All Forum Posts by: Liam Goble

Congrats!  4 days off...makes me want to rethink the MBA I'm working towards!

Andrew, Welcome to BP.  This is an awesome community.  I'm not a Mainer, but want to head that direction in the near future.  When I was last looking in the Portland area (~last year), I saw some small multis in Sopo that provided good cash flow, especially if you considered house hacking.  

Welcome to BP.  There are tons of resources and awesome connections to be made.  I invest in Pennsylvania currently, but hope to expand to Maine at some point in the next few years.  

Clean and orderly mean different things to different people.  Some people consider "clean and orderly' to mean a natural meadow while others feel 3 acres of Kentucky blue grass is clean and orderly.  

The stockpiling of materials should be better worded.  Does he mean during construction?  If after construction, is one cord of wood considered 'stockpiling' of materials?

I agree w/ the 'in home business' discussion above. Maybe could be better worded with "A no or low-impact business only", meaning businesses that may be headquartered on the property but do not have high foot traffic and no sign. What if someone runs an online blog from their house? REI business? Online retail w/ drop shipping? Flexible work arrangement?

@Tammy Richards This all makes a bunch more sense now.

Based on your numbers and a calculator I developed, everything looks reasonable.  It looks like it cashflows about $800/month.  

Who pays for the trash or snow removal?

Hey @Tammy Richards, I've been looking for investment properties in Maine.  Maybe next time I'm in the area we can grab coffee?

The numbers you present, are those annual costs?  $1,800/month for insurance seems a little high (or I'm in the wrong industry).  Thanks for the clarification.

I've just had a very similar experience to @Jesse Waters, a small community bank, Reliance Bank in State College, PA didn't really want my business (not in a nasty way, just not asking for my business) until I had 3 years experience. Almost on the anniversary of my LLC's existence, the bank called me to ask if I would consider refinancing everything with them. They offered me 4.5% for 20 years in a 5-year ARM on ~$180k of debt.

Small community banks are the way to go IMO.

@Franklin Spees , I believe that in Pennsylvania, after one year, the max security deposit I can hold is one month's rent.  Definitely check landlord/tenant laws to make sure additional security deposits are OK.  

One of my units needed the subfloor replaced because the tenant's dog didn't go outside and the urine/feces soaked into the subfloor.  The unit had been vacant for 1 year when I bought it (wasn't my tenant).  When I pulled the subfloor out and had it sitting outside to be tossed in the dumpster, the neighbors complained about the smell (as the sun warmed the old subfloor).  After installing 5 sheets of 3/4" subfloor and 1/4" underlayment (original flooring was 1" thick), I have a very tight pet policy.  I have quarterly inspections and charge a pet fee per month.  Other landlords in my area aim for a pet fee of 10% of the monthly rent, which they usually get.

I generally set the parameters on any of my searches to 4br/2ba or 6br/3ba (or any reasonable combination.  This usually helps weed out some SFHs.  It doesn't always work though.  

Small multis have become quite difficult to find in my area.  I'm reaching out to owners of small multis who have owned them for 20+ years to see if anyone is interested in selling.  My assumption is that if they have owned the properties for 20 years, the owners may be ready to retire and could use a large chunk of cash and to eliminate the headache of ownership.

You could market until the lease expires, but what if they leave immediately?  

For better or worse, I want my residents to get ahead in life, just as they are helping me.  I like to increase rent for the 2nd year but then offer a 'discount' if the rent is paid or mailed by the 1st: as in the rent must be postmarked or deposited BY the 1st.  If it is mailed or deposited on the 1st or afterward, they don't get the discount.  The 'discount' is usually the same amount as the rent increase. 

I feel this allows the tenants to get used to the idea of a rent increase while not feeling the pain so long as they pay by the 1st of the month.