All Forum Posts by: Peter Mckernan

 You are asking the right crowd.. The thing about deals is making sure the actual outprice on the fix and flip is accurate. The out price will give you the in-price and variables that can save the deal is getting your rehab costs down to an exact amount (even without seeing the place with your contractor). The other thing that I would be evaluating is holding costs, cash is nothing, but holding costs can create an issue if you have an increasing rehab cost on the project along with long hold times. 

Use a seasoned realtor/real estate agent to run comps with you until you feel good on your own to do this.. 

If you are looking at the wholesaler side of things, be correct on the ARV, and truly get the deal on price off that ARV amount. Signing contracts to sign contracts and try to make money then after 15-30 days not closing due to not finding a buyer gets you to a place with a bad business and no referrals to lower your customer acquisition.

Top of the website, the toolbar has PMs, agents, and more people to build out your team in that area. Good people that are experienced in the locations you need them. I would check those contacts and then get references for the other people (contractors/wholesalers etc) from them. 

I agree with Nathan, this person seems like they will be even more trouble as time goes on. These tenants that are like this unfortunate they do not get better they get worse over time. I would get them out as quickly as possible! 

When I follow up, I put the conversation like I would with a friend. Hey, how's it going? This is Todd from (put the place/lead source). Keep it very casual, and keep it very nonconfrontational.. What I mean by that is, that there are many salespeople that come in asking, have you bought a home yet while being pushy over the phone. The more casual you are on the phone the better, and the more you can get clients/leads to come back to you when they are ready. 

I would know your state and local laws in detail for landlord and tenant rights. Also, have an attorney reference for phone calls and an eviction attorney. You are just starting out, but these connections are critical for your future success throughout your career as a landlord. Also, know the contract that you have in place with tenants better than they do. As an example, this came up in my property management company last week, tenants moved in, took the stove out without asking us or the owner for permission, and then wanted us to fix the stove gas line. There was a paragraph in the contract stating that they needed permission from the owner/pm prior to doing any repairs, alterations, etc. to the property. If you don't know the contract or don't put something in the contract that should be in there per state/local guidelines the tenant can hold you (the owner) liable for large expenses. 

Do these windows have weep holes for water/snow to melt so it does not leak into the house it should?

I would dive into all of those markets on a data perspective and really crunch the numbers to look to see if that makes sense for you/investing. After picking the areas that you want to dive deeper into and then taking a look at the data will give you the best information to move forward or not move forward with that area. Then you can start to reach out to people in the area you select for your core four. 

Never heard of them, but will check out the website and ask my circle of investors to see what they are doing too. I'll check back on this one since I am moving to some other referral/lead sources. 

Hey! This is a great problem to have for sure! The challenge is that Oakland is a rent control city so that raising rents will be harder than another city that does not have these restrictions. 

This is what I would do, while assuming that you increased the rents for the two units that went vacate to the current market rents that is a huge plus for this situation. For the month-to-month people in those units, keep them at a month-to-month because in rent control cities when selling/keeping tenants in with a locked in lease gives the buyer/owner less advantage. 

I would keep the month-to-month, increase per the city guidelines as often as you can, I believe 3% once a year. The reason this is, is because once someone comes to buy the place you can sell as it is and that person could be buying as a primary and move one of the units out to live along with 2 units top rent and they can work on getting only one unit up. This is just one example of a plus for going to market and giving the market the ability to see what it is really going to value you the property at with the 2 units newly rented and two having long term existing tenants. 

What I typically tell people.. A couple things:

1. Search 5-10 cities that you may know by visiting, having family/friends there, and/or traveled to

2. After you put those cities on paper start to dive deeper, that is looking demographics, income amounts, industries etc. Also, look at purchase price to rent income as well 

3. Once you do that you will reduce the size to 2-5, and then you can start to contact realtors and PMs in those areas to really dig in even more

4. Interview the agents and PMs and narrow down to 1-2 areas and then you can start to plan to meet in person and develop relationships etc. This is where you will start making offers and getting properties that will be a good fit for your investing

This is a quick high-level of how I suggest you look at areas and find areas/area you want to invest in.