All Forum Posts by: Mark F.

@Alyssa K. Current active duty as well. If you'd like to message me I could verify if this person is in my AOR.

@Tamir Nachum Outside of the forums, reading the books everyone recommends, podcasts, going to RE meetups in our area, and networking, not really.

The biggest area lately I've gained knowledge and education from was finding my current realtor. He's passed on to me a lot of good information since my offer has been accepted. The caveat to that being I've learned the most since I've been in the process of closing on my first duplex. So the old adage is true, find someone who's more successful than you and try and latch on. Get to the meetups. Be ready to go through 5 or so realtors as most are not investor friendly. 

@Tamir Nachum Couple times a month we have people post saying how frustrating the area is, myself included. You need more than motivation. Patience, networking and education and more patience. Look back thru some of the older threads within the last year to get an understanding on how other people's frustrations are being echoed. Good luck!

@Mary Mitchell I've checked and the only restrictions are "must be reasonable" and has to be given 30 days, no exceptions.

Great thread. Question, how often to raise rent on below market tenant? Right now my inherited tenant is 20% below market value and I'm doing a $50 increase when I take over. Tenant is on M2M lease.

Debating on a 6 month or 1 year wait to increase another $50?

@Nishil Kothary Check meetup.com. Also go into the events and meet up page on biggerpockets.com. Darren Sagger host a meet up that's pretty big but sometimes it's in NJ and others in NYC.

@Nishil Kothary I'm in agreeance with Darren and the others. I would get on a realtors MLS auto email list to get a better idea of numbers and you'll see how quickly things are selling here, and above list price. Zillow and those other websites are slow to update and can be incomplete. From there you can either network at local meetups and look for off market deals or try and snag something off the MLS like I'm currently in the process with.

Theres some older threads from this year that mention this but the takeaway is people are not afraid of overpaying. Just to break even or playing the appreciation game. Stick to the numbers, dont get emotion and be patient. I've spent over a year looking with some time off in between. Good luck!

Question related to this as well. For holding a tenants deposit, would it be okay to have it in the same account I plan on depositing rent and using for general maintenance and cap ex? Wanted to have a separate account just for this duplex and wasn't sure if I should include the tenants deposit in it or just a whole other account completely.

Edit: Using my brain for once, I'm deducting it needs to be a separate account since I have to pay out interest each year (or deduct it from their rent).

@Darren Browne LESA inspections. No affiliation.

http://lesainspections.com/

@Steve K. I agree. I've done this for years. House hacked with friends. Can it be a pain? Yes sometimes. But it's worth it.

OP, SIGN A LEASE! Do not be that person without a lease. All of my friends had zero issues with doing it and it covered my butt. My good friend stopped paying due to lack of job. I reminded him about our lease and he payed me back as soon as possible. We're still friends to this day. Sign. A. Lease.