All Forum Posts by: Lisa Stewart

Hopefully you can state simply (and truthfully)  at the end of the showing that you have other interested parties to whom you are showing the property and will let them know in due course.  This is why it is sometimes worth your while to delay your tours until you have several lined up over a weekend, and let parties know you'll be making a decision at the end of the weekend. This is my way of not being forced to rent to the first qualifying party that gets a toe in the door. I have never had a problem with it. Of course your decisions should not be based on discrimination against protected classes.

@Miguel Suarez 

Hey Miguel, I can help you here in Western Michigan, an area that is safe, prosperous, with low crime, good economy and affordable home prices and strong rents. I am based in Grand Rapids. Contact me if I can help you find a great investment property here.

@Miguel Suarez Hi Miguel, The city of Grand Rapids, MI is a great place to invest. Safe smaller city, Craft Beer culture, great job market, and rents are high in relation to prices. Plenty of demand for good rentals. I work with a lot of out of state investors and you can still find great value here, especially for long term buy and hold properties. Things are improving for investors cash flow also with rates dropping a bit. Give me a call if I can help, or shoot me a text. I can steer you towards your next solid investment. 616-540-7132.

Welcome to Michigan, Hunter! I'm an investor-friendly realtor working with people wanting to invest in West Michigan, especially Grand Rapids, Holland and Muskegon and other nearby towns. Please reach out if you want to talk about opportunities here in W Michigan.

I am also a landlord and a member of RPOA. There is an investor group that meets here in GR weekly. They also have other opportunities to meet and they help sponsor some big annual investor conferences in GR in Feb each year. You may want to check them out online and join. 

All of the stuff already mentioned with electrical, plumbing and asbestos, but also, if it has been vacant, make sure the sewer pipe has not collapsed. That can be a nasty and costly surprise ! Scope the pipes to see if there is obstruction as it can cost thousands to dig up and replace, not to mention the cost to the landscaping.

I disagree with you on investing in Michigan, it's a great market for investors based on the rental return you can get in an affordable city like Grand Rapids. However, I find it totally reprehensible that the government can take ALL of the sale proceeds in cases like this. There is something fundamentally wrong with this and it needs to change. They should only be able to take what is owed, plus their costs of recovery. Not a penny more! It's a purely greedy grab by government and it makes me uncomfortable.

@Victor Wasson Sounds like you have a good plan, Victor. I'm a Realtor in the Grand Rapids area and an investor. Please reach out to me if I can help you with property here in Grand Rapids. It's a great market. I'm always keeping an eye on the multifamily inventory.

1. Saved some money to invest.

2. Got some real estate investing education to learn about strategies and avoid pitfalls. Formulated a plan. Set up an LLC.

3. Found below market auction and MLS properties to fix and flip. Worked very hard evenings and weekends on this! Stayed focused and met deadlines I set to finish projects.

4. Bought a vacant duplex very cheap, fixed it and rented it out.

5. Found a portfolio lender and took out a HELOC. Cash is still the way to grab the deals when you find them.

6. Kept finding deals and investing.

The key is to get good with knowing your market and negotiating great deals. Don't overpay for anything. Look at the stuff others are passing up. Act in less popular times when sellers may be getting eager to offload the property. Location is always important, but this includes judging when an area is on the way up. Recognizing the signs of that. Overcoming any fear to just get started is important. You will make some mistakes (hopefully not big ones). Keep learning from others and by just doing it!

I'm a GR landlord and always pay the water bill myself, then I bill my tenants based on occupancy in each unit. Eg in a duplex, if 3 live upstairs, and 2 downstairs, upstairs will pay 3/5 of the bill and downstairs 2/5. Since water is billed quarterly it's not a big deal and I've never had trouble collecting it. Usually works out at about $25 -35 per head per quarter.

Basically, you must be an owner/occupier renting out a room in your home to do it here legally.