All Forum Posts by: Kevin Polite

@Joe Villeneuve I refinanced last year and appraisal came back at $240k, I owe $135K

My first rental is now 10 years old. When I first purchased and remodeled it was at a little higher standard then most in that area because I could see it was changing. It had a higher rent and usually rented in days. Fast forward 10 years and the competition has increased, but so have rents and values. It now takes a little longer to rent and the competition had granite counter tops with upgraded kitchens & baths. 
is it time to sell & put the money elsewhere, do some higher cosmetic upgrades or just let it be and have lower the market rent increases?

@Terri Dyer My third complaint has been filed today

If you are on their Rental30 program they won't send you a monthly statement unless you request one...each month. Why? Because you'll see fees that appear out of nowhere. Escrow being paid late. It's a nightmare. They have a 5 year pre-payment penalty, which is typical when loaned to a LLC, but I'm thinking of refinancing and paying the penalty just so I won't have to deal with them anymore.

I did do a couple of flips with them years ago and that actually went okay except at the closing. The closing attorney sends off the payoff to them and on 3 separate occasions took 4-5 hours to close. I almost lost a deal because the seller started to get nervous thinking he wasn't going to get paid.  

@Erica Jong just sent you a DM on who I use.

@Matthew Nicklin loaded in the sense that it’s like most answers to any real estate question “it depends” Basically saying there is no easy answer nor just one answer  and that the range would give him a general idea. Things like where you build, County regulations, lot cost, type of house 1 or 2 story, etc. amongst a host of others will ultimately determine the price. 

That’s a loaded question. Depends on if it’s a first time buyer profile, move up or luxury. Wide range is $100-$150 sqft. 

Suburbs is subjective. I got tenants in two different houses in Decatur because they didn't want to live in Midtown Atlanta anymore and decided a 3br house for the about the same amount of rent as a 1br apt with all the amenities was a good deal. I wonder how this will play out next year when, hopefully, things get back to some semblance of normalcy. 

You can buy up to 10 properties before you exhaust. Maybe not from the same bank. Remember you need keep reserves for emergencies and most banks require 3-6 months reserved per property when financing. 

@Riaz Salehbhai

Zillow is best but just started charging a few months ago $9.99/week. Best leads in Atlanta to me. Cozy is great for receiving rent and was just purchased by apartments.com so I suspect they will start charging. My guess apartments.com will try to beef up their SFR rentals. Cozy listings show up on Realtor.com, but for every 50 leads I get on Zillow I get 1 on Cozy. Tucker is a hot market now for flips