All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I wrote a blog post and created an interactive Google Map based on @James Wise Ultimate Guide.  Primarily for my own use but hopefully it's helpful to someone else out there.

Blog post on The Interactive Ultimate Guide To Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods.

This sounds like the BRRRR method.

Why are you bound to a laundry contract you didn’t sign? Shouldn’t it be the sellers problem?

@Anton Ivanov

Good story.  This site has a deluge of posts about people who haven't done a deal or have done one.  And there's a decent number of super experienced folks who answer questions.  What it could use more of are people posting who are beyond the "I'm just figuring out how to start" mode, but not at the "I don't have to work" mode.  Basically the 10-50 deal people.  The insights are much appreciated.

I've been using them for about 2 years.  I have 5 buildings, 12 units total.  I'd very much like more but deals are a little less amazing in the past 6-9 months than before.

Overall, I'm satisfied.  I don't have to deal with tenants, EVER.  I get a detailed accounting of repairs and monthly expenses / rents every month.  (In fact, now I can access it in real-time whereas prior to 2018, it was only by email at EOM each month.)  Can I be totally hands-off?  No, because I still get utility bills, tax bills, etc.  But it doesn't take up too much of my time.

Are there things they do pretty well?  Yes.  The agent I've worked with has really busted his *** for me and I've gotten some kick *** deals.  The units look pretty nice after being fixed up especially if they rip out the carpet and finish the HWs.  I stick to A or B areas so I don't really have an issue with things being fixed up "too nice".  Could the same repairs be done cheaper?  Maybe, but I'm not sure how much cheaper w/o DIY.  Several of my units that had the leases expire they got the tenants to renew and most of them also had a rent increase along with it.  I think only one tenant actually placed by HWPG (my very first property) actually has left left and been replaced so far.  The rest of the tenants have either renewed, or if they left, they were inherited tenants from the retired landlord I bought the houses from, so I was not as heartbroken about it.

Are there things they could do better?  Yes.  They had/have a lot of growing pains.  2016 and maybe the first part of 2017 were not stellar with communication, but not as awful as what some people are saying here at least in my experiences.  Are there still hiccups sometimes?  Yes.  It's gotten a lot better, at least for me, since Valerie started being involved in things.  I usually get my questions answered same day or next day depending on when I email.

I would like a clearer automated understanding of where my property is at in the "tenant moved out -> unit secured -> unit rehabbed -> make ready -> unit advertised -> tenant deposit -> tenant moved in" pipeline without having to ask.  Like their end of month reports they used to do by email, this could be modernized to be put into the Rentec portal and would provide a lot of useful information and cut down on email traffic.

I'm still looking in A or B areas, but have mostly focused on trying to increase multi-family buildings vs more SFH. It seems like everything has really dried up in Cleveland in the last 6 months or so for a bargain hunter like me, or at least I have not been able to get any deals going that didn't need more rehab than I want to do, or they are priced out of my current budget. At least 2017 was a great acquisition year.

I've thought about considering C+ if I can get a great building, but haven't seen anything I've jumped on yet, and would prefer to stay in A/B.

Agree. You need to stop talking and being “nice.” It’s hard to do for nice people. Also do yourself a favor and figure out your terms and stick to them. Use property management if you don’t think you can handle it. But make sure to get a firm that manages a large portfolio of rentals (100s+). I use pm and happy to pay the 10% to never have to deal with tenants anymore.

2018, even!

12 units. In state but out of town. I haven’t bought a new one since late summer. But it’s not for lack of tying. Have had two deals where I lost to another bid and two where I won but little surprises at inspection that couldn’t be reconciled with the seller killed the deal. I was all excited to kick off 2028 with a lot of action now I’m just refinancing a couple of my existing buildings while I wait for the next opportunity.