All Forum Posts by: Kelly Moniz

Just because some mobile homes come on bigger lots does not mean you can add another. You will need to look into zoning and do perk tests. Never assume you can add another dwelling to the land until doing so. I have 2 double wides and 9 stick built sfrs. I will tell you the stick built homes are much more energy efficient, way better built, and are worth much more. If I need cash I do a cash out against a stick built house. They are far easier to get cash quick out of than a mobile home. But mobile homes do have great cash flow. I just prefer stick built. More reliable, more desirable, worth more, and I charge about 20% more for my comparable stick built homes to my double wides. 

Please do not get a job at some low paying place. Time management is just as important as money management. Working at some fast food place, retail store, super market, etc is just a flat out waste of time. I would much rather be learning skills that I can benefit from in the real estate industry. You need to become as liquid as possible. That means being as fiscally conservative as you can while making as much money as you can at the same time. It takes a lot of sacrifices to start up if you want to be successful. Why not become a realtor? That will get you some cash flow while working with a firm and will get you inside the mls to be able to hop on deals. Once you get some properties going and can quit being a realtor then do so. If you are too young to be a realtor then look for some form of under the table hustle. When I was 17 I started buying and selling cars, also parting some out. I was making 50k+ cash a year until 20 when I got my first property and phased out of the car deals. I was living at home with my parents and saving all that I could. Try to find some niche. Working for yourself and creating your own money is going to build much more character for you than working at any fast food place, customer service place, retail place, data entry place, etc. Remember.... Time management and money management. 

Edit- just saw your age. I would look into becoming a realtor if that interests you at all. 

Wow. I can't believe stuff like this happens. I would not give his deposit back at all. Just be a little more on alert. Hurry and get the house rented out again. It'll blow over. I put my first renter in jail for stealing his neighbors cars to scrap for rent money. I was only 20 years old and he was a hardened criminal. I had no idea ( been doing background checks since then). His girlfriend's dad called me asking for the deposit. I said nope. He then informed me that he was going to beat my ***. I made sure that he knew that would never happen and that his deposit would never be returned. Never heard from him again.

Why do you feel the need to have a partner? If it is just for financial reasons then I would only resort to a partner as a last ditch effort. Not all people think the same which can cause serious issues for you. I can only imagine what nightmares some people go through with bad partnerships when all they really needed to do is be a little more patient so that they could do it all by themselves. 

Very untrue. If I had to pay market value for all of my properties then I would have never started. Good deals exist everywhere when cash is in the equation. 

Is there any potential to increase rent prices?

So from what I am seeing you can more than double your cash flow by managing the property yourself. I would go that route. I have 11 rentals (all single family properties) and I manage them all. It's pretty easy honestly. 3 in one location should be a walk in the park if you are local to the triplex.

Why not wait around for a few more applicants? I normally get 20 or so interested people within a few days that email me about a rental. Of the 20 I choose to meet with 5 or so that I feel give me the best vibe from the emails. I observe their grammer and punctuation and also get to know them a little more by asking questions about their income, how long they plan on renting for, when are they planning on moving in, etc. I would think within a week that you would have a few more potential tenants to screen that may be better.

If you need 100% then your best bet is to just sell. All my cash outs have been 75% of appraised value. That's always been enough for me to purchase 2-3 more properties and do another 75% cash out on the most valuable option at the time. 

Its a cheap fix. Go ahead and fix it. Tell the renter it will be added to his next months rent.