All Forum Posts by: Jacob Sampson

No problems in my market.  My worry would be you are buying a newly remodeled property as an investment.  You are likely going to be paying too much for it to be a good investment.

Im not sure what would make a state better for under 20 vs over 20 multi units but Kansas is a very landlord friendly state.

I am an investor not a gambler.  Bitcoin is gambling.

I consider myself an investor.   Bitcoin is not an investment, it is gambling.  

Agreed.  Landlording 101 - don't let their problems become your problems.

One thing you could try is to not do a 12 month lease just do a month to month.  That way if they can't pay you aren't booting them for lack of payment you are simply giving them notice that their tenancy is up.  Not sure about your states rules but mine still allows evictions for reasons other than back owed rent.  So for example, I could evict for drug use and I can evict if they don't leave after receiving my 30 day notice.

The only counter point I would add is that this discussion is always had as an all or none.  Not having a PM doesn't mean you are the one snaking a drain.  I have a part time lady who answers calls and texts, and shows properties for $15 and hour.  I generally cut her a check for $100 to $150 a month.  I also have a maintenance contractor that runs his own crew.  The two of them are essentially running 90% of my business for me.  And I am not paying anywhere near what a PM would charge.

My main point is that it isn't an all or nothing game.  Proper process and contacts can make self managing pretty dang simple and I have 44 units.

Couldn't agree more.  Develop the right process and contacts and its no big deal at all.

Couldn't agree more!  For me I detest PMs.  They are either expensive and horrible at their job or they are just expensive.  Additionally, with the most minimal of teams it is so little effort to manage the properties yourself.

I have a full time job and am not handy at all and am still able to self manage my 44 units.  I have a strong maintenance contractor who has his own team and I have a stay at home mom who answers calls, texts, shows properties, and communicates with my maintenance guy.  She spends a total of 5-10 hours a month on her tasks (I pay her $15 so somewhere less than $150 a month) and I spend 5 hours a month doing book keeping, paying bills, and running our weekly 15 minute call used so that all involved can touch base and to ensure things are running as expected.

Super easy!

That is fair @Zack Karp, I was mostly responding to the question in the title.  To me, I simplify things.  Good debt earns me money bad debt costs me money.  Meaning, if I take out a loan at a 100% interest rate but I earn all that interest back and more then it is good debt.  If I take out a loan at a .05% interest rate but in the end I spent more on it than I earned, it was bad debt.

And I would say most personal homes are bad debt by my definition.  And I think if people viewed it that way they would be less likely to get in over their heads with their personal mortgages.  I think many people buy too much home and justify it by saying, "well its a lot of debt, but it is good debt."

Interested in your counter.