All Forum Posts by: Joe M.

Holy Crap!

My local utility has an option for landlords where you can allow the bill to be swapped back to you in between tenants.

They have some security questions you set up and then answer to avoid a tenant from swapping it back to you w/o your knowledge.

So far it has worked well.

I'm not sure if I read it on here, or somewhere else, but I try to follow the suggestion to keep around $2,500/property in reserve to cover repairs.

I'm sure as I get more experience and data from my own properties I'll be able to refine that number for my situation, but for now it works.

Well today turned out to be one of 'those' days.

Rental house #1: Furnace breaks down, requires $300 to fix

Rental house #2: Hot water tank sprouts a major leak, needs replaced, $500

New Rental House #3: Discovered a problem during rehab that is going to require an extra $1,500 to fix.

All on the same day......geesh I need a beer :D

could anyone reccomend a good portable alarm system?

ideally I'd like an alarm that operates on a cellular signal and is essentially a wireless system that I could move from property to property.

I've found the 'tattle tale' system but it seems kind of pricey, are there any others you would reccomend?

I'm buying as many REO properties as I can manage to do, rehabbing them and putting in renters.

I'm a small time guy who just got started this year so I'm going fairly slow, but I'm slated to close on my 3rd house this week.

I may try my hand at a flip property early next year to generate more cash.

David:

this is probably not going to be the answer you were looking for but nevertheless here it is. It would be very, very difficult for you to obtain money/loans using an LLC. As a new LLC the banks will often require you to personally guarantee any loan made to the LLC. Of course you would have to be credit worthy in order to be able to make that guarantee. Since as you stated your credit is terrible, you will likely not have much luck getting funding from traditional lenders (banks).

Like I said, probably not the answer you were looking for

I thought you guys might find this interesting.

I went to look at an REO property a few days ago. It looked great on paper and was in a decent neighborhood. It had been on the market for a bit, so I was curious why someone had not snapped it up yet.

When I got there I made my way to the front porch, only to discover a giant hornets nest hanging right over the front door from the porch roof. I mean this thing was huge, about the size of a really, really big pumpkin.

I couldn't get anywhere close to the lockbox to get in. As soon as I made a few steps toward the door about a dozen hornets started flying out.

Maybe this is why the house has been vacant for so long. Nobody can get in to see it!

I chose to stay close to home for my first deals. I looked at areas that were no more than about a 20 minute drive from my house.

Then I narrowed the area down to neighborhoods that were sort of that in between buffer type neighborhood. This is a neighborhood that is not a war zone but not the upscale suberbs either. Some call these areas "blue collar" neighborhoods.

I also familiarized myself with local school ratings/reputation. Where I live just simply crossing the street from one school zone to the next can have a significant impact on the appraised value of the house.

Problem was my contractors cut things down to the wire. We found some issues during the rehab we were not expecting which pushed the schedule back. This created all sorts of headaches as the guy that rented my place had scheduled movers, couldn't extend the lease where he was even for a week...etc.

My contractors endedup doing a 24 hour marathon session to finish the place. The paint on the front door was still wet as the tennant was moving in.

I told myself then I would never cut it that close again...to much worry and hassle if something goes wrong w/the rehab.