All Forum Posts by: Peter Mckernan
Peter Mckernan has started 61 posts and replied 2502 times.
Post: Holding deposits for apartments - Venmo is a No

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
It really depends on how you are going to do it, but to be honest there are many people that take different ways of accepting a check, payment, or anything that is not normal for property management/owning a rental. I would do cash, wire, bill pay from bank to bank or ACH to get the money.
Sometimes people cannot get into the bank etc. on that day, set a day the next day or a couple days in the future to meet them back at the property for the cash or once wire hits (money hits the account) you can make it meetup for exchange for keys.
Post: How to add value and learn from other investors

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
The single best way to get the value to the people that are flipping are by bringing deals to them and doing the deal with that investor. They will be grateful, you can learn a lot and also make some money at the same time.
Post: DSCR Loan Advantages

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
Quote from @Kelly Schroeder:
For landlords expanding their rental portfolios, have you compared DSCR-based financing versus conventional loans lately?
DSCR seems to be growing in popularity due to flexibility and less paperwork — but I'd love to hear if others have seen any drawbacks when scaling with DSCR.
The biggest thing on these are that they do not show on credit reports which is great to continue to grow, and a quick note for adding more units and BRRRR properties. If you do a DSCR and then later want to refi you could be in a situation to have a loan rate 1% lower if you go from DSCR to full doc once you refi and maybe pay a point. This is something that might be thought about when getting money back at a lower rate and cashing out.
Post: Do you have a Report card for your property manager

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
I would agree with the comments on turn times for maintenance request to fix timeframes. If you can drop that timeframe to a shorter timeframe that is really key! I would work with the PM company to get a poll out, or since you were there for a long time and working with the tenants directly you should have their contact info and can poll them directly.
Post: What software i can use to keep all information about a property i a one place

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
Property management software is great for this... It is kind of like a CRM but for collecting items for your properties. The other option would be to have something like dropbox for each property and save items per property on that platform.
Post: Your First Deal: Profit or Breakeven

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
You are in good company.. If someone tells you they never lost money on a deal you know they have never done a deal.. You Have some wins and you have some losses.
One thing I would do is the foundation and the termite, check to see if you list it at market value if you can get someone to buy the place and disclose the issues and give them a credit or meet them in the middle or even 2/3s of the cost and you can save some money and maybe even get the deal to make some money.
You don't always have to do the stuff (might be a deal you have to do it, buyer requiring it etc.), but if you can split the costs with the buyer you might save some money and be in the black on the numbers.
Top 5 things to look for...
1. Roof
2. Foundation
3. HVAC
4. Plumbing
5. Electrical
Post: Question on enforcing cleanliness of a unit

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
We do not have anything that is lined out about keeping a property cleaned like clothes picked up etc. Very hard to say this needs to be done since there is no standard or code to enforce. If it is really bad of course it could become a code enforcement issue or CPS/APS issue. But other than that no.
Post: Keeping track of exterior maintenance on rental properties

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
I would say that you can verify these landscape items, and other exterior repairs by getting the invoice from the PM, getting a cleared check or payment and also yearly getting photos of the place by the property manager.
Post: What Do Experienced Investors Look for When Reviewing Condo Docs

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
After awhile you get the hang at looking at them, but I also suggest you upload them to chatgpt or Claude Ai to review them and prompt them questions. That helps too!
Post: $75 trip fee for quote?

- Residential Real Estate Agent
- Irvine, CA
- Posts 2,564
- Votes 1,324
Most PM companies will charge a higher PM fee, or they will charge a lower PM fee and then upcharge on maintenance fees. Unless the company is new and small, there are fees that are added on to increase the companies margins. Just make sure you interview a few companies and see what they are actually charging.