All Forum Posts by: Hoi L.

When we were under contract for our multi-unit property 3 years ago, each of the 5 tenants were paying ~25-30% below market rates.  Prior to closing on the property, I requested the seller to raise their rents ~8% prior to my taking over it.

In the subsequent 3 years, I had increased rent ~1-2% ABOVE annual average rent increases for the neighborhood and now we are only ~3-5% below market.  These inherited tenants have all been there 20, 15, 10, 5, 3 years.  Funny thing is, if we didn't inherit them, they would not have qualified to rent from us (usual credit scores, 3x gross month income, etc).  They pay on time 90% of the time.

Since he is a college student, 3x income to rent ratio won't necessary work right?  He would require a co-signer, most likely a parent, who will have to supplement his monthly allowance. etc.  College student hopefully would have school loans and parents' help to rent an apartment since they wouldn't have a job paying $5,100/mo.

Is the $2,500/mo loan/work?  Or just work study/part time employment not counting loans/family?

I would not rent to this individual.  Plenty of paying tenants who wouldn't steal and not own it when caught.

Agree with Nathan.  Jobs that started less than 2 weeks ago and barely make your income requirement for rent.  In my own experience, when a tenant needs 2 jobs (not 2 people have 1 job each) just to make rent standards will ensure frequent repeated late rent payments.

Consistent long paying jobs and income history is more indicative of stable rent collections.

Keep looking.  

My multi-unit tenants pay for electric but not gas. Even though gas is very cheap, calculations have shown that since this multi-unit is a long term investment, I upgraded my tenants' unit once gas range requires replacement and I paid for the 240V upgrade. ROI is long (close to 10 years) but no longer do I have to worry about "gas smell" and I don't have to worry about the ever rising utility costs.

@Will Fraser

Thank you for your recommendation.  We ended up going with Heil because it is build by the same company as Carrier and Bryant.  The installer provides a better warranty and that is probably even more important I found learned from research.

Thanks!

-Hoi

I had an extremely high water bill month to one of my SFH outsidepf Philadelphia. I texted the tenant and found out the toilet was running. They fixed it. If they don't address the issue, I would've capped monthly water allowance and would bill back to tenants with proof from the water bill.

My 100 yr old 5-plex is being insured at $3,700.  So your quote is not too far off.  It was found by my insurance broker that is my longterm insurance broker for my primary residence and multiple-cars.

We chose 30-yr fixed rate DSCR loans in our last 2 SFH properties due to having them owned by our LLC and do not want the risks of being called by the banks or the rates skyrocketing. The 1% higher rate is worth the steady payments in our opinion, since the properties are still generating positive cash flows at the higher rates.

However, once the recent rises of rates throughout all loans, the multi-unit property we last purchase came from family loans with 100% cash paid. Once the higher rates do not allow for (+) cash flows, we stopped looking at DSCR loans.

@Stephanie P. has been a great resource and provided me with the best package prior to us choosing family loan/cash deal.