All Forum Posts by: Jason Clark

Hi Everybody, 

I'm looking for some ideas/advice and wondering "what would you do" if you were in my position. This is for fun but I'm seriously looking at hitting the reset button for the next chapter of my life and I'm suffering analysis paralysis. I have too many options, to much equity, and not enough education or experience to feel comfortable making a decision. I'm hoping to bounce some ideas around to kick me out of this funk I'm in.

This is probably the third or forth time I've written this post over the past few months and I always delete it since I can't seem to word it in way that makes sense. I'm just going to blurt it all out and clarify any holes if there are any replies.

1. I'm a single guy, 41 years old, no wife no kids, I work in IT in the SF Bay Area but after 17 years I'm tired of it. I bought a rental SFR a few years ago that nets me $1400/mo. I paid 175 cash and it's worth about 230 now.

2. My primary residence has about 600k in equity so if I sell, which I'm considering, then I'm primed to take a big hit in cap gains taxes and fees and who knows what else that will eat up any buying power that I have.

3. I'm pretty much also tired of living in CA and would like to relocate out of state. I'm looking to move somewhere I can buy a couple of houses as rentals and something small for myself. I would then start the process of starting my own property management company as a new career.

My thinking is if I could have 2-3 rentals of my own (paid cash) and ~25 rental units to manage that over time of building the business I could live a pretty good comfortable life. I'm not trying to get rich I just want to enjoy life, ride my Harley, and go fishing every once in a while.

Areas I have looked at are Texas, Montana, and Tennessee (I really have my eye on Knoxville, not sure why). How cool would it be to work on a Business degree at UT while building my own PM business on the side and living on my rental income? It has my attention.

OK I'll shut up now. What do you think, am I crazy? If you had the chance to be in my shoes how would you approach your next move?

P.S. thanks in advance for any advice!

JC

Hi Andrew, my mistake, you're right I didn't notice the PDF was from the calculator. I can't offer any specifics but it seems you're doing your homework, keep it up. Although there is always the adage of when things are too good to be true that they usually are. Good luck!

The BP calculators are pretty great, they don't miss anything IMO other than the x-factor, tenants. Put all the numbers in the Calculator and you're 99% ahead of most other investors. Good luck!

Thanks Suzanne. The tenants do no have to pay extra or be a part of anything if they don't choose to. The donation comes from the rent as a personal donation from me so they don't pay more. Currently I make this donation but I don't make it part of my marketing. I was just thinking out loud if this would be a positive or negative for tenants to know a percentage of their rent goes to good causes. Thanks again. Have a good week everybody.

Hey everybody, I'm just thinking out loud here so bear with me if I don't make much sense. I'm just trying to capture some thoughts before they escape this mindtrap brain of mine.

I'm a small time side biz investor, only have 3 doors right now (1 SFR, 1 duplex) but I'm enjoying the process of it all and hoping to grow over time. Down the road I've been thinking of doing some house hacking by purchasing SFR, moving in and doing rehab, buy & hold, BRRRR method, eventually a 4 plex, and then on to the next one. Nothing new there.

Recently I was watching some Tony Robbin's vids and in one of them he talked about the 6 basic human needs that all people need to feel complete:

1. Certainty

2. Variety

3. Significance

4. Connection

5. Growth

6. Contribution

An interesting point he made was that with #6 Contribution, that it alone can meet all of the other 5 needs. This got my wheels turning because currently I donate a portion of each tenants rent to a non-profit organization that my sister runs; they mentor teen moms in the central valley of California. I told my tenants that when they first moved in but it got me thinking that maybe I should market that more and possibly it would give them the sense of contribution as well. I could invite them to fundraisers or mail them info on how their rents helps these kids etc. Not sure yet of the how.

My theory is it will give my tenants the certainty to know that their rent is used/contributed for a good cause. The variety to know they are helping various women and children in their own community. Significance to know their rent helps others and they are needed. The connection and love they are sharing could lead to their own personal growth as a person. This all then helps me meet my ultimate goal of having happy tenants who pay their rent on time and stay long term.

Yea I feel a little pie in the sky right now, kinda like when a college kid thinks laying in the street is really going to hurt those evil Wall Street bankers but reality eventually smacks him in the face and he has to get a job like everybody else. I'm hoping I'm closer to having an impact than getting railroaded by reality but figured it couldn't hurt to toss the idea to the wind and see what the masses think. Am I too new to feel jaded?

Down the road if I start this business I will need to have a vision statement and I'm hoping to find a way that I can incorporate my tenants needs to contribute along with mine in one big happy happy joy joy symbiotic love fest. I dunno, I think I drank too much coffee today. Happy Friday everybody!

Great post Jason. Thanks for sharing your story. Maybe we will cross paths one of these days, until then keep at it!

The latest example came from a text saying that he fixed an electrical issue and was taking $150 off rent. No receipts, just an arbitrary number he made up in his head. It's always something though. I did not reply to the text instead I called right away to talk about it and planned to meet the next day. 

When we met I noted that moving forward I will not reply to text (from anybody) and that all discussions moving forward will be via phone or email. If we have a phone conversation I will follow up with an email saying, "Just to confirm the conversation we had today we agreed that fill-in-the-blank". I want a record of everything from now on.

That brings up another question, is text considered a legal document? Since it's not possible to save text how can they be saved for reference other than taking 100 screenshots and saving images?

I wish I lived in a landlord friendly state. Over the years I've heard so many horror stories about CA that I wonder if the lease is worth the paper its printed on. 

As for the work part it's fun but it's been challenging starting out on my own. I don't have anybody other than BP and the search function here to answer my questions so I'm learning as I go. So far I've had a tenant die the day after Christmas (a smoker) which cost me $2k to renovate his unit, another tenant sneak people into the house unapproved, constant lies, and the famous one guy always scheming to get out of the rent. 

But overall since I started this I gotta say I do enjoy it as a side biz. The advice about not getting emotional makes sense of course, I just wish it wasn't so difficult to actually do. Thanks again everybody, this has been a fun thread to follow.

Thanks for the words of encouragement everybody! Thankfully the discussion was not heated in any way. I kept it very calm and so did the tenant, sort of matter-of-fact discussion stating this is the lease and you agreed to the terms, etc. This guy is always trying to find ways to get out of the rent which is the annoying part. The condescending message from his kid is what got under my skin but I stood by the lease and went from there. It ended on good terms but the anxiety before just really bothered me. I wish it didn't bother me, maybe in time I'l get better at this and lose less sleep. Thanks again everybody.

This is just a minor vent session but I got my first taste of real world landlord work this past weekend. And not the good kind. Not the "retire by 40 and travel the world" kind but more of the "your tenant will try and do everything possible to get out of paying rent" kind. With all of the legal BS I see on this forum that many of you go through I know this is nothing in comparison but it still shows the actual work that goes into this business.

For the last few months I have had a tenant that has been nothing but a headache and this past weekend I had to finally schedule an in-person visit to deal with the situation. Long story short is I used the signed lease to say "you agreed here and here and here" and had to threaten eviction. That was not easy but it had to be done.

The night before this whole blow up I was at a church function and got a snide rude text about the rent from my tenant's son. It made me so mad it completely ruined my evening. Instead of enjoying the party I was furious. That night I didn't sleep well and kept waking up pissed off which didn't help my mood when it came time to meet. 

I'll shut up now but I gotta ask all of you who have been at it a long time, how do you deal with difficult tenants? Do you still get anxiety when knowing you'll be facing a confrontation? Hopefully after getting some years under my belt I'll get better at this but the good news is I stood my ground and left with rent in my hand.

Thanks in advance for any replies.