All Forum Posts by: Kyle Thomas

@Anthony Wick In the original lease. Something like...Landlord may under certain conditions agree to cancel the Agreement thereby releasing the Tenant from further liability. 

@Anthony Wick  A lease cancellation is allowable in Iowa so long as it's mutually agreed upon by landlord and tenant. I've seen where landlords will have a lease cancellation clause written into their lease. Personally, I would not write a standard lease cancellation policy into my lease. Rather, I have a lease cancellation clause that directs a tenant to request a lease cancellation quote from the Landlord. At that point I can evaluate market conditions, time of year, situation at hand, etc and provide a reasoned lease cancellation quote for the tenant to consider. They don't have to agree and I don't have to grant a cancellation at all if I don't want. Once terms are agreed to (move out date, buyout fee, how the deposit will be handled, etc.), we will sign a simple lease cancellation agreement, coordinate the payment and move out and we're both moving forward, tenant being released from the lease and landlord looking for the next tenant. Any fee up to the remaining rent obligation is permissible.

I just executed a lease cancellation for a 1 bedroom. The tenants will pay 3 months rent and plan to move out in 45 days. That gives me 4.5 months to try and find a renter.

Hope this helps!

Zach, Very cool! Jump on in! To be clear this isn’t supposed to be a rhetorical or pretentious question, but I’m interested in how you’re going to get after and achieve your goal. Do you have a strategy in mind? What type of investments are you looking for? Financing? etc. Genuinely interested. excited and motivated by your drive! - Kyle

@Jalen HenningsenI think house hacking is a great way to start. Though I wouldn't discount a single family home that has a good boarding basement or offers a few bedrooms to rent out to friends, AirBNB, etc. Certainly a duplex, triplex or fourplex could be great, depending on the deal. 

As for finding deals, there are endless ways to go about this (BP Podcast is chalk full). Most ways to find deals are directly proportionate to your hustle, persistence and follow through. Drive for dollars. See a rent sign? Call and ask if they'd like to sell. Visit the MLS everyday. Ask every realtor in town if they know owners of what you're looking for. Let them know that you're pre-approved and a motivated buyer. Buy a list and send mailers. etc.

As for jobs, I'll only speak to my own experience as a Property Manager. PM will give you a great baseline of practical skills for real estate investing i.e. handling leases, landlord tenant law, utility structures, maintenance, improvements, maximizing property value, keeping books, marketing, conflict management, working with contractors and vendors and a whole host of other skills and knowledge. Depending on the company you would work for, PM can also be a great way to get connected to deals, specifically off market deals.

@Justin Marshall is correct that you either need to be a broker OR operate under a broker in order to manage someone else's property. That means if you got a job at pretty well any PM company, you would be okay to manage property since you would be operating under someone else's brokers license. But, if you wanted to start up your own PM business to manage other people's property you would need that brokers license. Also, to clarify, you do not need a brokers license to manage your own property.

I'm sure that being a realtor you would also run across deals and opportunities but the opportunities may focus on single family products since that's the bulk of transactions out there. In my opinion, multifamily stuff is less likely to hit the open market.

Good luck as you push to your 6/1/2018 goal!

Obviously this is a messy situation with a number of issues. I would zero in on the noise and smoking. I would start the eviction process based on a violation of the rules specifically smoking and noise. I’d speak nothing about any of the other issues i.e. low rent, crappy lease, shady sublet, weird people at weird hours, etc. Eviction based on noise or smoking would be considered a termination of the lease due to material noncompliance. Iowa code 562A.27(1). Landlord must give written notice specifying the exact nature of violation including date/time and specific event. The notice must include a statement that if the violation isn’t remedied in 7 days that the tenancy will terminate. If, after giving this notice, substantially the same violation recurs within 6 months, the landlord may terminate the tenancy with no cure period. Then to begin the eviction process, you would issue a 3 day quit notice based on the second violation. This gives the occupants 3 days to move out. If they don’t you will need to filed for a FED (forced entry detainer) and the sheriff will forcibly remove them if needed. Make sure your notices are directed to the original tenant, the sub letters, and a blanket statement of “all other parties of possession”. You may wish to have a lawyer do this process for you as it can get hairy with what to say, not say, service required, and appropriate lapse of time. - Kyle

Peter S. JCorp may do turn key. Caliber Iowa may do turn key.

Res Development (resdevelopmentinc.com) in Ames, IA has offered some great tk options in the Ames market. I work property management for some of the owners who bought those investments. - Kyle Thomas

30 day notice is all that's needed. Make sure it's mail, certified mail, and posted to ensure proper notice. 98% of the time no reason is needed. You will want a reason if there's any chance the tenant pursues a discrimination suit. It's my understanding that "Business Reasons" is enough detail and explanation for court if it comes to that.

Matt, I work as a Property Manager in Ames, IA (Iowa State University). I've got some insight and experience with college rentals. Do you have specific questions? Personally I love em and professionally the company I work for loves em too. Obviously the big concern for folks is that these young kids will neglect and destroy a place. It's been our experience that it's just as likely a working adult or family or adult roommates will neglect and destroy a unit. Issues like these are few and far between though and certainly shouldn't keep you from investing. They will be rare realities that are understood and planned for. Not so much if but when should be the mindset. In a recent BP Podcast the guest, Pat Hiban, talked about the idea of "out of sight, out of mind" in regards to his college rentals. He has a trusted manager and as an owner understands the purpose and intent of the college rental. He doesn't expect it to be something it's not. Beyond this, do you have any specific questions? I don't know the Iowa City market well but could better talk to what's been going on in Ames. Hope this helps, Kyle

Hey Gary, 

I'm catching word that a Des Moines meet-up happens monthly every third Wednesday. Is that correct? Are they always at 5:30pm at Caribou? About how late do they run?

Hope to catch the next one. 

- Kyle