All Forum Posts by: John S.

BRRR !!!!

Anyone know any good mobile home rehabbers in Orlando, FL?  Also, maybe a good used mobile home dealer in case the double-wide just needs to be demoed!

I have a tenant that we raised rent on last year.  Of course, they had their complaints but one of the agreements was to go to a bi-monthly schedule.  Now we just get the rent directly into our account every 1st and 15th.  There was one time the tenant was late and we do have late fees.  There has not been an issue since then.  The tenant enjoys that we don't have to go to their house anymore for rent collections and we are happy to get rents directly into the bank account.  It really depends on your relationship with the tenant but its been great for us.  I feel it wouldn't hurt too much to raise rent either since its just split 50%.  

I wonder if some veteran investors that have been through the recession can comment here. I'm sure during the recession that they had to offer some rent discounts and subsidies to keep tenants. I also want to know if SFH or 2-4 units performed better during the recession. It seems to me that SFH might be too pricey during a downturn in the economy so renters might move into a 2-4 unit or apartment. I assume worse case they would then move to a mobile home park.

Since I invest in 1-4 units primarily, I'm interested in seeing the best ways to protect during these times and invest during the recessionary times!

The only time I feel it would make since to inherit the tenants is if you purchase turnkey from a company that does property management as well.  Then the tenant really does not notice any difference until their lease is up for renewal and they see a new owner name.  Depending on where the rental unit is located, it might just show the property management company so it wouldn't them at all.  It seems like the tenant and property manager has to have proper alignment from the beginning or else the property manager will want to bring their own tenants instead.

When I first got started investing in 1-4 units, I always thought having tenants when you purchase a 1-4 unit is a better deal than it being vacant:

1) It could mean that something could be wrong with the property preventing it from being rented.
2) There is a security with a tenant in place that even an inspection won't fix.  For example, people don't want to steal an AC unit when they know someone is living there.
3) You know you will have income coming in from the beginning.  I have heard this is good from getting a mortgage and it most likely is the reason I have been able to get mortgages easily on a couple of mine.

In an opposite view, my property manager really doesn't like inheriting tenants.  He knows he has to follow the contract that is already in place and he has to build trust with a tenant that he might not have chosen if he had the choice during a tenant screening.  Nevertheless, he is incentivized to take this tenant and turn him over since he can make a bigger profit from the management and tenant placement fees involved.

I wanted to see what other peoples' opinion are in this subject.  If you inherit a tenant and they don't work out, that means you will have to pay for turnover cost and most likely you will have to look at eviction when you take over the unit.  I think we a trustworthy PM than it might be better to have a vacant unit.

@Kyle J. do you have two umbrella policies?  do they have a max properties?  also, did you need to get car insurance with them as well or can you just get umbrella?

I have had issue with the tenant doing a chase quickpay and canceling it the next day.  This was during christmas time and I charged a late fee since it didn't get deposit in time.  Sometimes it takes up to three days for the chase quickpay, I really don't know why it takes this long for the tenant account.

My chase quick pays go through without an hitch when I send someone monies.

If he were to purchase this with a 30 year with 20% down, how long would it take before he can pull money from a HELOC? I assume it would be at least 5 years to give room for appreciation and equity build up.

@Aaron Hollingshead, would it be correct to say that your family is your "boots on the ground" aka eyes and ears while you do this remotely?