All Forum Posts by: Patrick I.

@Cindy Descamps Please check your state laws for more applicability and accuracy on what you can do, but in most cases you can bring the tenants to court and they can have a judgment against them that forces them to pay you rent until your unit is filled or until the lease ends. If your state keeps the court records public, It may have some prejudice to the renters in the future. Good Luck 

Thanks for sharing

@Luis Arroyo First of all, find your WHY and make sure it is strong enough. REI can sometimes be tough, so you need to be strong and have strong reasons to keep going forward. You have to read and keep learning (books, articles, any thing real estate you can get your hands on). In which stage are you in your quest?

@Devin Arnold Not so long ago I listened to the Bigger Pockets Podcast 306 and the guest mentioned the following criteria for investing in a market:

Her 7 criteria for choosing a market to invest in:

1. Population growth
2. Job growth
3. Diversified economy
4. Landlord friendly
5. Business friendly
6. In the right part of the market cycle (rising market)
7. Familiarity

You can look it up and listen to it. You may get more insight. Good Luck

@Ricardo Martinez Can you tell us more about your goals and yourself ?  Maybe then, the community could be able to better help you.

@Constantia Petrou As @Dennis M. said, you either allow pets or you don't. As he also suggested, you can collect a deposit for the pet or add a minimal fee to the monthly rent as a "pet rent". Good Luck

@Vincent Thusi Welcome. That is a nice plan you have here. I am just thinking that, in most cases, buying an existing property to start your rental business will be a lot cheaper. So I would go that route If I were you.

Educate yourself well and it is going to help you ease you fear and have more confidence in what you are doing.

Good Luck 

@Kenyetta Overton Other contributors have given a lot of good information. This is what I consider an introductory book from Brandon Turner. Download and read it

http://www.biggerpockets.com/ultimatebeginnersguide.pdf

Good Luck

@Cody Culberson Thank you Cody for the follow up. There are two things I would recommend you do (if you have not done it yet):

First, learn about your state laws regarding rental activities. There should be a dedicated page, or even a special book issued by the state for it. You need to know the laws in detail. The city you live in may have additional specific laws on top of the state laws. Make sure you check.

Second, I would recommend the book from Nolo "Every Landlords Tax Deduction Guide". The book will give you a good picture on taxes. Part of it will be useful prior to start, some of it when you start and the other part when you are fully in and you are looking for strategies to save on your taxes. So keep it really close. I also recommend Brandon Turner's book on Rental Property Management. That is a good one two.

A word of advice: given that the property is already paid for, you need more asset protection as you have more to lose if you get sued. Given that it is paid for, you should be able to have the property under a LLC. Make sure to have some important liability insurance as well.

Good Luck

@Kneegel Benjamin I just saw your post. I see that you did not have a reply but hope that you still have the motivation to fight for a better future. In the past, I replied to similar questions that have been posted. These are a collection of things that I have addressed:

Before you acquire any property, spend some time reading a lot of articles and forum posts to get a grasp on the different ways you can make money in real estate. Learn these different ways, familiarize yourself with the different financing options, learn about the different structures of a home/apartment building (no need to be a pro for this - Just know what they are and the way they work). I cannot stress enough that reading a lot is going to give you the knowledge you need and more confidence when it is time to execute. Every day, I would google a specific area of real estate and learn more about it.

While you read a lot, attend as many open houses of properties for sale in your area as possible. Just walk in and exchange with the realtors. You may come across one realtor you can connect with and that person can assist you in your acquisition(s). He/she can also take you to visit any property that is currently on the market. That is how I met my realtor with whom I am about to close on my first property. Visiting the properties will also give you a sense of what to expect on properties coming in the market. Visiting a lot of properties also helped me get "desensitized" to the beauty of some of the properties I have seen so that I could focus mainly on the numbers and the property features.

Analyze some potential rental properties even though you do not intent to purchase them. This will help you understand how the different costs, mortgage and rent can affect the return on investment. You could use the BP calculator (5 times for free membership) or find some available online for free.

The most important thing that is going to get you ahead: commit to do 1 thing at least every day that is going to get you closer to your goal of acquiring and creating wealth through real estate: read, analyze, go to open house....