All Forum Posts by: Jack Inman

I’m curious to hear if rental assistance programs in other cities are operating in the same manner …. In Memphis the rental assistance program is a federally funded and offers to settle tenant account balances with landlords who are in the process of evicting tenants. Ex - If a tenant owes 8 months in back-owed rent, the program will pay that rent to the landlord, and the landlord would in turn have to drop the eviction suit and bring the tenant’s balance to zero. Originally, if a landlord rejected the settlement offer, then the tenant would be evicted for nonpayment of rent, and the settlement program would not pay out the amount to anyone.

Recently they implemented a new tactic – if the landlord rejects the settlement offer, then that settlement offer is paid directly to the tenant to be used towards finding new housing. The tenant is paid in proportion to how many months of rent they owe the landlord. It seems crazy that tenants who aren’t paying their rent are now being given checks for the dollar amount of rent that they didn’t pay. If a tenant didn’t pay rent for 10 months and accumulated 14k in rent, the program cuts the tenant a check for the 14k. And the program specifically tells these tenants not to use the money to pay back the landlord, but rather to use it on finding new housing.

I know some property management companies around town are refusing to settle with the program, because the program only pays contract rent amount and not late fees. Many property management companies keep 100% of late fees and aren’t willing to forgo that revenue stream. So, make sure make sure your property manager isn’t turning down settlement offers because if your property manager turns down the offer, the rental assistance program will just pay the money to your delinquent tenant.

Interested to hear if other cities are following a similar strategy.

@Sam Warrick Like @Caleb Heimsoth said, you'll likely get the most money by selling them individually. I'd recommend listing them on the MLS with an agent who specializes in investment properties. If you tried to sell them as a bulk package then that would limit the number of potential buyers. And, if you sell without listing the properties publicly then you might not get top dollar.

@Amy A. If you're looking on loopnet then you're probably seeing mostly multifamily. Most of those are in rougher parts of town with higher vacancy rates. Memphis is known more for single family home investing. 

@Darren Crawford Does the seller have written leases in place? I suspect tenants in the 450-500/month range are going to have a relatively high eviction rate. But 30k per door isn't bad. Depending on the condition of the property, it may be a great deal. Keep us posted!

@Lena Davis the most commonly avoidable mistake that I see out-of-state investors make is over-paying for a property. Regardless of who you choose for your team, always check nearby sales when you're considering a property. If you're considering Turnkey @Andrew Akins has my vote. 

@Sarah Jones What part of Memphis were you from? There are a few areas with duplexes that are of decent quality; 38115 has a few spots with decent duplexes. Small multifamily that's larger than a duplex is hard to find. The triplexes and quads that I've seen have been in mostly rough areas. There are plenty of single family properties!

@Evan Balsis as far as property management goes - Cristina Hammers with CB Properties is always willing and happy to sit with investors to go over property management in Memphis. She's got a portfolio of her own, and manages around 600-700 homes in the area. 

@David Bates I'm no expert on LLC's but, in Tennessee at least, creating an LLC is so easy and inexpensive that it probably wouldn't hurt to have a separate LLC for each state that you operate in. In some states you would have state level income tax, however, in TN there is no state income tax.

@Jonathan Beaumont Your money could go a long way as 20% down payments in the Memphis market. You could easily get two solid rental properties at 70-80k a piece that would bring in significant cash flow. 

@Dwayne Jones Have you thought about doing any kind of rent-to-own or lease purchase agreements?

I talked to a lady in the Berclair neighborhood where she rehabs very small/cheap homes using her own cash, and then takes out a private loan once they are rehabbed. The private loan allows her to get all of her money back out of the project, and then she does a lease to purchase agreement with someone who couldn't qualify for traditional financing. So, she gets her money back from the private loan, and then gets a down payment from the tenant/buyer, and makes a little each month from the arbitrage between her private loan and the monthly note that the tenant/buyer is paying. I don't know what kinds of rates she gets, but it's an interesting tactic.