All Forum Posts by: John Norman

We are looking at buying a multifamily property in Bon Air, VA. It is not our typical market, so would love some insight if possible into this market... is there a lot of activity/growth? The current underwriting projects an initial loan at 60% LTV with a fixed rate loan at a 5.50% interest rate. They say the property is likely highly "affordable" making it very attractive to Freddie Mac. Is that rate realistically possible in this environment?

Hello Janet,

I just turned 60 last week. I have been retired since 2021, my wife retired last year at 56 yrs old, 20 yrs office manager for a local elementary school.I owned a restoration business for 20 years, paid off all my rentals in 2021 and gave the restoration business to my oldest son (now33 yrs old)who also owns a property management company. My son manages my rentals. When a tenant moves out I draw up the renovation plans, the renovation costs usually give me an extra 7% to 8% rent return  on my renovation cost( I pay cash for all renovations). Married 36 yrs, I have 3 adult college educated children and I want to pull a decent monthly pay check, renovate the houses as they become vacant and leave the houses to my 3 children when the good Lord take my wife and I. Maybe sell a few houses if the wife and I want to splurge on bigger things in the next 15-20 years. I'm just trying to figure out the best move to make things as lucrative as possible. A lot of my houses are close to the 27.5 years depreciation. Other than that, I play a lot of golf, hit the gym and the wife and I take a few vacation. 

Hello. I already got a property manager for my 4 bedroom 2.5 bath single family home, but their fees are quite high and communication could be better.

We also use American homeshields (price increase from 500-980$ this year)  for our appliances. We had good and some very bad experiences with them when it comes to fine prints and we end up doing a cash payout. All this options cut into my profits and and AHS cost me a lot of nerves ;-) 

I do already manage our other property in Miami since we are close by and I learned a lot ;-) . I handle rent collecting, tenant screening gets done with the support of a friend/realtor incl advertisement. I do manage maintenance request and HOA . Also use AHS..still looking to replace them though as they get very expensive.

With the help of rentredi I could cut my cost for VA, but still need someone reliable to go in to fix certain things when they are needed. I already dealt with contractors in that area from a tenant perspective and unfortunately most prefer insurance claims, which cuts into their availability to manage a single family home. How to I get the right guy?Handymen service? Full service property manager? A list of contacts and pray I get the right guy and learn as I go?

We are building our portfolio up and plan on doing long term and midterm rental, so we need someone reliable.

My rental property is vacant and I'm doing repairs, expecting to sell when I'm done. I keep getting calls from investors trying to buy, but usually 75% of what I expect to sell with an agent ($190k vs $150k). I've never sold a house and I don't mind paying an agent's fee for their assistance, but the investor told me he would pay everything and I didn't need an agent. I feel like I should have an agent or a lawyer or someone smarter than me to help get through all the paperwork and the process to make sure I'm not getting the short end of the stick and looking out for my interests. Or is selling to someone like that really that simple as agreed price and sign?

Thanks