come at this from the buyer/investor perspective and I’m continuously annoyed at having to pay a ridiculous amount of money (and time) for an Appraiser to tell me the market price that is within a few dollars of what Zillow told me it was before I ever decided to buy the property! From the investor side, this Appraiser thingy feels like a job that is ripe for transformation and automation.

#indatawetrust

Nice!  Thanks @Amy Aziz.  I was not aware of any of these.  

I love great tech tools that help me do my job more effectively and in less time.  If you have any tools that help you do a better job of landlording (especially long-distance), or property management, or analyzing deals, I'd love to know about them.  The whole category of "#PropTech" aims to improve the experience for both landlord and tenant.  That can only be a good thing.  

A few I've come across:

• rentometer.com and the pro tools on BP are fantastic
• LeaseHawk.com for multifamily
• SmartRent.com for property managers
  

@Lukas Zupan

I was learning some of the tough lessons Real Estate investors have to learn when they are 1) uneducated, and 2) don’t analyze deals properly.

My first Multifamily investment turned upside down when the contractors misappropriated our investor money. I had not read the contract closely enough to realize I was in 2nd position, and thus my money was gone. A few months later, I had to get rid of my first rental SFH. It wasn't renting and I had not planned on that scenario. Yep- I was that dumb when it came to RE investing. But those lessons have served me well. Took a few years to recover, but I'm back in the game and much wiser!

@Justin Polston

My PM has been tough on their vetting of qualified tenants.  (They usually bring me 2-3 with their recommendation for their top pick.)  They have been highly accurate in their monthly rent recommendations striking for the 98% level of market rates that keep the units competitively priced and fully occupied (again, only missed one month in 12 years during a new tenant coming in); and their property manager communicates effectively with all parties (Tenant, contractors, and myself).  Having lived overseas for the bulk of the 12 year period, it was wonderful not having to worry about anything.

@Justin Polston

My PM is THE BEST! I'm in my 12th year of having them rent out my properties, and to-date they have only missed one month's rent during a tenant change. I just wished they were licensed here in Florida. I haven't found a quality PM here. If any of you need a good PM in Northern VA, let me know. I'd be happy to refer you!

@Nathan G.

I didn’t think of the numbers correctly (as a positive cash-flow rental income property). I figured “close enough” was good enough in a tough market. And hey, the house will appreciate while someone is ‘almost’ covering the costs. If you stick with a property where the numbers aren’t right, it limits your ability to invest in other properties. And it takes a looooong time of increasing rent by 3%-5% to catch up to my sloppy math that could have been addressed at the time of negotiating the price and structuring the deal. I view it was my “idiot tax”. If I had more RE Investor education, I wouldn’t have made the mistake(s)!

@Nathan Shankles

Robert Kiyosaki has one of his experts address this topic in The Real Book of Real Estate. My summary of understanding is if it's just your name on the mortgage, and just your name on the LLC, then this is just transferring an asset from you to your LLC, and would not (should not) trigger any clauses ("Due on Sale" etc.) because you are still 100% responsible for all the terms of your mortgage, because your LLC received the asset and the mortgage ‘as-is.' If I had the book with me I'd tell you the chapter and experts name. But he was clear: don't let your bank bully you into believing you have to pay anything different than if you kept the mortgage in your name. He was firm in his view that even though the banks make threats and pretend to prohibit the transfer, they have no ability to act for the reasons I stated previously. This stood out for me because I'm about to do the same (transfer my rental to my LLC). Good luck!

@Scott Mac

Thanks Scott! This is a great idea I hadn’t thought of. Much appreciated!

@Michael Doherty

Thanks for the details and numbers. It’s a great story. Congrats!

I have two questions:

- Can you say more about your choice of flooring? Is this the right level for rental? Would you have considered actual hard wood floors for a more durable flooring? Or is that too much $ to make the numbers work?

- I’m also curious what you chose for countertops, and whether you had similar “guidelines” for rental-grade?

I’m about to rehab a rental and want to make sure I neither under nor over invest.

Thanks!