All Forum Posts by: Kuriakos Mellos

@Account Closed I legit just went thru this issue about 3 weeks ago. I went ahead and added a second washer /dryer hook up (and appliances in my case) for a duplex I will be renting out and the difference it made in applicants was immense.   They all told us it was hard to find nice rentals with in-unit laundry .  We are also charging a monthly ‘utility fee’ to include water usage - and are getting no pushback.

Hey everyone!  Happy Holidays.

As the year winds down, and I am reevaluating where I’m at in my investment journey - I feel like I’ve accomplished more than what I set out at the beginning of the year.

Part addicted or part not wanting lose momentum, I feel like I can squeeze out one more purchase (most likely a SFH) but this is where I'm stuck - I can move forward with a hard money lender who has highly rates and required a larger down payment or I wait and see if my score bumps back up so I can work with my conventional lender - but who knows how long that will take to happen. He suggested paying off a car note but that would be about $16 K - again which I can use on a new purchase.

Wait or move forward and keep building?

Hey again @Jim K.!  I’ll clarify - I am personally not going to be the agent - I meant to say that it will be the first time I’m going to be selling any piece of property I own.  

I do have another condo in a very investor friendly building that is the complete opposite - it cash flows awesome - rented right away - was able to renew without a worry - but I feel like that is the extreme.  I am only focusing on SFHs and maybe some small multi families in the future - but will for sure be avoiding condos.   The book I could write on this place - they despise investors.

First time selling real estate and have a minor pit in my stomach.

I guess I should start off with saying that when I initially bought this condo in Oct 2018 - real estate investing was not even on my radar.  It was bought as a condo for me and (down the line) maybe my parents to move into - at this point it’s a burden/headache.

The cons: It was a little rushed, I didn't shop around for rates, I refinanced it twice (again not really knowing the process - to chase lower rates) , the community onlyallows one rental ONCE for 12 months - the HOA is a pain (and has a fee for barely nothing) - I think I'm going to be stuck with a special assessment even if I decide to sell and it just isn't appreacting. (I bought a house in Feb this year for example and it has gone up by at least $35 K (low end appreciation.). This condo I've had for three years and maybe has gone up $15K?). Quite frankly - this is not a good asset.

I’m considering going slightly under market to dump it and move on ?  Any advice as to how to be aggressive in getting rid of it?

I feel annoyed with myself that I’ve let it go this long (I did have a relative rent it from me - as relatives are allowed to stay) but I didn’t charge them the proper rent and this property affectively is an alligator in my portfolio.

Better late then never? The equity which I am hoping to walk away with this would help me buy a SFH and turn a dead asset into a money maker.

Thanks!

K-Man

Thank you everyone for the advice.  I took advantage of Black Friday sales and some shopping around and adding a dryer and washer with installation for about $1K - I want to differentiate myself and get a tenant as soon as possible after closing (which is on 12/3).  

@Scott M.@Kathy Henley @Marco G. I’ll totally look at local rentals and see what they offer. Such a valid point.  There is individual hook ups for both - so I guess they can source their own (even though it might be a pain in the butt). I guess I’m putting myself in their shoes and knowing that I would want it but again per @Kathy Henley statement maybe certain tenants don’t demand it. I will for sure look at availability of local laundromats 

@John Underwood @Nathan Gesner i am getting new stoves and fridges but talked myself out of expensive microwaved and will be getting just basic countertop ones for like $50.00 (I was originally going to get the nice wall mounted ones with fans blah blah blah)   I am trying to be more smart about these newer purchases and try to sss them as a business.  Clearance fridges - great.  Basic ovens - awesome. Just trying not to over think this :-). The property itself is a very nice rehab so that’s why I thought I needed to include it all 

Hi everyone - moving into my first multi family here (duplex) in about 3 weeks. I will be living in the upper unit and renting the other one until I move out and rent the upper one as well. There is no in unit laundry currently - although there is a hook up for two units for both washers and dryers downstairs. I have heard from several people to have tenants bring their own units in - I do have a SFH where the tenant has her own units in there. How much of a deterant is it not to include those ?

@Dwight Cook I recently took over two SFHs that had long time severely under market tenants - and I was worried about raising the rents as well. What I did was pull up local listings for rents for comps and presented them rentometer averages as well.  In the first case I should of bumped it up to about 1850 (up from 1250) but being she has been a long time and very stable (on time tenant) I settled at 1700 - and will do another increase next years.  The other unit was a mere 1150 (which should of been also at about  1850).  Unit two was not agreeable to the rise - left - I did a quick turn around and got 1800.  By pushing the envelope a little (with data and no rent control in place for this area) I increased rents for the two of them combined by nearly $1100 and will continue to gradually increase over the next years as well. 

@Bailey A. I think it helps initally to get familiar with the contractor (and his timeliness, professionalism, how he interacts with your tenant) and see if he is going to be someone on your 'team'. Also from a learning perspective, it is GREAT and like a live Youtube video.  As your scale, and you get more comfortable - you will see yourself weaning off the visits. (Also from personal experience, they necessarily don't want you always on top of them for smaller projects.)

For larger projects (rehabs, guts etc) - again ONCE TRUST IS BUILT - I still pop in occassionaly, unannounced, but a few times a week so they know that I am tracking progress ;-)

@Brock Mogensen figure I can be close enough to see what is working and what is not and per @Sarah Young comments make it more ‘hospitable’ and unique.  I appreciate your and @Andy Kornacki’s feedback.  I still have a feeling I might use a prop Managee to run the ‘business portion of it as I want to focus my energy on where my strong income still comes in - my w2 job - and if I see it kicks off - I’ll convert the full duplex into an Airbnb and hopefully by another one in the spring