All Forum Posts by: Michele V.

hahaaa! I love that, Wen!. I once heard a pastor preach about the fact that the scarecrow is placed where the harvest is located, and only the old or more experienced crows know that they are to look for the scarecrow and head TOWARDS it and not away from it to get their dinner.

A lot of very successful people use their fear as a fuel (the same way they use a refusal, a rejection or a failure like a vitamin). Once they perceive a fear, they attack it. In his book about the 10x Rule, Grant Cardone says that he starves fear of time by doing the thing he is most afraid of as quickly or as aggressively as possible. I like that.

I must say I'm not a fan of fear and I don't like living under the torment of it at all. I'm frequently coming against it. But there's definitely a part of me that wonders whether I'm supposed to be doing a particular thing simply because I'm NOT feeling any apprehension about doing it at all.

That said, fear is not a primary motivator for me, although I do see how it can be leveraged for our good.

I like how you are turning your fear (and perhaps some childhood trauma) on its head to make your life into something it never would have been had you not experienced those things (as terrible as they must have been). Thanks for the great post.

Hi everyone, I'm very carefully hashing and re-hashing the reasons that I'm continually drawn to invest in real estate.  I have always been interested in it, and in some ways I am motivated by my desire to have many more options than I have right now.  Also, some years ago, my mother fell seriously ill and it helped that my new job advanced me 3 months of medical leave so that I could be with her.  But I want to be able to live without that job (grateful as I am to have it), and I want to be able to live in such a way that emergencies like that aren't a financial burden.   So that's another one of my whys.  

I recently read that your "why should make you cry."  That helped me clarify some things for myself.  But I'm wondering how some of you might have determined exactly what your why is.  (And, if you would like to share what it is, I'd love to read about it as well.)  Thanks. 

You might know that I'm in the process of updating a property that I plan to rent here in Florida.  Prior to this, the property I mentioned (in Virginia) is the only other place I've rented.  So for that property, I just hired a realtor to help me with the tenant applications and do the background checks.  I really didn't want to meet people b/c I can understand how we get in the messes we get into and I would have found it hard to say no.  So I let the realtor get all the paperwork together (including the background checks) and I screened it from there.  It was worth it to me because I got at least one letter begging me to let a person live there, and that was very hard to bypass.  Frankly, I'm a Christian, and I just had to really pray and ask the Lord for wisdom because I wanted to help the people.  But I had to just say no, based on what I was seeing in their paperwork.  I found that hard to do.  But, while I deeply believe in being a generous giver, I'm still my own favorite charity, you know?  If I wanted to open a facility for people who had fallen on hard times, I would do it -- and get someone else to pay to keep the place running..  

My ideas are a little unusual.  I know you're talking about durable materials etc., but the first thing that comes to mine when I think of tenant-proofing a place is SCREENING.  It is possible to have a tenant to take great care of your property such that all you have to deal with is normal wear and tear.  It really is possible to find people who are responsible and who will take care of your property (almost) as if it were their own.  I believe that because I had tenants some years ago who take amazing care of my property.  But I only found that wonderful family after having turned down several potential tenants whose credit and whose personal situations caused me to have concerns about their viability as a decent tenant.  

Secondly, I really think the more significant your security deposit helps tenant-proof your property (at least to the extent that it calms your nerves when thinking about potential repairs while your tenant is in there.  I'm fixing up a right property right now.  I'm going to take pictures of the place before the tenants move in, show them the pictures and get them (or their parents - they're probably going to be students) to sign off on them.  Then I plan on keeping a close eye on the place (through my property managers, who are my close relatives), and I plan on holding onto that deposit if I have to make repairs that warrant my doing so.  

Third, I'd also recommend durable materials.  

I will say also that I would seriously consider requiring that the tenant have no pets.  I know that sounds harsh.  But so is the smell of cat urine that can't be purged from a home.  I went to a vacant house this summer that my realtor and I came to refer to as the "dog house" because the place absolutely reeked of a very wet, very old dog.  I'm sure the dog was a great friend.  But the house needed major work just to get that odor out of there.  

I was actually discussing the subject of the water bill with my financial adviser just yesterday.  We agreed that when the landlord pays the water bill, the tenant wastes water.  It's like paying for the power bill - when you do that, the tenant will keep the place at 65 degrees while leaving the doors open in the Summertime.  I just bought a place I plan to rent out (as soon as I've completed some renovations), and I have no plans of paying the water bill for my tenant.  

As for the garbage bill, I think the landlord might need to pay for that.  (But I would be open to hear some reasons why the landlord shouldn't... I'm learning too.)

That's great information.  Thanks for the tips, Robert!!

Happy Sunday everyone,

I've just closed on my deal in Davie and am working hard on getting the rehab started so that I can get it rented soon.  

I'm wondering whether my next purchase should be in Tampa.  It seems that I can get more house for a little less.  My objective is to buy and hold for the next 10 - 15 years (my timeline is short).  For this reason I'm wondering whether it might be a better idea to look to Tampa instead of investing in Davie again.  What do you think?  That's my first question.  I'd also appreciate any insights on the following:

* for those who have invested in properties that are out of town or out of state, what challenges did you experience that you perhaps did not expect?  (Understanding that managing the place yourself is arguably the best way to do it, how much of a headache is it when you live far from your investment property and your job keeps you close to home such that you can't personally ensure that the property management company is managing the place well?)

* which areas in Tampa offer stable rental income? (I'd be looking for a place in a decent working class neighborhood where I can rent to responsible grad students, or middle class professionals.)

* are there any areas in Tampa where growth is anticipated? (e.g. I looked at Davie for the place I just closed on in part b/c I know the campus of Nova Southeastern University is preparing to build a hospital soon.)  Also, please let me know of any websites where I can research this if you know of any.  Thanks. 

* if I decide to go this route, I would need a realtor who 1) knows Tampa well, 2) who works with investors, 3) has lots of hustle and is responsive, but also has a HIGH level of integrity, 4) who listens well and doesn't waste their client's time showing them properties they know are higher than the client's price range, AND 5) has patience to walk a client through a deal where the client has an extremely demanding job. These would be important criteria..  any pointers would be appreciated.

thanks so much everyone.  have a great day!!

Thank you, Laureen!  

Very funny, Mike!!  I'm only just seeing your post.  Definitely not trying to work with him. :)

thank you all so much!

thank you thank youuuuu!!  I followed your good counsel: I looked in Yelp for the contractors in Fort Lauderdale and Davie, but found only one with any reviews (it had only a few stars).  None of the others had reviews at all, and very few of them looked like contractors that did ordinary work.  Moved onto to google state bases and public records, but must not have been conducting the best search to locate the contractors.

You like Davie too? The place I'm buying is less than 5 minutes from Nova Southeastern University, which I understand plans to build a hospital within the next few years. I'm not really happy about the fact that there is an HOA fee, but I'm able to make a decent downpayment such that I'm expecting some very decent cash flow. I've been looking for a while and need to lock down some of my income to generate some passive income. Once I get someone living there, I'm plan to save the income and save a little more personally so that I can hurry up and move on to the next rental (possibly within the next several months, unless I decide to wait until the bottom falls out of this market a little ).

Anyway, thanks again for your pointers on the contractors.  I hadn't known how hard it would be to find one.  I like the tip I heard of stopping at the pro counter at the local Home Depot at 6am on a week day morning.  I would have to take the morning off work, but it might turn out to be worth it.