All Forum Posts by: James R.

Also, I'm not sure you should view your tenants as intruders. If that's how you view them then maybe being a landlord isn't for you.

What does your lease say? Does it say no dogs or specify tenant may only have 1 pet cat? The lease is what all parties agreed to so hopefully you covered yourself; otherwise you may be SOL. 

If they are in violation of the lease then it's up to you and whatever laws your state has. You could evict, create a pet lease and charge for the dog, make tenant get rid of the dog if they want to stay, or request tenant break lease and leave without eviction. 

Rather than upset a good tenant and possibly break the law, why not deduct the $3600-$4800 in lost rent from the purchase price? Work with the seller and show him the numbers to justify the deduction. 

If you do purchase the property then you'll probably want to give the tenants a decent advanced notice of the intended rent increase so they aren't sticker shocked at renewal. If you want to keep them then you'll probably also need to justify the increase to them.

Replace HVAC filter. 

Check all plumbing for leaks. Verify water drains quickly. Flush toilets.  

Ensure all lights work inside and out. 

If you have an irrigation system make sure it is functional with no busted heads.  

Verify all windows and doors lock/unlock and open/close.

It is my understanding that the price you pay at sign up; cost minus any discount codes, is locked in as long as you keep renewing your membership.

I recently got the Pro membership using a discount code and it is money well spent. 

Keep it simple. 

I'm paying you $X as a down payment

I'm paying you $Y every month for however many years

I'm paying you $Z in total (Principal + Interest)

If they are interested then you can go into further details about interest rates, how a balloon works, etc.

A conventional mortgage will typically need 20% down. If you owner occupy you can get 3 or 3.5% down which makes this a good option if you can get a multifamily that you'd be willing to live in for a year and rent out the other units. The hard money lenders I've talked to will typically finance 75% of the loan plus rehab of your first deal. Once you build a relationship with them through multiple loans they'll increase the percentage up to the full amount.  Private money will have more flexibility but at a cost. You'll also need to gain their trust which will be difficult if you don't have a track record and aren't putting much of your own money in the deal.

As mentioned before Owner Financing can be good if available or you can find a partner.

If you find multiple good units then maybe you can negotiate a package deal for better pricing. Then sell of one or more of the deals to another investor in exchange for the down payment money needed on the other units. If all works out you get multiple units with little to no money out of pocket.

If you have money in a 401k you can take out a loan and pay yourself back with interest. You'll want a good cash on cash return to compensate for that money being temporarily pulled from the market.

I agree with Mark; look over the properties very closely.  Those package deals like to have 1 good property to get you excited and multiple junk units they want to offload. 

I think you should analyze the 12 properties and see how many are worth pursuing. After that you'll know how much money you need to come up with and can figure out a way to get it.

Have you given the tenant the option to break the lease and leave  immediately (1-2 days) on their own? This would save you time and money on an eviction and decrease the chance of damage to your property. Let the tenant know it is the best option for them so they don't have an eviction on their record.