All Forum Posts by: Michael Kay

Hey, Friends!

I have a Fourplex closing soon in Dutchtown. Tell me your favorite Property management firm that also does project management? I want to upgrade the units in time.

--michael

@Hadar Orkibi, I don't invest there and maybe won't but I did grow up there. 

True, it is a longer list so I tried to keep the dance to under 20 minutes. A good PM's time is valuable

Hi, Friends!

I recently started interviewing different PM for a new property and decided to use @Brandon Turner's list of questions from his book, The Book on Rental Property Investing. I've copied it down here in a list for people to use. 

One thing about interviewing is to not blindly repeat the questions and write down whatever is said. It's sort of a dance and requires 100% attention and active listening.

When I want to interview a new PM, I duplicate the Google Keep note where I store this list and rename it "<PM Firm> Interview". This makes it easier to sort through the responses.

1. What are your management fees?
2. How do you communicate with owners?
3. How frequently? What about?
4. How many properties do you manage?
5. How long have you been a property manager?
6. Are we locked into a contract with you?
7. If Yes, how does that work and for how long?
8. How many evictions do you typically have each month?
9. What kind of reserves do you or your company require?
10. how long does a typical tenant stay in a property?
11. how long do properties stay vacant?
12. How do you screen your tenants?
13. Do you accept people who have had an eviction on their record?
14. How do you handle maintenance requests?
15. Is there a min charge for a maintenance visit?
16. What do you if a tenant doesn't pay rent?
17. How do you market vacant properties?

I did add one question to Brandon's list of questions: Would you refer people who want to sell their rental properties to me?

What questions would you add to this list?

@Lydia R. I don't think it'd have to be in real time. If the mean-time a house stays in run-down condition is long enough I can possibly estimate the current condition. 

It'd be kind of like a sales funnel. Given that I identified 100 candidate properties, what percentage are currently not-fixedup. Given that number, what percentage are ready to get sold, etc.

It wouldn't solve wholesaling but it could automate a large part of it -- the search. 

@Lydia R. Sometimes they are indeed old. The date is usually on the street view image at least. 

As far as driving by, I can't -- it's out of state. 

What I'm thinking of now, is how to make software do this for me -- recognize a derelict house. 

Hi!

I found a bank owned repossession property that I'm interested in rehabbing.

I'm looking for your best agent! Send them my way!

@ron the maps can be month old that sometimes houses just sit around there like for a long long time. Besides the one time I tried it it seems to have worked.

Hardhard money lenders will look more at the property and opportunities with ARV. It's not at all like a conventional loan mortgage. They're going to want you to put some skin in the game have a minimum credit score and your experience.

Really bring your game for calculating the arv! 

If this is your first deal then you may find difficulty in getting a hard money lender but it's always good to try.

Hi!

If you had to guess which properties in this picture was distressed, which one would it be?

The one with all the junk in the back yard!

I may have gotten lucky so I did a reverse address search via google maps. I can see from Google Street View there's tons of garbage in the front yard, too. Just junk lying around, plastic crates, dirty old piss jugs(!), and worn out appliances. It turns out that, yes,  this property is in foreclosure. Nearby homes sell for quite a bit more than the bank is asking for, also! I know from the area that $50k will buy an average home remodel. It could pass the %70 test.

I once ran a survey for a product idea (Software and product management by trade) and discovered that a lot of people will just browse around google maps for fun. Why not put that hobby to use?

Some other ideas to look for

• Over grown and dead vegetation when it's apparent the images were taken in a summer
• Green or empty pools in the back yard
  • Fun fact: Back in the 2000's and early 2010s after the crash, kids would use google maps to find houses that were empty and go crash them, have a party, and take off
• Junk in the back yard
• Dingy and worn out roofs