All Forum Posts by: Josue Vargas

@Garrett F Anderson,

I love college student communities.  Most people are afraid due to fraternities or sororities, etc.  I have found very good students on my rentals, most of them postgraduates.  

But the way you put it, I guess Family Rentals is a win win.

You talked about about College rental turnover.. to me that is Vacancy.  No longevity on Student Rentals. 

Constant business for College students?  What about families? They do also need homes as well.  It all depends on what city you are located.  I guess point for collage student community. 

Have you know the laws in your state?  Some state laws allowed such many people unrelated under one roof... You may want to know the state laws before getting into a College rental deal for students.  

@Kevin Wang,

I appreciate your comments.  My pool have a "child fence" well made with a 30-yr warranty, so it adds value and protection.  

As far as renters go, this is not the "normal average house".  This is a $2,500 -$2,700 monthly rent.  My main concern is the pool, most people doesn't have an idea what a pool maintenance is like, and if they don't do it frequently, its a mess to deal with it.  And if I'll be 1.5 hours away from the house, I will definitively not have time for pool maintenance classes.  

I thought about a PM... but at that price, thanks but no thanks, I can scrutinize, and from my experience, these sort of people that have income to rent a $2500/month property are good enough to pay you on time, for the most part. My only concern, again is the pool and HOA. Even me dealing with the HOA for minor stuff is just a pain.

@Ben Lemieux,

Main reason I want to sell is the pool, I could include the pool maintenance in the rent, still give me about $100 cash flow, but that's borderline for me.  In reality, the cash for selling gives me the big return. But he location of the property.., I know it will be rented out in no time.  If I refi, I can get another $200/month, so in reality about $300 per month including the pool maintenance.  I'm skeptical about renting this house, its a 3,000 sqft with pool... 

@Ron Flatt,

San Antonio is hot, no doubt about it, I'm just starting to look, and I probably rent in Austin until become very familiar with the market... Yes an investor renting, odd but that's how I do it... It looks like prices are getting every time a little bit steep, good for selling, so I'm in no rush, until the peak (suspect on winter time). 

I'm going to Ramstein on September for a company trip for the Air Force... Guten Tag. 

@Account Closed Just my opinion, the value of your property is what people is willing to pay for it, at a certain time (are you familiar with economic principles - offer and demand?).  That house can rent for $1,400, it does not mean that the value of the house is now worth $140,000, unless someone is willing to pay that price in a relatively short time window (say 4 months average on your neighborhood for selling that kind of property).  Maybe you could rented out at that PRICE to a very motivated person for whatever reason.  You can still ask $140,000 for a deal, but you may also wait 4 years to become a reality. 

I want to move to a different nerby city (Austin), debating on rent or sale. My propery is in San Antonio, Texas, in a very desirable neighborhood. If I sell now, I should get easely 90K in profit after all expenses. Rent is about average for this type of property in a desirable neighborhood ($2,500/month). So I can refinince to 30 years and rent and get some cash flow (guessing $200 after all good stuff)... Should I sell or rent? My concern of renting is maintenance stuff, like pool, yard, etc. and people not taking care of basic stuff... HOA is hardcore and I suspect I will be getting mail letters and fixing issues more than often.

@Robert Macejak

This looks like an easy fix for an experienced floor guy.  I would't do it myself.  You have to tear down the plaster on that small room to the actual foundation/slab, and most likely is sloped towards the door.  

Few suggestions:

1. Remove the plaster on the floor and try leveling up, more than 2" leveling will required some topping with sand/gravel in order to avoid non-sounded surface. 

2. If the floor is actually sloping down towards that door, you may need to rise the door.  Carpet doesn't help to see the full picture. 

3. You have the room to make it work, but like you said, it will look awkward due to lack of headroom from the door to the ceiling.  Might as well remove the remaining wall and make it-up with some small glass paneling.  Rising the floor 6-8" seems a bit too much, current slope should be around 2-3% (translated to a max of ~1.5"-2.0" against the wall/door).

4. Roughly bust the surface of the current slab so there is roughness to adhere the new leveling surface (stay away with the self leveling stuff if you want to level more than 2")...

References!  Call the very busy guys, ask for a quote and visit your site, they probably say "sorry, thanks but no, small project for me and not worth it".  Then, you ask for references, and call them and start building that contractor's list.  

How a one time payment benefits you?  Are you investing the money paid up-front?  Whats the revenue of that up-front rent?  If not, don't do it.  If that person turns out to be a delinquent, then you are stuck the full time he/she pre-paid you...  so in other words, DON'T DO IT, its all about risks and consequences... I see it as a medium risk, HIGH consequence, and that puts you in the red zone... 

@Will Gaston,  I'm not a lawyer, but I do not think is illegal to ignore someone else that "pretends to be a parent" of your customers.  If your lease do not name them, then you don't have to answer them.  Also, try to use some of the tools available in the internet and use a forwarding number (a random number than your actual cell phone number), you can always change it as you like.