All Forum Posts by: Jason D.

I'm very surprised at the responses here.  In my view, there is only one real way to figure out your market rent.  Sit down and call your competition.  

Find a for rent sign in your neighborhood and call the number.  You can do this without lying-- just tell them you're "interested in the apartment/house" and could they tell you a little about it?  They, like all sales people, will spill their guts. Be sure to note the number of beds, baths, and square footage along with the rent.

You should be doing this once every year or two to gauge the market and be sure you're not being left in the dust.  Websites would be my last resort.

Hi Cherry,

Yeah tough situation.  It comes with the property management territory.

Have you done an analysis weighing the costs of eviction vs. cash-for-keys?  

Cash-for-keys works if you can offer $100 or even $250 for the keys and a cleaned out apartment, but that usually only works with a tenant who has the means to secure their next victim (er, uh.. apartment).  That means first month's rent PLUS deposit.  

In the end, you have a bad tenant who has turned your investment into a non-performing asset or worse-- a cash-flow liability.  

Offer the cash-for-keys at whatever dollar amount you think is fair or worthwhile for you.  But I would not change course on the eviction... In the end you MUST get them out and as quickly as possible.

Another angle-- try using both a carrot and stick... tell them you'll drop the eviction AND give them money if they get out within so many days.  Having an eviction on your record can make it difficult to rent in the future.

Hope these ideas help some.

jason

Looking for help on repairing or replacing stairs for a two-story apartment building.

These stairs were likely fabricated 40 years ago. There is a lot of rust/rot and they need to be repaired or replaced. There is not much good steel left so replacement may be required

Where could I find a fabricator for these types of stairs ?

Hey here is another response for you-- if you don't do the deal, send me the opportunity.  I'll close in 2 weeks. ;-)

Jaron's Dad may have been right about there being a sucker born every minute, but I'm not convinced who the sucker is in this thread.

The fundamental fact needed to answer Alex's question is does the property cash flow?  Start there.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with seller financing and there is even nothing wrong with the interest rate.  Put another way: A high interest rate does not a bad real estate deal make!  High interest rates are used every day to make millions of dollars.  

Hard money lenders charge 12% and if the real estate deal is good enough, money can still be made.

Some advantages about seller financing:

1. Does not count against your credit.  You can buy these all day long and there is no bank to get in your way.
2. You can negotiate one-on-one with the seller for better terms.
3. The deal can be temporary, if you remember to put a clause in the agreement that the note can be paid off in a lump sum with no penalty.

The money is nothing compared to the energy and time you are wasting.  Forget it.  Put him on your DO NOT USE list and go to the next deal/opportunity/contractor.  If you do this every time you hit a wall, you'll never get anywhere.  Sorry for the abrupt advice, but I can tell you need some tough love ;-)

Wasn't really considering storing petroleum products in the building, though based on my original post I can see how it could be misconstrued. 

My idea was to store some sort of dry goods.  Could even be FDA grade storage for food products, etc.  

I’ve been reading a book on futures and derivatives.

As I was reading about futures they used examples of things you might write a contract on such as bushels of corn, etc.

Right now oil markets are so flush with supply that storage is a huge issue. I don’t have a tank to store oil, but I do have a fairly large 60 x 60 ft metal building which is weather proofed.

Is there a way I could use this building to generate cash flow as a storage facility of some sort?

It’s a huge open space building so it would not be suitable for divided space for retail storage but it could be stacked quite high with pallets etc.

Just curious if anyone has experience or has seen this done before.

Thanks!

Hey Cary,

Is this property still on the market?  I'm interested in properties in this part of town for flipping.

Could you give me a call sometime on my cell? 281-229-2377

Thanks

Jason

Tim, nix the MBA.  Your stated goal: "At the end of the day my main goal is to be a self-employed real estate investor as soon as possible, rather than grind out time in corporate." 

An MBA is not required to achieve this goal. Think of what investments you could make with $130k.  

Even if you were not pursuing the goal you have stated above, I would probably recommend against the MBA.  MBA's are practically a dime-a-dozen on the market right now.  Companies/employers value degrees less and less and value what you can *DO* more and more.  

The fundamentals of your discipline are just so important--whether that is science or investing.  You know that and I don't really have to tell you this, but I say it just as a reminder.  And you just don't need the MBA to learn the fundamentals which is what most people never learn or master.

There is only one reason to pursue the MBA-- because you simply want to.  Maybe it is a challenge that you want to overcome or a mountain you want to climb.  The experience is the only thing that would justify the MBA in my view.  

If your goal is to be a self-employed real estate investor as soon as possible nix the MBA and focus on only things that will get you to this destination.

Good luck!

Jason