All Forum Posts by: Mark F.

Quote from @Greg M.:

Quote from @Steve K.:

Send'em to a collections agency. They take a high percentage but a low percentage of something is better than nothing. Totally worth it. I've had bum tenants pay up several times just by notifying them that the next step is me contacting a collections agency.  

I have no idea why the landlords on this forum are so adverse to going after deadbeats. If you listen to the average poster here, you'd think that there was a near zero chance of getting any money from a deadbeat and you're going to waste 100 hours trying. Yet, there is an entire industry dedicated to going after deadbeats and collecting and your total amount of time can be 2 hours including court.

 Everytime I say this on the BP fb group I get attacked. As if I'm spending every waking hour of my life hunting this person down for a dollar fitty. The court system isn't that difficult and like you said, it's just an appearance then send their info to collections. I even heard Brandon Turner I think say how they did that with a contractor and years later the guy paid as he wanted a new car or something. Not rocket science and can absolutely pay you back.

Quote from @Jason Hirko:

@Jose Campos Your properties are always top notch! I'm sure you'll be able to rent it again quickly.

I would also ask to speak with his/her CO and ask for their assurance that the tenant will leave the place spotless. That goes a long way if the tenant knows his CO will make his life hell if he gets a call from the old landlord saying his guy trashed the place on the way out

Dont do this. The only reason to call their CO is IF they failed to pay rent or trashed the place AND didn't have enough I'm their security deposit to cover the costs. The CO doesn't need a landlord calling them to get reassurance their solider/sailor/airman will clean up after themselves. I see you won't be doing that as it's just a horrible idea. 

Just.... no.

Quote from @Greg M.:

For the millionth time, there is NOT a lack of housing. There is increasing demand for housing in certain areas where the new supply does not keep up with the demand. There is nothing in the Biden bill that would help change this. They either need to do things that will stimulate housing growth (no/low interest loans to builders in certain areas; tax incentives to builders; removal of the political blocks to build; incentives to homeowners to build and rent an ADU or split their property into a duplex; promoting mixed use properties; providing funds for transitioning commercial properties into residential; etc) or they need to convince people to move elsewhere / not move to the crowded areas. They can do this by luring companies to certain areas or offering tax incentives. And also by not implementing things like rent control, S8, free phones/food/etc and allow prices to rise to the point those on the lower economic end give up and move.

The only thing this Bill would do if passed is drive more landlords out of the business, reduce construction of new units, and cause rent to go higher. It would encourage landlords not to put money into their existing units and therefore contribute to their falling quality as well as lower tax revenues and GDP. 

Thankfully, I don't see it ever passing the House. I'm not even sure it could pass the Senate as it only takes 2 D's to understand that rent control doesn't work. 

 I f'ing love your posts. So much common sense a politicians head would explode if they read it. This proposal = trash. Don't think I need to beat a dead horse.

It's how I picked up property #2. What's the problem? This means there's less traffic and attention. David Greene even touched on this on the latest podcast #718 I believe.

Houses that have a s hitty realtor who does a horrible job making a listing means your offer is going to be more competitive. People like you will say "oh man I don't even want to bother getting more info" and move right along. So other investors will come in and put in a little work to see if the deals worth it.

To work around this you just contact the agent and go see it. Run your numbers assuming it needs at minimum paint and flooring, new kitchen and bathroom. Then you base your offer on how much you have to dump in. Simple as that.

About half those speakers are going to charge BP into the 7 figures just to get on stage and say "Just do more, dream bigger!" But I'm not going to BPCON so what do I know.

Quote from @Brittany Barchalk:

 Theres some good info in this recent thread on the exact same topic.

In short, I invest in AHP funds (old threads on here) and 7E Investments fund. Semi happy with AHP, very happy with 7E Investments fund.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

I'm not an STR owner but stay in them and have (had) dogs. I always paid extra and was happy to. Theres always a need for pet friendly airbnbs and we're willing to pay extra to have them on our vacations and trips. There's shi tty dog owners and good ones. Just make sure you charge accordingly and pet proof your place as much as you can. Carpet is a no go IMO.

Acknowledging and fixing legitimate issues quickly, even by just communicating with the tenant, goes a long way. My tenants appreciate it and pay it back in kind. The bar is very low for landlords. Ive rented before where property managers can take weeks just to respond back to an issue. Differentiating yourself from a slumlord helps. I know not every tenant cares but most are normal people who want a clean place to stay. We come here to complain about the other 5%.

Increasing rents small amounts (1% to 5%) is not that big of a deal. Even larger amounts on below market rents hasnt been an issue, yet. Years ago when I did it for the first time, I was so nervous. The tenants seem to expect them due to rising property taxes and insurance.

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

I've invested in 3 funds by AHP, AHP Servicing, AHP Title and Pre REO. 8% to 10% returns. They pay 8% now and have one at 9%. Holds up your tax return as they take a while to send out K1s. There's a thread on here but mostly good experiences. I've pulled some of money out which can take months.

I've also been invested in @Chris Seveney fund for a few months via my SDIRA. No complaints, pays 8% monthly and you can look up details on his website, podcast or YouTube channel. Their staff is very responsive I've noticed as well. I plan on investing more in the future.

Both allow non accredited investors. Theres an awesome 2 hour podcast episode on BP money with J Scott where he goes over picking a syndication/fund. A must listen to before investing. I'm so nice I did the leg work for you.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

 I agree, I enjoy hearing about peoples mistakes as I take more away on what not to do, than all the people who share their success story.

I'll be honest though, a lot of the podcast and books I read are not very nitty gritty with specific tips and tricks. I've never heard specifically the things I've mentioned. Any recommendations on real estate podcast that get into that topic? I listen to the big ones, BP RE, The Real Estate Guys Radio, and more that talk about RE news/data/trends.

They mainly seem to be more 10,000 foot view and how they got there or managerial/scaling tips. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I know I do hear and read a lot as well "there's only so much you can listen to and read, the rest you learn as you go".