All Forum Posts by: Kyle Curtin

Hi everyone!,

      I have found that the answer to the question above is often very interesting from person to person, and it is very valuable to hear all of the different types of perspectives! Wealth to me is being able to grow your assets to create enough monthly income to create the time freedom to be able to be able to have abundance and choice in many different areas of your life and to be able to spend more time with your loved ones! 

What do you think?

I coincidentally just bought my ticket to this event right before hopping on the BP forums a few minutes ago! I am very excited to attend this event!

Hi @Long Di !,

      I am certainly not anything close to a physician myself, but I have a great friend and investor named 
Erick Sembrano in our market who is! He has several properties in Massachusetts and would be a phenomenal resource to talk to about that! 

Thank you,

Kyle Curtin

Hi Paul!,

      I unfortunately do not have a direct "go-to" general contractor yet that covers our region, but highly suggest going onto Facebook (if you have an account) and asking around in some of the Mass real estate investor groups on there! There are a bunch of these groups and they are usually great resources with thousands of local investors in each. People ask all the time for 
recommendations for good contractors/attorneys/etc. and you can usually get at least a few to reach out to to get started. I also recommend going to some of the "town resident groups" for some of the towns/cities in Worcester county and asking there as well. I have found these groups to be very helpful because folks in the town (even if they are not investors!) organically tend to provide feedback on other's recommendations, which is always good when potentially using a contractor for the first time. Also, if you would be open to it, I would love to connect and hear more about your investing story! I just bought my first 3 family househack in Leominster back last December and it has been an interesting journey so far!

Thank you,

Kyle 

Quote from @Curt Smith:

@Kyle Curtin I send out rent raise letter annually, typical is 7% raises. Even still I'm below this crazy market and like the gist of your post, I'm ok with being lower. I get my raises, my great tenants never move. Yes re 5% min raise today is ok.

 Hi Curt!,

     Thank you so much for the advice! I love the idea of the rent raise letter and will certainly implement that well before my tenant's leases come around! Thank you so much!

Thank you,

Kyle     

Quote from @Mike Dymski:

Good residents that pay consistently and charging near market rent are not mutually exclusive...we can and should have both.

Separately, my thought is to raise the one $50 annually and the other $50 semi-annually and provide plenty of advance notice.

 Hi Mike!,

     Thank you so much for your answer! I totally agree, and I very much appreciate the awesome advice!

Thank you,

Kyle

Quote from @Matt Ziegler:

Kyle,

First of all, congrats on getting started on your real estate journey. 
Our approach had been honest, respectful and direct communication in regards to rent increases, and with communication in general. Treat folks like you want to be treated. 

Consistent, reasonable (5%) annual increases should be clearly explained to your tenants well in advance of the lease renewal date. Also be sure you are in compliance with local laws. We have this discussion at about 60 days from renewal date. If they choose to move on, turn the unit and get it to market rates.

We strive to provide an exceptional product at a reasonable rate. When we hit this goal, folks stay, take care of the property, and everyone is happy!

Best of luck, Cheers!

Hi Matt!,

     Thank you so much for the response and the kind words! I absolutely love your system and am certainly taking notes! I love that you have that conversation very early so there are no real "surprises"!

Thank you,

Kyle

Hi everyone!,

             I just wanted to make a quick post to help out investors when it comes to raising rents in your buy and hold properties!

Something to keep in mind when leases/TAW agreements are soon to end and you are intending to renew them is the value of the relationship with your tenants and the consistency of payments vs increased rent amounts. Us investors certainly need to gradually raise rents to be on par with always increasing market rents. 

If your tenants are consistently paying you on time and in full, this also holds a special value that should never be taken for granted. This is an extremely sustainable & ideal situation, but what happens when their rents are under fair market value and lease renewals are coming up? Put yourself in their shoes, if the rents are significantly below market value, how would you feel about a $300/ a month increase at once to put it up closer to market value? 

I have definitely heard stories of that being done and resulting in success, but in my opinion the risk factor is very high, and gambling on a potentially very sour situation with a "previously content but quickly turned unhappy" tenant, especially in Massachusetts, being such a tenant friendly state. In my opinion at my current experience level, I am bullish on rent increases being strategically and slowly applied on an individual case by case basis unless you are turning a unit over before getting a completely new tenant. I will stress that I personally have not been able to alter rents on my tenants yet, I purchased my first 3 family househack in December of 2021 and have inherited both of my tenants and their leases until October of '22. My tenants have been absolutely phenomenal and typically pay in full a few days early on the Apartments.com system that I set up. I do everything I can to make sure they are well taken care of and have been blessed. One of their rents is about $200 shy of market value and the other is about $100 over FMR as of April '22. I would love to get these rents up to market rent as soon as possible as much as anyone else, and also very much value the consistency and am aware of the risk factor associated and the proper balance required to make a sustainable decision. I am unsure what I am going to do when October comes.

I think the dynamic between consistency and revenue and the risk associated with both is very interesting and can potentially play a significant role in your success as an investor. How do you typically handle rent increases and tenant relationships?

Thank you,

Kyle

Hi Mike,

     I would certainly get a few more opinions from other lenders. I have heard often that just because one lender has a certain opinion that is not necessarily the clear cut and dry answer altogether. I have heard stories of investors calling 10 banks and on the 11th call, they were able to receive funding for their project. The next lender you call may be the one that looks at your situation differently and is able to guide you in another direction that may be able to make it work, or worst case scenario they tell you the same thing as the first lender. In that case you ask a third, fourth, fifth etc., and if you still get the same answer then you will be able to pool the advice from the prior ones and be able to take the fastest approach on your end to be able to be eligible. The income from expected rents should certainly be taken into account with the loan. Our team utilizes a lender that has specialized in 203k loans especially for multi's for a very long time and If you would like I would be more than happy to introduce you guys to get a second opinion.

Thank you,

Kyle

Hi Dustin,

     In my opinion, based on your big picture goal, It may be more effective to hold onto it until you meet the bank's eligibility criteria and then sell it while the market is still extremely hot with very low inventory (especially in Worcester!) with the intention of doing a 1031 exchange on that property and the goal to utilize Brandon Turner's "stack" method to dump the proceeds into a bigger property with more units in a similar market within Worcester county. You may be able to find a small commercial multifamily property (5-6 units) in a surrounding town like Fitchburg, Gardner, or Leominster and be able to deploy the proceeds and some of your own cash into a 25% DP & closing costs into that property and potentially double your units. This does depend on your goals and your preference on more appreciating markets vs. more cashflow centric markets, but there are definitely properties out in our neck of the woods that could work to scale up!

Thank you,

Kyle