All Forum Posts by: Kevin Kroll

discounted tile all the way, you'll attract better tenants, charge higher rent, have much greater durability, will more than cover the cost premium

Given the arrangement $1-1.50 seems fair to me.

On a side note, 26 hours to lay 600 sq ft of laminate is crazy unless this included all the demo, new baseboards / shoe molding, painting of said molding etc...

i meant to say countertops in my example, not cabinets

In terms of the people telling you to put down the hammer I both agree and disagree. You clearly have some serious skills that have a lot of value. I would focus on determining which skills are giving you the most bang for your buck and focus your time on those, and then look to outsource the time intensive, low return on skilled labor jobs.

For example, you might be getting a tremendous ROI on the time you spent doing those cabinets as the labor cost for having someone else do it would have a high hourly rate, so keep doing that. The ROI on your time for doing drywall / plaster repair might not be nearly as high so you'd be better of outsourcing that.

Focus on your high return areas so you can increase the number of projects you work on, without your own time becoming the limiting factor.

What does the market dictate? what do comparable homes rent for?

Aagreed with other posters here, look for a new lender, get recommendations from realtors / other investors in your area. 

you say no repairs, but as a property built in 2004 the HVAC and hot water heater could be near their end of life if they have not been replaced. Those are major capital expenditures to consider.

I certainly wouldn't want to pay cash and give up that much liquidity, not at the rates available today.

I allow pets at my properties as I feel it offers me a competitive advantage in the area as there is a short supply of pet friendly rentals in my area, especially rentals with enclosed back yards as my properties have.

I protect myself through a rent premium due to the competitive advantage discussed above, $300/animal pet deposit -or- $15/animal/month non refundable pet "rent", plus utilizing pet friendly flooring materials (laminate / tile).

I like to tile all wet areas in either ceramic or preferably porcelain depending on what prices i can get, and then single plank laminate everywhere else. I like this blend of durability and classic look.

Kitchens i go with white shaker cabinets, and neutral granite. I avoid any granite that could be too taste specific or to wild of color combinations as these will go out of style quickly.

It depends on what the cash flow potential of the multi is. If you can buy it, live in one unit, and be cash flowing well each month + not having to pay rent, then that is how you would build up the liquidity for your next purchase.

If you wouldn't be cash flowing strongly, then it is not a property you should be buying anyway.