All Forum Posts by: Joshua McGinnis

+1. How you got access to the list would be great info to have.

Yea, 8% of rents towards management fees + $200 condo fee.

The nice thing about the condo fee is that I'm on the board with the other condo unit owner so I get a lot of say into where we spend the money. So far, we've made it a point to invest in improvements that will increase the value of both units (like a new driveway, new porches which were formerly eye sores, etc).

@Account Closed Please feel free to connect with me. Just hit the little 'connect' link under my profile pic on the left side of this post.

Voting on a post is akin to "liking" something on Facebook except votes points are tallied and can be seen above the 'Connect' link on my profile. The more votes a member has, the higher their reputation on the boards.

Hey @Justin Campiotti Welcome to the boards. There's a ton of great info here and a lot of really great folks you can network with.

Hey, quick question - what did you mean by "you can increase the value of the properties exponentially by increasing NOI is quite motivating."?

Are you saying that you think the idea of improving properties to increase rents is motivating? If so, I gotcha. Just never heard anyone put it that way. :) Forgive my ignorance.

Welcome!

I bought my first investment property in Waltham and still own it. Happy to answer any questions you might have.

This is the future.

Eventually, a self-driving truck will deliver the the printer to the exact position. It will build the home and communicate back to the builder various status updates, issues, and anything else it might need.

When the home is done, the self-driving truck will come pick it up.

The fun thing to think about is that all of this technology is already available.

I'd rather have seen you on the flip side, as opposed to buying after someone else has cashed in most of the equity.

Have you looked at how the market has performed in the last 5 to 10 years? What kind of appreciation has it seen? There's a few places in Los Angeles that have been considered historically bad areas, but have shown consistent improvement in the last decade - specifically when it comes to crime rates and home values.

$300 cash flow doesn't leave you much room for covering unexpected expenses, for which there will definitely be some. But maybe the tax benefits and the prospect of appreciation outweigh the risks.

I own a property near Boston that cash flows $700/month, but after property management fees, I'm netting only about $200/month. I'm OK with this because the tax advantages and the fact my property manager is amazing makes the deal totally worth it for me.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and feedback. Much appreciated.

@Aaron Montague

Taxes are about $5K a year. There's no HOA and currently, the tenants are paying for their own utilities (Water, Sewer, Trash, Electric), which may be why the rents are on the low side for the area.

Here is the EPA Map of Radon Zones.

Most of Iowa is in Zone 1, which the EPA states has the "Highest Potential" for radon:

A basic radon test can be picked up from your local hardware store with results usually only taking a couple of days to come back.

I would personally recommend doing it for peace of mind, especially if you are in a Zone 1 or 2 area.