All Forum Posts by: Mary M.

Maybe start utilizing escalation clauses (with a ceiling of course) ? 

I always wonder what those folks who are adamant that they would never buy in this type of market are waiting for.....  I only ask as I was one of those "waiting" folks back when a friend bought a small bungalow in the bay area for 400k I was like "no way!!!! i would NEVER pay that much"!  luckily for her she didnt listen to me.....  and just sold for almost 4 times what she paid 15 years ago. ......  

I am very similar to you in thought - I am a capitalist, but I dont believe in unfettered capitalism.  I believe we all should pay our share to help maintain our beautiful country and the citizens within it. 

I dont go out of my way to find tax loop holes, nor do I hire aggressive tax attorneys or CPAs.   I also make sure I pay my fare share in employment taxes by employing myself and contributing that way. 

I honestly feel that for most middle income folks as long as we pay our taxes and try not to dodge them we are paying our share - it is those that hide income or earners that pay no tax that really should be looking at themselves. 

I dont know the answer -  but putting your money in a mattress benefits no one :) 

@Joe Splitrock we have big spiders here but not deadly?.....  

sticky traps are inhumane for a number of reasons - first and foremost they torture the animal that is caught and they die an agonizing death, they chew their limbs off or die of starvation of lack of water....  second: other animals also get stuck and die.  Snap traps are humane generally and generally do a great job getting rid of pests - you have to find the bait that works best...

I wish that humans would think about how their actions harm other inhabitants of this world and treat all living beings with respect - even if you must kill them - do it humanely. 

@James Hamling if me getting my units rented black balls me - so be it. I do a better job than a $15/hr desk person who could care less about my multi million $$ assets.  Fwiw, I rented 5 units while the PMS never even had a showing....  and its not like I didnt give them a chance.  But, I didnt destroy anything....  I used different unit numbers.....  and if the PM were to cry to me about breach of contract I would just point them to the fact that they dont do squat.   They did however get paid for ME leasing the units up....so not sure why they would complain???

I am not a rookie, fwiw ;)  and I will absolutely suggest folks take charge of their assets and get lazy PMs working. 

@Travis Mullen  Dont feel bad - this has been my experience with PMs as well and why I fired them all and self manage.  What you can do while you figure out if you want to fire them,  is "shadow" list the property - just list it on zillow, CL etc and have the folks contact you and you do the showings etc. This will give you a very good idea how bad your PM really is. 

For example my PMs never rented any of my units and I rented them all within a week of listing them for MORE than the PM listed them for. Hence why I fired them...... 

@Juan Camilo Lovera  Welcome to BP and welcome to multi family investing  in the US - My suggestion, since it sounds like you already have some knowledge is to connect with a Commercial Broker. They will have the type of investments you will want.   I use Colliers International https://www.colliers.com  but there are other big agencies that you might contact. 

I would suggest finding a broker that will help you dig in and learn the intricacies of MF  investing and of course the actual location you are looking at.   The broker should be able to help you find mortgage brokers, PMs, etc. 

Good luck :) 

@Jim K. - Glue traps are inhumane and should not ever be used.  (This is not a joke, they torture the poor critter(s) that gets stuck).....   

As for the situation, where is the OPs PM? why are they not interacting with the tenant? 

Also, PMs are notorious for spending far too much of an owners money so OP needs to immediately set limits on what the PM is allowed to approve expense wise - I would set it at 0 (or $50) this way you can approve all expenditures - 

I understand tenants dont like crawly things, and if this were me I would probably have a discussion with them letting them know spiders are good and protect the home from flies and many other not good insects.  But I dot think I would spray any kind of poison.....

In general I like to be there for any and all work.  It is my asset and it is my responsibility to ensure the worker does a good job.  I also have learned that workers like to chit chat and I prefer they chit chat with me and not my tenants,  as that can breed tenant dissatisfaction (workers sometimes like to talk about the quality of the workmanship , how systems might be made better, all sorts of things that tenants dont need to know) ...

I will schedule the work for a time that works for me.  This system has improved the quality of work and I rarely have to have something re repaired. 

Hey so great that you are starting your RE journey!   There will be a difference in process for a purchase with 4 or fewer units and one with more than 5.   The more than 5 units will be commercial funding...  and that is a whole different ball game altho totally doable....  I own an 8 and a12 unit building  - both with commercial financing. 

You might end up with a commercial agent and a SFH agent which might make things cumbersome ?

Also, doing a rehab OOS is not something I would want to try even tho I have experience rehabbing. So many things can go wrong.   Also, for commercial funding they will want the property 90% occupied for at least 90 days before they will put a regular loan on it.....   but there are other loan options. 

You might contact a commercial agent and a commercial loan broker to see what is possible! Good luck! 



eta: silly broken "n" makes for fun reading!

@Pat Goodyear Call your local housing authority or 211 (if you have that) and see if there are resources to help pay your tenants rent. Do it asap maybe google today to see what you can find as the programs appear to be closing.......