All Forum Posts by: James Bynum

Thanks for the replies, the apartments are up higher, they also look like trailers but they aren't. They have a concrete pad which we realized when we did the shower. So I don't know if there is like a foot of concrete above the ground or if there is a concrete base and something else underneath. It has stucco to the ground so it's hard to tell. I don't know how to investigate this further.

Another reason I am inquiring is because we are debating on installing a coin operated washer and dryer on the premise because our water bill for 3 units is over $300 a month and I am guessing a lot of that is because two of the units have washers and dryers.

So if they can still do their laundry while giving us a little extra money or at least evening the price out that would be the ultimate solution, but if the shared water would still be an issue then this would obviously become a problem if the tenants electric bills start to go up.

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately there is no way to lock the dumpster. There are about 7 other dumpsters along the alleyway and we would have to make sure it was unlocked before the trash truck came even if we could lock them. 

For some reason it appears that our dumpster is the only one that gets filled to capacity every time. I'm pretty sure I saw the next door neighbor dumping construction trash in my can instead of his. He may be the main culprit in this.

I have an issue and I have absolutely no idea what to do about it. We have a dumpster in an alleyway behind our triplex. Problem is the dumpster is full less than 2 days after the trash is emptied. I know it's not our tenants and there is trash all over the alley.

Does anyone else in phoenix have an alleyway dumpster? It's in a small alley and there are about 8 dumpsters along the path so I can't build a fence around it or anything. I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what to do about it.

We are starting to do our own marketing to try and find homes and even offering $1,000 to any bird dogger that brings us a property that we close on. It's really tough especially starting out to find good deals. The wholesalers we work with are somewhat new to the area but backed by a larger company, so they bring some decent deals our way from time to time.

I agree with @Dennis Boboc that the lists suck! Any good deal is snatched up within days. Luckily this company saw from the get go that we are serious investors and willing to jump at a good deal, so we are closer to the top of their list.

I've also learned quickly that there are a TON of HORRIBLE wholesalers in this industry, especially Phoenix. It is horribly frustrating to waste my time everyday looking at potential "Money Makers" that are advertised and half of the base prices are $20,000 over the comps, not including the way under-priced remodel it needs.

Thanks @Andres Rossini, it's in the Ahwatukee area off of the loop.

@Account Closed I always make sure they have access to the internet and a bank account before I talk to them about using smartmove. Otherwise I would collect the money first.

I didn't realize I can do background without a SSN, I'll have to look into that. Thanks!

So my parents bought a tri-plex in December and have had nothing but problems with it. One unit went vacant for a couple months without our knowledge (I know, newbie mistake.) We had to do a ton of repairs and now its on the market ready to rent.

It's been on the market for about a month, and I have had probably over 200 inquiries on it. I've shown it probably 30 times, and I have had about 7 fill out applications. About 3 on paper have met my criteria but when I send them a request from smartmove to do the background check, poof, they vanish. It is a really low income area in Phoenix, and we are trying to get $600 / month for a 2 bedroom, and nobody has told me they think it's too high, but I'm starting to get a little frustrated and deciding if I need to tweak my requirements or if I'm doing something wrong here.

I've done everything I can think of before I actually meet the renter. I even set up a phone system that before they can actually reach me they have to listen to my minimum requirements, so I think that's helped weed out a lot of people, but is this just a patience thing. With that many responses I thought that thing would be rented out in a week.

Another problem I'm running into is a lot of the applicants aren't citizens and don't have a Social Security number (SSN). Does anyone else here have to work around that problem?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. 

@Franky Juwana We actually found the wholesaler through our local REIA group, they have a pretty large one here in Phoenix which is nice.

@Bill Hinshaw I will admit we definitely spent to much, we topped out a little over $30,000 with rehab and holding costs. It was a 1,480 sq ft house and it was almost completely cosmetic, we did touch up some cracks in a couple walls, but I did that myself which was pretty easy. They are original cabinets, we buffed them with some beeswax and they turned out great.

We are working on our next flip which as it turns out is directly behind the house we just flipped. We were looking to get approval from neighbors to put up a wall between the properties because that was the major complaint we heard when we were trying to sell it. Turns out, they were trying to sell too and trying to figure out how much money they were going to have to spend to be able to sell it. We made them a cash offer 2 days later and they accepted. 

We are about half way through the remodel now, but are seriously behind schedule. This one is a little more extensive, we are putting in all new windows and doors, a new roof, new water heater, knocking out a couple walls and still the full cosmetic makeover.

Thanks so much Brandon, so what your saying is having 3 LLC's, my parents and I would set ours up as an S Corp and then we both loan funds to the main LLC?

Did I understand that correctly.

I don't have very many before pictures because we lost the memory card. Stuff happens, but we bought a home from a wholesaler in a retirement community and spent about 2 months updating practically everything, going way over budget. (Lesson sort of learned.) Sat on the market for over 3 months which was a little scary, but just finally closed a couple weeks ago. Made about $13,000, so for a first flip I think we did OK.

Check out the photos and let me know what you think,

https://pix.sfly.com/Moaz0X