All Forum Posts by: Marshall Easlick

@Brian Tootle, don't be scared of it. Make sure you have a solid property manager before you move and you should be alright. Also, make sure you call around to a lot of different managers because cost and quality vary wildly even within small markets.

Just an example: Like you, I moved out of my primary residence into another house and kept the first one as a SFR. I searched Google and chose the management company that I had rented from in the past based on that experience and their Google rating of 4.6 stars (there was logic behind this but I won't get into it). It has been one year, so lease renewals are up. I decided to shop around instead of settling for the one I had been using and the first place I called sounded better than the existing one. The second one I called sounded even better!

Existing company:

11% per month management fee

10% additional lease renewal fee

35% additional re-leasing fee

I would pay 46% of the first month's rent in fees when signing a new tenant.

Second phone call company:

10% Management fee

No other fees whatsoever

PLUS, the owner has his own investment properties.

Just some advice, shop around because rates vary a lot even in small markets.

@Shirley Frias, it's a big time commitment at 280+ hours but I suggest that you listen to every single BiggerPockets podcast. Listen to them at increased speed or whatever you need to do, but they are invaluable to a newbie. Start with number one, and work your way through. Despite each guest having a different niche or strategy, you will notice that patterns develop from guest to guest and after a while you'll be able to predict answers to questions based on what you've already learned.

You can spend just as much time reading forums or books but, for me, it's easy to get overwhelmed by this proposition because there is not a linear path to the knowledge and there is just so much... a lot of it redundant.

Josh, Brandon, Mindy, Scott, and Dave do a great job (usually) of keeping the podcast interviews on track and they follow a pretty rigid, predictable format. This makes it more linear, easy to digest, and you get 280 different stories from start to end.

Warning: don't start with the Grant Cardon podcasts. He's an amazing person, but... just don't start there.

@Jay Hinrichs This may be a little off topic, but I am surprised to hear you say that paying the property off is a good course of action... especially at 0% financing. I know you're a big presence on BP but I haven't read a lot of your posts (great podcast by the way), so I don't know your stance on leverage. However, I see a lot of people suggest leveraging, especially in the early stages of an investment career. Why do you think it would be a good idea to pay the property off early instead of using that extra cash to remodel/renovate the cottages and get them closer to market rents?

@Courtney Fricke, that deal sounds almost too good to be true. Have you done due diligence on the property? I am not trying to talk you out of it but one thing I have learned is that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. 

You mentioned that there are 4 lots; is there a possibility to get the other two lots at some point? Or am I reading that wrong?

Shane, does the property already have th3 HVAC installed? ie ducting, registers, and all of that? If so, you may consider installing A.C. Here are some other things to consider: would you be able to get more rent if you had A.C.? How long would it take for the increase in rent to pay for the AC unit? If this length of time is more than the life of the AC unit, you may not want to do it. Do the other houses in your area at your rental price point have AC? Regardless of anyone's political views, the earth is in a trend in which it will get warmer every year. Is your area seeing this? I have a single family rental that was built in 2014, so all of the hookups and everything was there for an AC unit. I found a contractor that was able to i stall it very cheaply. Before installing the AC unit, I had multiple showings that said they didn't want to rent it because it did not have an AC unit. I had scheduled to have the unit installed, re-listed it as 'with AC',

Nicholas, just another follow up. I just spoke with Jim Stegner of Stegner Property Management in Fort Collins and out of three that I have mentioned so far, I would go with his company. Good luck!

One more thing, Nicholas. I spoke with AllCounty yesterday and they seem like a great company, too. They have one office in Fort Collins and one in Boulder.

@Nicholas Denning, I have been using Henderson Property Management for three separate houses over a single lease term for each one (one year). When I first signed on with them they had a rockstar property manager named Jessica Brunk she was amazing in every aspect. However, the company has very recently undergone some internal restructuring and Jessica is no longer with them. Since the restructuring, I am not happy with their service. Here's why:

The new manager has a generic email address and I don't actually know who I am talking to.

It seems like the new company structure hes left my new manager with way more work load than she can handle, which isn't to say anything bad about her but it makes me question if I should keep my business with them.

Communication is slower, usually within 48 hours but sometimes the conversation just dies and I have to remind her that I still had an unanswered question.

There are things that should be communicated to me before they happen but I don't hear a word until afterward. ie lease renewals (kind of a big deal).

They charge 11% for a single property and discount that by one percent for each additional house and the discounted rate is applied to all properties. So, I have three houses and I pay 9%. They are expensive.

On the plus side, they have a huge marketing machine and I feel very comfortable that they will have enough potential renters looking at the property that it will be rented with little to no vacancy. Luckily, these houses are all new-ish and they are basically maintenance free for now, otherwise I would need more attention and I don't think that Henderson would provide the service that that would be needed.

Instead of renewing my contract with them, I am considering paying them just to lease it out and managing it myself from there. I am going to start looking at other property management companies right now and I will start with Stegner Property Management.

Another alternative: balance transfers to 0% interest credit cards, which may be simpler or it may not apply to your situation. Some things to consider:

1. What is your credit score? From my experience, those 0% balance transfers are offered to people with a "Good" credit score.

2. Will you need a good credit score in the near future? Applying for credit cards will reduce your credit score and so will having additional revolving credit (credit cards).

3. How much debt do you have? In my experience, opening these 0% credit cards only gives you a $3,500 to $5,000 line of credit on each card, so you may have to open a few.

4. Do the numbers work? There are balance transfer fees of 3% to 4% of the total balance transferred, which are rolled into the new line of credit ( slightly reducing how much you can actually transfer to the new card).

As Carson was talking about, compare the money savings benefit to how much the transfers will cost you. ****It is very important to pay these cards off before the end of the introductory 0% interest term, otherwise they will nail you with all of the back interest.**** I learned that lesson the hard way but I was able to reduce the interest in half by offering to pay the entire balance immediately.

I hope this helps! Good luck.

@Bill S., these links have EXACTLY what I need! Wow! Thank you so much for your help! 

So, here is the story: I read a book called Timing the Real Estate Market and the author gives a mathematical approach to timing the market that uses 5 metrics and moving twelve month averages to keep track of what the trends are. I am trying to compile all of this data so I can keep track of the trend and possibly use it for some capital gains in the future.

The 5 metrics are:

existing-home sales

new home building permits

mortgage loan defaults

foreclosure sales

interest rates

This is the first time I have really dug into data scouting and I think it will be a useful skill set, once developed, because I am looking at getting into note investing in the next 6 months and using the cashflow from those assets to accelerate my SFR buy and hold strategy. Although the due diligence for notes requires different data, it's good to know the different levels of reporting (federal, state, county, city).

I have been following your discussion, @Dave Smith, and I am interested in learning more, too. I have equity in a rental property that I want to access but I am not sure what my strategy is.

This is just a bump.