All Forum Posts by: Joshua S.

Hi David! I found this article that may be somewhat helpful in understanding the process that happens after someone dies. Good luck.

https://retipster.com/deceased...

This is why I also do a full background and credit check as well. I use Cozy.co for everything. They charge the prospective tenant a fee to provide me with their background check and credit report. They're the most comprehensive landlord resource I've found and it's free to use.

I was not aware that fake landlord reference websites even existed... So thanks for posting this.  I wouldn't be too worried about it. Only thing I can think to do would be to do a search for the name and phone number that's given and see if they exist somewhere. You can also use a service like Spokeo to find information about them.

1. You may want to have some kind of contingency in there for a property inspection, so that you can cancel the deal if there's something really wrong with it. Not sure about this kind of deal though, I've never moved a house before.

2. Check the city/county assessor's office. It's usually free to search and find and then they usually charge if you want a report. Check here: BP Real Estate Public Records

3. No experience doing this, so I'm not sure what could go wrong.

Originally posted by @Randy Smith:

Hello

I’m interested in buying a property to rent in either Norfolk or Virginia Beach. This will be a long distance rental, so I have some concerns with managing it. Are there any other issues out of the ordinary I should be worried about?

Good morning Randy! There are many issues that come with managing a property remotely, however, I know many investors that have done it successfully. There are a few things you need to consider when attempting this:

• How will you collect rent remotely? Relying on the tenant saying "the check's in the mail" can lead to issues.
• What will you do if the property needs maintenance or repairs? It's good to know or at least know of a few providers in the area.
• How will you handle tenant turnover? They're probably not going to live there forever, so it's good to have a plan for that as well.
• Learn the local landlord/tenant laws for that state, in this case Virginia. Landlordology.com has a great section on this and helped me immensely when I was getting started.
• Have a rock solid lease that covers any potential situation.

One way to handle all of this is by paying a property management company to handle all of these things for you. This usually costs around 10% of the monthly rent amount as well as a full month's rent amount as payment for finding a tenant.

Another way to handle it is with an online platform that allows you to handle it directly. I personally recommend (even though I don't get paid to) Cozy.co (not .com) to all of my out-of-state investors. It's completely free for landlords and has a TON of awesome features. You can collect rent electronically, implement late fees, take maintenance/repair requests, keep track of your expenses, everything. It also allows you to do credit and background checks on potential tenants with no money out of your pocket ($39.99 for tenants for both)!

For my rentals (in state), when I have turnover, I use a mixture of Cozy.co's listing feature, which propagates to other sites like Realtor.com, and Zillow Rental Manager, which is also free and propagates to Trulia and Hotpads. I also spent about a month when I first started just learning the ins and outs of rental leases and finding good clauses to add to mine. It's a living document that I'm always improving and changing with what I've learned.

If you're interested in buying investment property in Virginia, I'd love to help. I'm a licensed agent that works primarily with investors. So, if you'd like, fill out my investor questionnaire at https://forms.gle/T9sCnqRoy57P... and we can start searching for a great deal.

Hey Tony! Welcome! So you've got the right idea. I've found that house hacking is the best way to get started. There are some decent duplexes out there, but it's not limited to only buying a duplex. If it's just you and your wife, you can always buy something with more bedrooms than you need and rent out the extra rooms. Of course, that requires living with other people, but it can be very profitable! Yet another method to get started would be to buy something that is livable in a decent area that needs work/updates and do a "live-in flip." Once it's all fixed up, you find another one and sell the one you've fixed. If you buy with an FHA, VA (military) or VHDA loan, you can fix it up during the time you're required to occupy the property with very little up front capital. Do either of those sound like options you may be interested in? Are you already working with an agent? If not, I'd love to help. PM or email me.

Hello Erica! It sounds like you have a good plan and are very motivated and organized. Do you already have a Virginia agent in mind? If not, let me know if I can be of any assistance. I primarily work with investors, many of which are out of town as far away as Beverly Hills. So I'm very familiar with the process of buying remotely and would love to help!

Originally posted by @Marsha F.:

@Joshua S. That's awesome! I love hearing stories like yours because in some way I live vicariously through you guys haha I wish I had stumbled into REI.

Thanks for your reply! It wasn't a "complete stumble" into it. I had known that real estate investing was a thing, but only that when I was younger, my mom tried and failed at it. I think if she had had a resource like BiggerPockets.com or Landlordology.com, maybe she would have succeeded. Persistence is key!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $120,000

Cash invested: $750

This was my original investment, kind of by accident. It's a townhouse and was my first home purchase ever. I bought it in 2014 using an FHA Plus (VHDA) loan with $0 down. My only out of pocket expenses for the purchase was the $500 EMD and the $200 home inspection. Seller covered closing costs. Granted, I lived in this townhouse for 2.5 years before moving in 2017, so I paid the mortgage for a good bit. With only being in the property for 2.5 years, I had barely any equity (if any at all), but luckily, my lender told me that I didn't need to sell it in order to qualify for the loan on my new house. So, I chose to rent it out. I spent the months leading up to closing on my new house learning everything I could about being a landlord. Big shout out to Landlordology.com and Cozy.co for helping me out with that! Landlordology led me to BiggerPockets and the realization that I could actually do this over and over again. Since then, I've earned my Virginia Real Estate Salesperson license to help other people invest while also acquiring enough liquid capital to do my own investing.

How did you finance this deal?

VHDA (FHA Plus) zero-down first time home buyer loan.

Sadly, I haven't done one myself yet. I'm still kind of starting out as well, as an investor. But I do work with investors that do flips. I'm hoping soon I'll be able to do one of my own, but my primary strategy is buy and hold. I was also a residential electrical contractor once upon a time with a little bit of HVAC and plumbing sprinkled in.

@Zachary Zinn 

Hey Zach! Welcome to BP! Nice to have more people from the Hampton Roads area on here. I'm an agent in the area that works with investors almost exclusively.  I've found the BiggerPockets calculators to be invaluable when running numbers. They really help put it all in perspective. But let me know if I can be of any assistance to you or if you have any questions. I'd be happy to help!