All Forum Posts by: Levi T.

Anything within NOVA rents just fine. Traffic is a PITA tho, one of the top in the Nation... Problem is that's not really a great of a deal @Luis A. Escudero Burgos. Q Town is on base, right on base. It's a 1BR per unit... According to rentometer, rents are right at the 1k mark per month in Q town, which is about right IMO for the region. I'm in Fredericksburg, and have hundreds of properties all over NOVA. So in theory if you rented both units, you would look at 2k a month in rents, times x100, that's $200,000... which is the absolute most I would way for a property to rent out with those rents. It's on the market because it's not a deal. NOVA is a hot market, lots of competition. As Jessica pointed out, good multi-family deals are hard to come by, people overpay because they get sick of looking and just want to make a deal. Take the time to hunt for a great deal, and you wont regret it!

Originally posted by @Michael Greenberg:

@Shelby Pracht I recently implemented a $15 damaged towel fee spelled out in my listing and rules.  It seems to be working as a deterrent and I've only had to charge it one time.  I use all white towels and linens now as the dark towels fade and bedding discolors and look pretty lousy after heavy usage.  I'm no make-up expert, but I do know they have make-up removers exist and I would hope that guests would be respectful enough to know that make-up does ruin towels (though sometimes they don't care).  So I figure if they don't care, then pay up. :-)

Mike

Agreed. Trying to find the bottom dollar tow is pointless, you may as well start bagged for free towels. Charge them $15 per tow, or bake it into your daily rental rates based on the cost of a tow per day lost or damaged.

We use Appfolio; digital leases, call center, tenant liability insurance, etc. high key recommend it.

@Jay Hinrichs Yup, as it stands that’s where I’m heading. I have plenty of units, always could buy more and likely will, but there is no point after a while when your making more cash than you naturally spend. Pay them down and enjoy life. For now, I just want to enjoy my 40’s riding bicycles, building Property Prospect, and spend time with my kids. It’s good to take the chips off the table from time to time. Best!

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

Originally posted by @Marcus Johnson:

@michael le
It’s not hard. If one individual makes more but does less with his income then he is a underachiever of wealth. Just read read the millionaire next door. I know plenty of earners that don’t make 100k or more that are millionaires. It’s that easy.

 have never read the book.. but I can't see how yearly income relates to one's success.. one who makes more money may do a lot of cool ventures that have nothing to do with real estate that are really rewarding to them.. like charity,, travel.. camping extended time off all sorts of things ( we commonly call smelling the roses).. that can't be measured.

and then of course you have that definite little nugget really depends on where you live and what your basic housing cost are going to be.. someone living in NYC  maybe can barely squeeze by on 500k a year whereas in fly over country or some Mid West MSA were median home prices are 140k and gas is under 2 bucks and food is 20 to 30% cheaper at restaurants etc etc you live like a king on 10k a month.  We do have to factor all that into the equation.

I see it all the time on BP when some folks get on here and say if I can just get 5k a month I can retire and quit my job.. others say 25k a month.. :)

you certainly have misers that spend no money but have no real life experience's and really don't care too.. and you have others that make big money but have lots of great life experiences or to them they are great..

For me personally and I know I am in the vast minority in this.. but to me free in clear assets are a true measure of success not leveraged to your eye balls.  too much risk in max leverage.. free and clear you cant lose those assets and they look great ne your balance sheet.. and allow U or at least me to get some pretty large credit facilities for projects that make Far more than any rental ever would..  Because my bank looks at long term contingent liability .. that is not an asset its a debt..

 Best response I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve know people who made next to nothing, they are down right happy doing what they do. If you wake up in the morning and say this works for you, that’s all that matters.

Live free. Live your dream. Nothing else matters in the end!

The two best ways I’ve found to fatten the bottom line is via fees or reduced turnover or repair cost.

Pet rent, lawn care fees, and things that breakdown due to tenant usage are my go to items.

Number of bedrooms, extra features are only a selling point. In most cases they all rent for about the same price point in the end.

What is the value vs just paying 7k at closing and letting the title company pay off the debt with the same money. It works out the same, likely safer as well.

I’ve stopped tax sale by showing the city a copy of the contract, never got a discount for the seller as far as I can recall.

MLS blows, put it on Zillow's network or CL. You have to keep in mind people want to see it right away, not a week or two later. You have to time it a few days before type thing, 2-3 days for things to wind up, then a few days before showing it. Give yourself room just incase closing does not workout. No big deal otherwise IMO, as long as you will own it shortly without question... otherwise ask the seller if it's ok, if you want to promote it sooner.

Frankly after years of doing this, buying cabinets is a huge waste, unless it’s a high end location. Just paint them and install new hardware. If your missing a faceplate, buy a new one, or rip them off and cut some MDF using the old face plates as a template, that you get at Lowe’s of HD. You will be about of $50-200 said and done, or $500 if you hire a contractor.

Look, anything in life that’s worth doing is going take a lot of work, it’s going to cost some money, and if will always take up a lot of your time. It will work, it just won’t be easy. Start slow, then go faster. I’m not a wholesaler, but I’m a licensed mass marketing buy and holder at a scale most only dream off. I can spend about $300 $1,000 in marketing just to get a deal depending the region, time of year, and people’s mood, but I’ve had years of refining my craft, and tens of thousands spent in figuring it out. You can do anything to raise money to buy real estate. Any old side gig will do the trick. When I started doing mass mailing, I did all my mailing by hand, till I reached 1,000 peaces per mail run, then I automated it. I would send 1-20 letters each day testing my marketing till it got a results I liked. I would keep refining it till I reached a point that it was worth sending thousands of letters. Most newbies make the mistake of blowing their cash all at the start trying to get a big win. Go big or go home right! Only problem is they have no idea what their results will be as they have not put in the ground work like I talked about above. Do your homework, start slow, refine your craft, then go fast!