All Forum Posts by: Stephen Leblanc

I think the rule is different from state to state and in my case province to province. Where I live the late fee can't be any more than 1% of the rent. Check your local tenancy office.

steve

I would never buy half a duplex. No matter how good of a deal you are getting, having an idiot for a neighbor will make it very hard to rent for long periods of time and even harder to sell. And there is nothing you can do about it because they own their home. I don't like the fact that I wouldn't be in control of the whole building. If the deal is a steal, see if the adjoining property owner is willing too sell.

steve

Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:

What are you doing that requires so many phone calls? You could probably 80/20 that down and increase your phone efficiency while making your boss happy.

Most of the calls I get between 9-5 are tenants calling with their problems. Not stuff I can avoid. When purchasing new properties, I can get most of that done on lunch breaks.

You can buy a property with negative cash flow, I wouldn't recommend it, but you will have a hard time carrying 2 or 3 of these. So it will be very hard to expand your business.

Steve

you may get more value for your buck if you took the 40-50K to add a unit, and put it towards a down payment on another multi unit building.

As I reply to this from my 9-5 desk, I have also run into this problem. What I have done with my boss is arranged to come to work early to supplement the time away from my job. I usually come to work for 8, nothing official, but just between me and the boss. Some weeks I have no real estate stuff on the go. Other times it keeps me quite busy. I think this arrangement works out for both of us.

Steve

Originally posted by NC Mark:

Another potential plus for SFHs over multies is 'diversification'.


Anecdotally, I have heard of some SFH owners with enough properties that they 'self insure'. In other words, they figure they save enough in premiums to cover any rare catastrophic loss they might incur in diversely-located properties.

I'm wondering how may people actualy do that. I'm sure at some point the math works.

I'm in nova scotia canada. You can get a single family home here for 30K which will get you 650-700 per month depending on location and condition. You will make money on these but I find the best bang for your buck is the 3-6 unit buildings. Much more cash left over after the bills are paid.

steve

Originally posted by Eddie Ziv:

That's very interesting because I know SFR owners who would swear by it. Do you own your multi family in the same town of your residence?

All my units are in the same town I live in. I find it easier to keep an eye on whats going on with them since they are only a 10 minute drive away. I find that the single family homes do have much less turnover, less work, but less profit. The multi units are a little more babysitting, but the profit is 3-4 times better. The extra profit more than justifies the extra work, and by extra work I'm talking a couple calls and 1-2 hours a month.

One other thing to consider when looking at single family over multi family is that some costs are redused with a multi unit. For example if you compare a 6 unit building with 6 single family homes. To replace a roof on the 6 unit building will protect that building for the life of the roof. To protect the 6 single family homes, you must replace 6 roofs. A much more expensive undertaking.

steve

I agree with you 100% on that, I just wanted to show pro's of the multi units. I also started with single family homes for just that reason. I wasn't sure if being a landlord was something I wanted to do and if it all went bad, I could get out from under it all quite quickly. My first 3 or 4 rentals were single family homes. But once you get used to the cash flow from a properly bought multi unit building, I dare say you won't go back.

steve