All Forum Posts by: Jeff Sheraton

I'd highly recommend PayLease.  I've been using them for a while now with just about no issues.  We are currently set up so tenants can pay online (through our website, check it out at www.sheratonproperties.com on the "residents" page) and at cash pay locations.  PayLease gives you the option to charge the tenant for their service or eat the cost yourself.  I set it up so that ACH transactions would be free to the tenants (they only cost us 50 cents).  Credit card transactions are billed to the tenant (they are charged a %).  Cash pay is also charged to the tenant ($4 per transaction).  I think that some of these prices were initially a bit higher.  I had shopped around and PayLease matched the lower prices.

PayLease offers a cash pay card that has each tenants account information on it as well.  This service was $20 per month (not worth it in my opinion).  You can just print the cards and hand them to the tenant.  I've also had good luck just texting an image of the cards to the tenants.

It is difficult to tell you which option is best without more information.  Like @Jassem A. said do the math and figure out your best investment for cash flow and potential appreciation.  Personally I suggest going with a property that you know will cash flow nicely that you can buy under market value.  Appreciation is nice, but cash flow is instant and much easier to predict.

I rented rooms at my first home, it covered the entire mortgage and most of the utilities.  It's a great way to save money and build equity at the same time.

Seems like the deal would be pretty tight if I understand you correctly.  If his bottom line is $65k and you have to pay closing costs (say roughly another $5k) that puts you at $70k.  Plus your renovation of $30k puts you at $100k.  Plus holding costs and eventually another settlement.  I think it would be reasonable to expect your total investment to be up in the $105-110k range on this deal.  Your profit margin at that total investment is pretty tight (in my opinion at least).

If you buy into the 70% rule your max purchase price should be $54k. That's 70% of the ARV ($120k) minus the repair costs of $30k.

I could be wrong but if you have a known issue with a property I don't believe you can simply go get insurance and expect it to be covered.  I have heard stories of people that have had dead trees fall on their properties and do damage that the insurance company would not cover because the owner failed to do maintenance (cut down the tree) and the damage was foreseeable.

If you are going through a bank definitely get pre approved first.  Then when you find a house included your pre approval letter in the offer.  You won't be taken seriously without pre approval if you are making a non cash offer.

If I was in your shoes I would not bother.  Just make sure that your contract gives you the option to if your end buyer would like one.

Lots of great opportunities in Delaware!  Good luck with your recovery!  After you create a business plan set up some email listing notifications for properties that meet your standards (price, type, ect.).  It's an easy way to get your feet wet.

33% in three weeks, I think I would take that too.  We buy a lot of tax sales, they are a great way to buy properties below market value.  In Delaware we have a 90 redemption period.  In the first 30 days you get no interest, after that you get 10-15%.

Talk with other investors in the area and see who they are using.  You could also do a search and see what real estate agents have a lot of listings in your target market and price.  

A real estate agent should be able to write a contract up for you.  If you are not going through an agent you can download boilerplate contracts online or buy them from office stores.  It may be worth reading a handful of different contracts then creating your own contract.