All Forum Posts by: Michael X. Wang

Josh. Just be careful. I'm seeing a ton of investors (even somewhat seasoned ones) overpay by a lot, for rentals that aren't going to produce what they think they're going to produce and the fact that those rentals also need a lot of CapEx. I'm almost thinking about selling some of mine because of all the crazy prices that some of them have gotten.

1. Keep the deposit. 

2. Tell them you can work out a situation where they can leave early but they can mitigate damages to where you're out $0. So they pay until when a new tenant starts to pay on a lease, pay for utilities and upkeep (mowing) until then and any turn fees associated. 

3. Or negotiate a lump sum that they can just pay and be done with the lease. 

In KY, all judges will grant landlord #2 scenario because it's fair to both sides. But sometimes I offer #3 as a way for them just to cut ties completely without being nickel and dimed.

They gave you 90 days so you should be able to find a tenant with minimal downtime? 

You should be fine with an Excel file. I know the modern day trend is to sign up with a property management software, which is great, but an Excel spreadsheet done right is great too. I've been doing this 16 years and have over 1200 units under my management (120 or so I own myself) and have never invested in any property management software. I have a beefed up excel file that I use that my clients love. My big investors, I will also provide them a QuickBooks file for easier reporting but my excel file is my baby. Even for my own 120 units.

Josh. It's an exciting time to be starting out in the investment world, but there are many pitfalls that new investors can encounter.  I've been doing real estate and property management since 2004 and have around 1200 units under management (120 of which I own myself).  Let me know if you have any questions that I can help with.

So far, both April and May, for my property management company (and the units that I own) have not been too bad.  Out of around 1200 units, we only have maybe 5-7 that are taking advantage of the no eviction policy.  Everyone else is making an attempt, but we've also been educating and counseling a lot of tenants on what bills to pay and what to put off and where to get some assistance.  We've also made more collection calls in the past 2 months than we have the entire previous year combined.