All Forum Posts by: John Alosio

@Ben Harhager

I'm happy to hear that you are interested in real estate investing.

But there is no simple answer to your question. 

if you don't want to get calls at random times of the day to "fix toilets", then perhaps you might want to consider investing in the stock market. Unfortunately this comes with the territory unless you can afford the luxury of a property manager cutting into your profits.

How bad do you want this? And what are you willing to sacrifice?

@Anders R.

I'm going to guess he's speaking of the legalization of recreational marijuana.

@Miguel Bautista

If you must move to Jersey, I'd reccomend investing in Pennsylvania. It's a stone-throw away. In fact I'd say forget NJ and come live in PA.

I was born nj. I retreated to PA to start my REI career. Currently living /investing in pa, and still commute into NJ for my w2 job. It's worth the 45 min drive to be able to afford housing.

Clean Air is a nice perk. Along with considerably less light pollution, traffic, & a-holes

cheers

@Mariah Kohan

What is your 'why'?

As you said, buckle down, work to increase income and decrease expenses. i.e. try to get promoted and pick up some side hustles. This option will take some time to take root- longer to bud- even longer to bear fruit. Then longer still until the fruit is ripe enough to eat. This a slow game.
start by watering the seed and be patient. You should try to have a strong financial base, not just a pile of cash. Because once you pull the trigger, you'll want to have a safety net. And not have to rely on rental income to pay for things that come up in your personal life. (You shouldn't have to wait til your tenants rent check clears to have money to fix your car.)
Also, get involved with your local REIA groups. Network like crazy. Figure out what you can bring to the table. Sometimes being young and enthusiastic is enough to get noticed by seasoned investors. Are you willing to get your hands dirty? Get with a rehabber and learn this process. There are many ways to approach this. Figure out what works for you. Most important is to get out there and try. You never know what you'll find until you try.

Hope this helps

@Rebecca Dupuis I should also clarify, as far as a tenant is concerned, usually the person they deal with is the "landlord". Regardless of whether or not they are the actual owner.

when speaking to fellow real estate invertors, there is a distinction between the two terms.

@Rebecca Dupuis

Welcome to BP. I'm happy to hear you have taken interest in real estate. You've come to a great place to help with your journey.
First I'd have to ask, how is your financial situation? Do you have savings? How much of your monthly income are you able to save? Are there any sacrifices you can make to increase savings?
how's your credit score?
The answers to these questions may give you some items to address to start out.
You mentioned you are learing about the "real estate market". I'd just like to point out that since you are looking to move, there is not one market. Its very regional. if you study floridas market, it will not translate to PA. Do you know which area of PA that you'll be moving to?

@Rebecca Dupuis

generally when someone refers to landlord, it is the owner of the property doing the property management. However when someone mentions a "property manager", it's usually a 3rd party that tends to most of the daily aspect for a cost. They would deal with tenants, repairs, maint, tenant turnovers. While the owner can sit back collecting rent. The decision to hire a property manager is highly divided as a personal preference. Some people would rather take a back seat for one reason or another. For me, I am the PM for my own properties. I am still fairly new and don't have the profit margins to justify paying the extra cost.

hope this helps

cheers

Red flag #1. Refusing to do something that you require in the lease should have been an end to this tenancy before it started. No insurance? thank you Next!

Lesson leaned, stick to your rules.

@Leona Batiste

In my humble opinion, it your responsibility as the landlord to notify tenants of necessary treatment of your property. You cannot rely on hoping that they pay attention to the news. because tenants either don't care, or don't know enough to care.

However, homeowners should be aware of the dangers associated with dropping temperatures. If they don't know at first, they will learn the hard way.

Moving forward, you should mention in the lease that you recommend dripping the tap during the extreme cold spells.

It sounds like you dropped the ball here. it seems like negligence on your part, Waiting to notify them a few days before hand. then blaming because you couldn't reach them.

respectfully, you should own this incident. If you have other issues such as unpaid rent, then that is a different issue you need to deal with separately.