All Forum Posts by: Matt McKinney

If it helps I got my start house hacking when I was fresh out of college. I bought a 4 unit town house with a 3.5% down FHA loan. I lived in one unit for 2 years rented out the other 3 then moved on to another 4 unit and did it a second time. Once I had more money to put down and landlord experience under my belt financing was much easier to get.

BTW I’m in Frisco too.

Welcome! I’m in Dallas area too. Moved here from VA. Not a lot of multi families here. Well at least any available for a good price. Dallas can’t keep up with the population and prices are inflated. I’ve heard grumblings that it looks like it’s starting to come down. So maybe hold off a bit and see what the market does it shot pretty high pretty fast and most of my colleagues believe we’re seeing a correction.

Up until this point my sweet spot has been 4 unit townhouses that I’ve financed with 20% Down from big banks (Wells Fargo mostly) on average I pay about 200k per property. I have several buildings all spread out and would like to move on to a bigger deal. I’ve found a deal I’m drooling over. The asking price and appraisal is 2.5 million but The seller told me he’d sell it for 2.2. Is there a way to finance something like this with 10% of my own cash or get the capital in a different way like asking the seller for down payment assistance? Is that a red flag for lenders? It’s a 47 unit building that is fully leased and stabilized. I just don’t know how people finance big deals unless the only answer is they have big money.

This post is why I only invest in red states. Strong red. Texas, Tennessee, Indiana and Oklahoma are my favorites.

I’m in the same boat. I have properties in different states with different managers. I hired a book keeper that specializes in real estate. She has a degree in accounting and has worked in accounting firms and major real estate companies for years. She doesn’t offer tax advice. She doesn’t do taxes either. She doesn’t have anything to do with handling money. So if you’re looking for those things a CPA is best.Her role is mainly that of an assistant. She logs everything in Quick Books and makes a monthly report combining all expenses and income so I can easily see the big picture and then breaks it down so I can see where my strengths and weaknesses are. She keeps records and receipts and will double check all of the maintenance expenses. She always keeps a running total of year to date expenses and sends her closing statement to my CPA every year. She’s caught several errors on the PM side. Mainly double billing for maintenance. Is that the kind of service you’re looking for? Message me if you want the info for the woman that keeps my books in check. My CPA wanted $100 an hour for this service but actually recommended the girl I use now. I pay her $25.

So each unit rents for $450-$475? You can find better deals.

My rentals are mostly multi family buildings with one single family thrown in. I hired a property manager for that property (as well as 12 other units) recently the market is booming and the tenants lease is up. I decided to sell so I could put the money in a stronger investment. Informed the property manager I would not be renewing their lease and intended to sell in early March. I enlisted the help of a good friend and realtor and she recommended I reach out to the tenants to see if they had any interest in purchasing before signing all the real estate paperwork and saving $ in commissions. On my monthly statements it lists the name of the tenant so from that I looked up their info on google. It’s all public record. I called them and explained I was the owner of the home and was offering them first right of refusal since the property was going up for sale as soon as their lease is up May 1. They were nice enough but said they had no interest in buying. Today the manager calls me and is ticked off. She said they were angry and called her and said they didn’t appreciate me calling them and demanded to know how I got their info. She said all communication has to go through her and they never give out tenant information. I told her I looked it up and it’s my house so I should have access to it if I wanted it. The contract with the property manager doesn’t say anything about them being entitled m to a cut of the sale if The tenants end up buying it so I wasn’t cutting her out. She wouldn’t get anything if she would have made the call and they did buy. So who is right here? Do I have a right to know contact info of the people in my rental or does it violate their privacy. The contract also says nothing about me having info or contacting tenants it’s a really basic two page contract.

I have a property that had a basement flood. I had a restoration team come out to address the problem. They put about 12 large fans and dehumidifiers all throughout the basement and left them run continuously for 8 days. The issue was finally resolved and I moved on from it. However, my tenants are now claiming that their electricity bill is $900. They say it's never been over $300 before and are asking me to either deduct $600 from the rent or pay the bill. As a landlord do I have any obligation to pay their bill? They have not been the best tenants. They've been a few days late on their rent a handful of times.