All Forum Posts by: Greg W.

I use Apartments.com and would potentially use Zillow. Apartments.com is around $40, charged to the tenant. You get credit score, outstanding loans and payment history on those loans, eviction history, etc. I've been pretty happy with it. Plus, they collect rent and it's free for the tenant and landlord. The rent takes 6 days to deposit, so they make money on the float, which I'm fine with since it doesn't cost me anything.

Lower the price to below the comparable units you looked at for reference by $25-50. You could follow-up with the people who have looked at it and get their thoughts on why they passed. If you don't have in-unit washer/dryer, no parking, no storage, don't allow pets, don't have a dishwasher, etc. those could all be reasons people have passed. Make up some of the lower rent difference with a $25-50/mo. pet rent or parking or something like that. Make sure their credit score requirement is 650, if it's a good area. I also require 3x monthly rent. But get someone in before it gets colder. Most rentals turn over in the spring so you may have to lower the rent now, make it a shorter- or longer-term lease to get you back to the spring cycle when there's a lot more people looking to move. Good luck!

To help more easily keep track of things, go to the bank and setup a business checking account using your LLC's EIN #. Make sure there are no minimums, transaction fees, etc. I use a basic WF business account. Then get a debit or a credit card (doesn't need to be a business cc) and run all of and ONLY your rental transactions through it. Keep it separate from personal things.

Create an Excel spreadsheet with one tab for income and the other for expenses. The expense categories the IRS allows are in IRS Publication 527 under the "Types of Expenses" heading. Tag all of your expenses as one of those. Most will be cleaning and maintenance.
Publication 527 (2024), Residential Rental Property | Internal Revenue Service All of the income and expenses on your spreadsheet should match the deposit and withdrawal dates in your bank account. Then you can upload this nicely organized spreadsheet to your CPA at year end. 

I do recommend using a CPA who is familiar with real estate, preferably owning their own. They don't need to be local, as you upload all of your documents. Make a list of questions and then interview a handful to determine who would be the best fit for you. Good luck!

Dylan, you are in a great market, invest there. Plus, I’m sure you know tradespeople and possibly realtors or property managers, so you already have the beginning of a team. You could do one of two things; 1) Start asking the property managers and realtors or landlords you are doing work for if they or anyone they know is looking to sell their property. Then buy it as owner occupied for a lower down payment or work out some type of seller financing. 2) By the crappiest house in the best area you can afford. Fix it up with your skills and contacts, wash, rinse and repeat in a year or so. The. You’ll have hopefully good tenants because you are in a good area and a fixed up place with very little maintenance for a long time. 
You will make your money on appreciation and maintain your property on the cash flow. Buy in a desirable area to hopefully get nice appreciation and have less headaches. 

The large university towns should ok moving forward, as in they will continue to attract students. The smaller directional schools and smaller colleges may be challenged. It’s demographics and the largest cohort of people, bigger than the baby boomers, are just finishing school. Now they will be looking to purchase homes and start families. There just aren’t enough people to fill all of the current small colleges and small universities. 

As for Iowa City, it’s a good market to invest in but, you said you may only be there for a short time. Will you be holding it and managing from afar when you move or will you sell? If you are going to sell, the buying/selling transaction costs will eat up any real profit/equity and the hold time is just too short. If you have a short hold period, wait to invest wherever you end up moving to. 

Not enough space for it. You could possibly make it into contractor or food truck parking. 

I agree with Jay,  unless there's land to expand, it may not be worth it. Could you buy adjacent lots if there's not land to expand? It sounds like the demand is there. You could try getting an SBA loan, which only requires 10% down. Bank5Nine offers them. The rate may be high but you could pay it down somewhat quickly.

Are you looking to make a career in RE investing? If so, it may make sense to look for a job in that field to gain experience on how to learn the ins and outs of the game such as evaluations, funding/lending and operations. On the side, you can house hack, as someone above mentioned. Buy in the best area you can afford. If you can stomach it, buy something that needs work where you can force the appreciation. Rinse and repeat after a year or so.

Are you building new or replacing existing? If replacing existing, you could go to the original company that built the building, which might be listed on a sign on the building. It could be Cleary, Trachte, etc. The Self Storage Association, selfstorage.org, also has a ton of vendors advertising in their magazine. My guess is, there are local builders in your area that do this too. You could contact other facilities in your area and see who they used.

Yes, 3-5% vacancy should be the norm. Check with Liberty SBF and Bank 5 Nine for loans and MiniCo and other local commercial insurance companies for options. Call other facilities and ask who they use for loans and insurance.