All Forum Posts by: Jeff Keller

For Blue Island take a look at pg 33 

http://www.blueisland.org/wp-content/uploads/Blue-...

Hi @Account Closed ... which city are you looking at?

Some areas like Silicon Valley have published reports available (Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies) which I suspect sell info to local companies. Local newspapers can sometimes be a good source but rarely a quick source of info.

I often look for the city's "comprehensive financial report" (put out by the city itself) which lists major employers. If you look back through old ones you can sometimes see changes.

You would almost surely have to refinance. The property the loan is made on determines the risk. By separating the properties if the existing loan was only backed up only one of the properties, the loan to value would be much higher perhaps even higher than the property was worth.

To get two loans at the same time you would probably have to work with a single lender who would loan money on both properties simultaneously.

I'm not in the Houston area but I'm very happy with online classes. I originally used a well known local online class provider but for my renewal used free classes offered by a provider who had an arrangement with our local board of realtors. For me the online practice tests were helpful. Studying when I feel like studying which is possible with online classes makes it much easier.

You might want to check with your local board of realtors and see if there are any online class providers that they have a relationship with.

Prospective tenants will want to view the property. If showing the property will interfere with the renovation or prospective tenants can't get a good impression of the property, wait until the renovation is further along.

Sometimes out of area people will start looking ahead of time. They need to know where they are moving to. Showing the property before it is available can get good results.

How long it takes varies both with the current rental market and how your property is priced relative to the competition.

Unless your purchase contract specified the seller would turn over an empty home, it is your responsibility. I can't imagine the seller hid the fact that the home was inhabited. A purchaser has to deal with what is obvious unless a written agreement specifies otherwise.

Realistically the seller has no motivation to get the tenants out once escrow has closed. Focus your efforts on getting them out and forget about going after the seller.

Try to understand what drives the local economy. Some areas are very dependent on a couple large companies leading to swings in prospects. Some areas are very dependent upon recreation and have large swings with the overall economy.

Since 2010 many companies have had slow but positive growth. Did people move away because they thought local industries would never recover or because they could find better work right away if they moved. A population decline for the last 6 years is something that should be understood before investing.

If you are intelligent about what you do, you could probably live in a "not so good" neighborhood and be surprised how nice it is. Often residents of "not so good" are more helpful and considerate than people living in the top neighborhoods who want the world to know how special and entitled they are.

Try to pay attention to who your neighbors will be and what type of traffic goes through the neighborhood.

From a strictly investment standpoint, in Silicon Valley, lower rated neighborhoods and lower rated homes tend to have more volatile prices. You could go to my website and compare Palo Alto and East Palo Alto.

Your local MLS probably has categories for both SFH and Multi-Unit. A real estate agent may want to enter a property under whichever category is likely to result in the best sale or even try to enter it into multiple categories. You probably need to watch both categories to not miss something that would be of interest.

In Silicon Valley you would often want to enter different criteria for different cities. Prices vary dramatically by city and even neighborhood. Some cites have essentially no multi-unit homes.

For a Silicon Valley example go to MLSListings.com (the local MLS). Click on the "Residential drop down".

The first step would be to tell your agent you want to schedule a meeting with her to resolve problems with how she is marketing your property. You want to focus on what needs to be done rather than assigning responsibility. Tell her the pictures need to be better. The sign is not being kept up. Point out examples of better pictures. Tell her you want to receive a weekly status from her.

If your agent fails to do anything, contact her broker and tell her broker you had a meeting with your agent already, and the results are not satisfactory. Ask him if he will assign another agent or if he will cancel the listing agreement. Most likely the broker will want to talk with your agent before making any commitment about what he will do. 

Keep a simple log of what is wrong (sign down etc.), what was done to fix the problem, and email it to both your agent and her broker on a regular basis. Pictures are nice but not necessary. Don't make your log a series of accusations but rather a simple statement of events which show your property is not being marketed appropriately. I can't imagine either an agent or a broker who will not respond to a methodical log of problems.

If the results are still poor, tell the broker you want him to cancel the listing agreement. If he refuses tell him you are going to file a complaint with the local board of realtors, that the fiduciary duties owed to you are  not being met.