All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Styer

@Remington LymanA gas leak is an emergency and hopefully your lease allows you to enter without 24 notice due to emergency. You own the property and have the right to access the property for health and safety reasons. If you need to drill out the locks to enter you have that right as long as you provide the tenants with a key - which is not ideal when they are in the process of being evicted. 

@Joseph Sapyta No problem, happy to help. Let me know if you have any more specific questions. 

The answer is a cash out refi and quit claim to your LLC. This is a pretty standard practice in REI although may not be exactly kosher with your lender. You can pull out your cash and get your home into your LLC.

Let me ask you though, why do you want your SFH in an LLC? An umbrella policy is just as good and can cut out some of the headaches.

@Elijah Householder My vote is house hack all the way. If you buy a SFH to rent out, you're still going to need a place to live and that costs money. You will be able to leverage your cash better house hacking as long as the deal is right. Good luck sounds like you've got your mind in the right place!

@Svend W. It will vary from lender to lender. I would start by making a list of smaller or portfolio lenders in your area and spend an afternoon making phone calls and explaining your situation. You will learn a lot. 

Congratulations Matthew! I wish you great success. Your first true investment will be scary so don't back away from a good deal if the numbers are there, trust them. 

Check Illinois law. I know in Ohio this would be considered a constructive eviction and is a sizeable no no. 

@Jake Lowman Congrats on your first deal! I wish I started out house hacking. Hold onto it and let it appreciate and move into your next one. You will be cashflowing in no time. 

@Joseph Sapyta Makes sense, every investor is different. I can tell you my personal strategy for reserves is I like to hold $2,500 per door that I have. I generally have pretty good units so repairs are not really a big issue for me but I like to stay conservative. As I increase the number of doors I may reduce this number over time. 

A more direct answer, assuming you do not have any delayed maintenance issues find out what the cost of major repairs will run in your market (roof, HVAC, etc.) and hold enough to cover that. In my market $5-6k should cover a roof and I can get a full HVAC system installed for just under $5k. I would feel very comfortable if I had $7,500 reserved owning a duplex incase I ran into a major maintenance issue or larger unit turn. 

Any other questions let me know. Thanks!

@Doris Moore Many leases will go month to month after an initial period of time, usually a year. This is pretty standard in many markets and it puts some flexibility into the situation. Basically either party can end the contract with a 30 day notice. As an investor this can be beneficial if the rent is below market and you want to raise it upon acquiring the property. Or if you need to give notice to the tenants for whatever reason (rehab, poor upkeep, etc) it will only take 30 days verses however much is left in their lease. 

If the tenant is good and you want the security you always have the option to renew at the same or higher rent. Hope this helps!