All Forum Posts by: Margaret Hill

Are there any applications you would recommend to assist in self-management? Since I am located in Michigan and the property is in South Carolina, I had thought a PM company would be best to assist guests with any urgent issues.

Hello BP! I recently purchased a vacation property in Hilton Head Island, SC that is being rented as a short term rental (airbnb, VRBO, etc.) during the times my fiancé and I are not using it. We are using a property management company with a local office on HHI, but they take 25% of our monthly rent plus a few extra fees. At this rate, we are not making any money on the property especially since we purchased it in late August (start of the slow season). 

I have been researching switching to Evolve Property Management as I see they only take a 10% fee. Id like to hear from anyone that has used Evolve, and what your experience has been? My main concern is that I would have to find local housekeeping and maintenance folks and coordinate cleanings/fixes between checkouts or if the guests have any concerns while they are there. As I am located in Michigan, this is not ideal. Does Evolve handle the coordination of these things as well?

We took measurements for the flooring installation, and it seems that about 100sq ft are coming from an addition off the back of the house and the remaining is the attic space which was converted to a bedroom. I am honestly not sure if the addition was permitted or not. How would I find that information? 

Hello!

I’m using a property management company for my rental property, and they recently put the listing on the market. I noticed the square footage listed was significantly lower than what was stated in my appraisal report (715sq ft vs. 1042 sq ft).

When I asked the property manager about this, they said they had to use the square footage listed on the county auditor ARIES site. I feel like this low square footage is deterring potential renters from viewing the property. Does anyone know the process to get the information in ARIES updated? I’m nervous this could lead to an inspection by the city, which in a 100 year old property like mine could potentially open a can of worms.

Hi all,

I put my first rental property on the market last week after spending the past 1.5 months rehabbing.

I’m curious what everyone has seen as the average time a rental spends on the market before finding a tenant? This house is in the Washington Local school district (Trilby neighborhood) and is a 3 bed 1 bath listed at $1000/month.

I’m thinking the holiday season and Covid will also likely affect how soon I see interest in the house.

Hello BP!

I just purchased my first deal and plan to do the BRRR strategy. I and currently in the "Rehab" phase of the plan, and am trying to get all documents together so I am ready to rent as soon as the updates are complete. I'm planning to self-manage this property.

I received a “Rental Property Registration” application in the mail. I reside in Michigan (5 minutes from the Ohio border), and the application states that any property owners residing outside of Ohio must designate an “agent” for the property.

Does anyone know what kind of “agent” this needs to be? Are there companies that provide this service, or can I list my brother as an agent since he lives in Ohio even though he will have nothing to do with the property?

@Craig J. Thanks for your reply, though it confirms my apprehension. Now I’m wondering if it would be better to invest in a turnkey rental property instead so I would not need to wait on material for rehabbing...

Hello BP!

I’m currently on the hunt for my first house to flip. However I am a little nervous about getting my first deal during these strange times.

I am curious if any flippers out there have been experiencing large delays in their projects due to shortages of building materials? For instance, we have been working on building a privacy fence at my primary residence, but keep being delayed as it seems all home improvement stores are out of pickets. They say this is due to the manufacturing plant being down for 4 months because of COVID.

Has anyone started to see delays like this with their projects?

@Steve K. Hi Steve! Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely be trying to find a different creative strategy to fund my investment that is both legal and affordable. At least now I have the facts to argue with people who keep telling me this is a good idea 😊.

@Mikael Winkler Hi Mikael! I totally agree with your plan but right now we are not really looking to leave our primary residence as we really love the location. But we are slowly building some equity for when the day comes that we do sell.

I’ll have to think of another solution to fund my first property as I do not want to wait. I’m now leaning toward taking out a 401k loan for a down payment since this does not affect my Debt to Income.