All Forum Posts by: MIchael Rickerd

As a Structural Engineer for my day job, I am 99.99% certain that that 4x4 is a structural member.

I would have had that replaced yesterday. Thankfully it isn't snowing quite yet.

Filipe, Congratulations on your decision to retire at the ripe age of 24. I am definitely in the 'happiness' camp as well, and can see the value in you leaving the 9-5.

I have a question that I personally think is the difference maker. How did you come up with the initial cash? How did you go from nothing after school, and then nothing after your first acquisition, to having tons of cash on hand, to the level that you no longer budget for things on a monthly basis, so quickly?

This is what is interesting to me. Because that's the tricky part in my opinion. I am never surprised when someone with 100-200k in cash ups and buys a handful of houses or apartments. That's common sense and easy to me.

Also, I am more in the Joe camp personally. Am I one of the few who is unimpressed with someone who can make 3k a month in cashflow? That is not really life altering money when it comes to the big picture. If that limited amount of money was enough to retire, I could have 'retired' the day I married my wife (business owner). To me, while my earned income has been replaced with cashflow, my ability to extend myself into new ventures is seriously limited if I try to grow my businesses and live off of that cashflow at the same time. Hence why I am in the 'keep that steady W2 career for as long as you can".

I do not personally know your position, or the work environment you elected to leave behind, so my opinions/thoughts could be completely off base. I'd love to hear your response.

At my age (28 years old) I am in the camp that I have not earned the privilege of retiring just yet. I still have more work to do. 

I gotta lot of mofo's to prove wrong!

But in all seriousness, I am not into REI directly for the money, or the prestige, or the financial security. Sure, these are natural byproducts of doing what we all do, but I am really, truly into REI for the experiences of life.

Whether that experience is sitting on a beautiful beach with my wife, or if that experience is fixing a leaky faucet in one of my rentals, or renting to upstanding, wealthy, Class A tenants, or dealing with a low income, but hard working tenant, who is having temporary financial issues. 

All of these things are experiences to me, both good and bad, desirable and undesirable, but experiences nonetheless. And to me, that is what life is truly about. 

Your whole argument is based on substandard housing being inferior to no housing, yet you only provide evidence supporting your position. Come on man. You're better than that.

Here's another real life example (terribly tragic I might add. I was shocked/appalled to hear of this when it happened). Let's think about the homeless man, outside of Paradise Valley Mall in Phx AZ who was chained to a metal bench and then lit on fire by teenagers.

His death was truly tragic and the kids that did it deserve a special kind of punishment. But the point I want to make from this graphic story is that would this have happened if the homeless man had been living in a home? Even if that home had holes in the floor/exposed wiring/no heat/etc.??

I don't think so. How would you explain this trade off? Or any of the other trades that have to be made when someone is homeless and is the victim of brutal violence or the biting cold and freezing wind?

If you're going to condemn Cody for what he is saying, at least present a fair and balanced post.

Where's the 'guy eating popcorn' emoji on this forum!?!

This is gonna be good.

@Dylan Hearn

Send me a PM if you want to connect. I am a relatively new Flagstaff Buy and Hold investor. I think you're on the right track, with the right attitude, but your current analysis seems a bit minimal to me.

This place is definitely highly profitable due to NAU. 

 OP, this information is incorrect.

In AZ you only have 14 days to return a tenants security deposit, not the 30 day limit that is common in other parts of the country.

Tenant/Landlord laws for AZ is something you should be very familiar with.

I'd argue that this is your fault. Stop playing the blame game and feeling like a victim who was 'set up' for failure. That mentality will get you nowhere. Understand that your failure to perform your due diligence, a trait that is a necessity as a landlord, got you into this situation. Let this be a lesson for future purchases with inherited tenants. 

See this situation as a means to take responsibility for your situation. See it as a means to growth and becoming a more sophisticated and efficient landlord. This mentality will take you somewhere, most assuredly.

Good luck with your situation. If it comes down to an eviction (that would be my route, without a second thought) I hope you have a speedy and pain free removal.

Non-refundable pet fee at lease signing, definitely.

Monthly 'pet rent', definitely.

Do not budge! If I had a tenant negotiating with me about one of my properties and the requirements I imposed I would not rent to them. That is a terrible foot to start off on, letting them manipulate you before they even live in your house! You need to train your tenants. Also, even bringing up the fact that you are considering budging may mean you need to have a sit down with yourself, and really look inside to see if you have what it takes to be a landlord.

Remember, be firm, fair and friendly. This includes both your interactions with your tenants, and with yourself.

Here's an excellent tool that I use when posting online about anything (i.e. selling cars, household goods, renting out rooms/houses, etc.). I put myself into the buyers/prospective tenants shoes and do a bit of research to find ads for similar things to what I am offering, and I take note of the types of ads that I see that make me want to buy/rent whatever the person is selling. 

I take note of what the ad included, the level of detail, the types of pictures, etc. that make me want it. And then I duplicate what I see for my own situation. This works well for me. I'll rent out a room in two-three days, using this strategy, way before the end of the month.

Also, to counterpoint Andrews point above, I would never leave out important information in the rental ad. Perhaps it's my current faulty way of thinking, but leaving out the rental amount seems insane. Why oh why would you want to deal with a multitude of calls about something like how much it rents for? Unless you are really intent on spending your time taking random dead end phone calls full of stupid questions, I'd make your ad as informative as possible.

I include all pertinent information in my rental ads. I want whoever is going to contact me to know that their background, eviction history, and finances will be checked/verified. I want them to know the move-in amount, and that it has to be paid in full prior to move-in. I want them to know my pet policy, my no smoking policy, etc. before they ever take the time to contact me. No sense in dealing with people who think that somehow the rent will be hundreds of dollars below market value, and that there is no security deposit, because you didn't put that crucial piece of information in the ad.