All Forum Posts by: Rene Hosman

 That's great @Reesey Ann ! Have you done a home rehab before??

These are great questions you're asking @Benjamin Stacey ! 

Here are my thoughts: 

1. Will you have lived in the property for 2 years by the time you move out?
If so potentially worth taking what gains you might have as tax-free capital gains and selling the property if you can get out a little more than you put into it? Unless you really like the idea of having a rental in this area! Then ignore my first comment entirely!

2. You say you're finishing out the basement, is there any chance to divide this property into an up down duplex? Even if the lower level is small? I don't know your market well at all (I am in Colorado) but even a couple hundred extra a month from an additional LTR in the basement could make this worth it to hold on to given the situation you're in. For up/down duplexes, I would ALWAYS spring for full sized windows in the downstairs if you can, and of course the required egress windows in bedrooms at a minimum. Bedroom or studio, full bath, kitchenette, as much nice lighting as possible.

3. Have you considered/is there a market for Mid-term rentals in this area? Maybe there's military nearby or hospitals or universities? Anywhere that people get assigned temporarily or have seasonal demand could make for a good mid term rental. Check out furnishedfinder.com to see if there's many MTR in your area and what the going rate for them is. Mid term rentals are usually 3+ months and you can list on VRBO, FurnishedFinder, & Airbnb. BP Podcasts have a couple great episodes on mid-term rentals which is how I got into them. 

Also paging @Garrett Brown the STR specialist to see if he has any insight to this area or advice on how to get to one of the top STRs in your neck of the woods.

Just got my hands on Devon Kennard's new book "Real Estate Side Hustle" last week, and I'm eagerly awaiting James Dainard's "House Flipping Framework" next month. AND I just finished "Scaling Smart" by the Fettke's a couple of weeks ago. SO many great books being put out by the BiggerPockets Publishing team. It's really awesome to see, while I love the podcasts, it's great to have such great deep-dive information on specific topics all in one place.

So this week, I'm wondering, what topic are you most eager to learn about before 2024 ends?

Have you considered using the free pre-application questionnaire instead of google forms though? There’s two options on RentRedi as far as I know, you can have folks fill out a pre-screen questionnaire that is free and it then inputs them into RentRedi for you so you can easily keep track. And then once you’ve showed people the place you can look at the people who filled out the pre screen and click “invite to apply” - that’s the part that costs them a little $ and does background check. 

But it seems like your process could be made easier by just sending out the free pre-screen questionnaire instead of google forms?  

 Are you a BiggerPockets pro member? If so I'd recommend looking at RentRedi, it's free for pro members and it has a free prescreening application, and also does credit and background checks through the platform that the applicants pay for. In my experience it helps keep pre-applicants organized and is an actual sight with a google-able name so it doesn't seem as scammy.

The background check and credit fee is $30 paid by the prospective tenant but I always tell people applying for my units ahead of time what my credit and background requirements are and that if they pass those qualifications (plus the reference checks) and sign + pay the deposit that I will reimburse them the application fee. But that's just me personally I don't think most landlords offer that reimbursement 

Hi Joseph! Welcome to BP, I hope you find a chance to engage with the community while you're lurking as well! Do you have any questions about the forums or BP tools I can answer for you?

Here's a few tips to get started while you're here

1. Look for the topics that catch your eye in the forums, when you think of a few you're interested in, hit the "follow" button to keep up to date on what is going on in those specific forums.

2. Set up Keyword alerts, since you're in Santa Barbara you can set up an alert for "Santa Barbara" or "Southern California" or "beach" to be alerted when someone posts on the forums that may be relevant or interesting to you!

3. Test drive the tech products - part of the BP pro membership is access to our amazing tools like Market Finder, Deal Finder, Rental Calculators, etc. But some of these tools are also available to test as a free member. Learn how they work now so when the opportunity presents itself, you're ready and know what is available and how to use them

4. Check the in person events and meetups in your local area, our online community is full of knowledge and folks willing to share and still nothing replaces the opportunity to interact IRL, you never know who you will meet and where that can take you on your REI journey.

PS if you're really fired up about starting your journey, take a look at our BPCON 2024, it's in Cancun October 6-8th and it may feel like diving into the deep end but making that investment in yourself and your REI education can make a monumental impact as you get started! https://biggerpockets.getregistered.net/conference-2024?utm_...

I'm Rene and I'm a community manager here at BP so feel free to reach out at any time!

Cheers!

 I think a lot of folks here responding are losing sight of the point of what you're saying which is that you plan to raise rent because you know you need to charge market rent AND also that you feel saddened by the fact that this is at the expense of a woman who is living there. And it's totally valid for you to feel that way!! 

It's human of you to feel guilty and I don't think you need to "just hire a property manager" like the other comments have said. If you want to hire a PM then by all means, hire a PM, but having some humility and realizing that you are in a position of power over this tenant does NOT mean you need to hire a PM immediately. You're a commercial landlord, being a landlord is a type of business, and sometimes business owners have to make decisions they don't like for the good of the business. 

This woman might not be able to afford your apartment currently, some people might consider your apartment a steal of a price, and others will stretch their budget to be able to afford it. That's just the fact of the matter, and I think you having humility and empathy will make you a good landlord because you are dealing with people's homes where they should feel safe and comfortable and you seem to understand that this is more than just a normal business.

 There are a ton of us property owners on the forums! However when you think about the number of active people on the forums vs the number who are in that specific area and have hired property managers (meaning they're not self-managing) the pool gets a bit small. 

I would say the forums can sometimes have good conversations about localities but finding info for a very specific need in a very specific town is going to be harder and not garner quite as many responses. Here are the recs I can give you:

1. Set keyword alerts for your area, try Euclid, and maybe a couple other neighboring towns. How to set keyword alerts on BiggerPockets here: 

https://app.tango.us/app/workflow/Setting-Up-Keyword-Alerts-on-BiggerPockets-bf910b235a4a4d2fbcbffafaa0fe3cf7

If you set keyword alerts you're more likely to find others talking about your area and I suggest reaching out to them individually if they seem knowledgable 

2. Do your research on the forums for general tips on hiring a PM, what to look for, what to look out for, good stories, bad stories, learn from others about their experiences with all kinds of PMs all over the place and take what you learn when you're speaking to PMs in your area so you can more easily see red flags, or green flags!

3. Take a look at the Property Manager Finder to find PMs in your area to interview https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/property-manag...

I just went under contract this weekend for what will be my first BRRRR, and I'm as excited as I am nervous. The place is a mess but I'm excited to see what it becomes. It's a 2 bed 1 bath ~900 sq/ft condo and the entire thing is painted black & dark blue right now.

I have two other rentals in the area and I use Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams for all my rentals to make paint touch ups easy, so I plan to paint this one the same. I'm going to need a great coat of primer, and then I'll paint the walls with Alabaster. 

Since I have to do the entire place, and it's unfurnished I figured this would be the perfect time to paint and then do touch ups later. I'm a very DIY investor and I want to invest in a good painting set up. What would you recommend a good paint sprayer, or a power roller to do all the walls in this 900 sq ft place? If you recommend one over the other do you have brands or types you recommend? Thank you!

Photos of the place as is:

I would strongly recommend looking at the BiggerPockets lender finder since all those lenders are familiar with the investor mindset even if this is for a primary residence :)

https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/lenders