All Forum Posts by: Jeff Keller

Welcome @Ashley Hernandez, I think you'll find there are ideas here that you don't hear discussed elsewhere very often.

A simple way to look at it is, can you invest money and get a return that is greater than the interest you would be paying on the mortgage? 

If you can and are content with the associated risk, putting the smallest down payment means you can use the money to make more money than it is costing you to "borrow" it.

Generally you want to be able to ride out any short term swings in an investment that is not very liquid. If the market and economy make a temporary swing in a bad direction are you going to be forced to sell at the bottom?

Hi @Alex Winder In Silicon Valley many of the cities have large numbers of townhomes being built. They typically share at least one wall and have an HOA. When we've had the rare one for sale which doesn't have an HOA, people are very interested. They sell for less than a single family home but they sell better than a townhome with an HOA.

If the home fits into the neighborhood and is well maintained, it could be a desirable property.

Buying an "un-inhabital" rental can be buying a big problem. A duplex with 4 units may have illegal conversions. If the city because of a complaint determines they don't meet code and are "un-inhabital" the tenants may not be obligated to pay rent. Due diligence for this du/four plex means extra diligence. It may be a good deal but investigate it carefully.

If you've got heavy CC debt, owning a rental with problems could be a disaster.

If the purchase offer doesn't have an expiration date you may want to cancel it and submit one with an expiration date. 

Your agent should be trying to figure out what is happening and working with you to decide what to do. An offer with no expiration may be stalled to see if a better offer can be negotiated. 

If the seller is out of town or the seller is actually several co-owners it may take them time to respond.

Welcome @Don Karunanayake. 10 years as a part time real estate agent is pretty surprising (unless you were helping a full time agent). Investing part time would seem easier.

Different states almost certainly have different laws. Generally a purchase contract is an agreement between people to do certain things. If one of them dies they can not carry out their part of the contract so the contract is void. Similarly if a tree falls on the house destroying it, the contract is void.

If escrow has closed, then the heirs inherit the proceeds from the sale not the right to sell it.

Talk to an attorney. Interfering with the rights of the heirs might cost you money.

You should be certain to have copies of the leases the previous owner had with them. Be certain to account for any security or last months rent deposits.

The tenants may be willing to sign a new lease to replace the old one if there is something in it for them. It may only take keeping the rent at the same level for the next 12 months. Often tenants are afraid the new owner will try to change everything. Telling them little will change may make them happy.

Asking a tenant to maintain a yard often doesn't work. They will say they will do it, then don't. Some tenants love gardening and may improve your yard. Probably one of the most successful things I saw a landlord do was to have a small vegetable garden at his multi-unit property. He came over every day to do a little maintenance on the garden and all of his tenants knew he was on top of what was happening.

I would agree with @Scott F. that you should use bait stations surrounding the house. To keep them away you need to eliminate their food sources. Here in Silicon Valley the rats eat snails that are common in ivy. Rats are very resourceful. Eliminate food sources and they will disappear otherwise you'll be at war forever.

Depending on the bait station, the rat may die out in the open. Neighborhood pets may eat the rat and become sick or die.

The bandwidth of a video feed from several cameras might be too much for your cellular connection. You might be better to use cameras with wireless internet to a cable connection you install somewhere on the property.

I've read reviews for cameras that are hard to reset if they loose their connection. I installed Ring Pro doorbell a house. It was very easy to install and has worked great. The technology is good enough at this point.