All Forum Posts by: Peter R.

I'm probably misunderstanding the intent @Chris Dawson are you asking an agent to email a potential client copies of contracts they have prepared on behalf of other clients?  As in asking to see actual submitted contracts?

@William Price I think to answer your question in more detail requires a discussion of your end goal.  Do you want cameras you can monitor or would your rather have an ironclad backup of footage you can access later in the event of some sort of incident? Nighttime performance?  Motion sensing only or constant recording?

I ask because that changes the game a bit when it comes to wired vs. wifi and camera quality.

I think a lawyer is a bit much but sure, half hour of your lawyer's time to say "don't put it inside" in writing couldn't hurt if you want.  It's not like he or she will come inspect your camera installation so a written "do this, don't do that" isn't that expensive.

And I really don't mean to be a downer or anything but if your tenant is concerned about safety, solid deadbolts, sturdy doorframes and a monitored alarm would be worlds better than a camera system that only passively records things.

While not a totally unbiased opinion, local property management agencies will usually cough up a ballpark for you if you call and say you're interested in listing with them.  Or browse their websites and note which properties vanish from day to day.

Over a few weeks time you'll build up a gut feeling because you're absolutely right, it's an art more than a science.  Once you know the area well enough you'll be able to peg rent within a decent margin of error to run a mental check on any type of property.

This is highly dependent on the relationship you have with your lender.  As others in this thread have mentioned, commercial is a different set of criteria than residential.  I mean that in the loan sense, not the type of property, although it holds true for both.

When dealing with local or semi-regional banks, if you can show a track record of consistent and reliable performance when you purchase for X with Y down payment, and the fundamentals of the deal are sound, they will likely evaluate each deal on the merits, not just on your traditional income.

If you don't already have a portfolio agreement with a local or regional bank by the time you're trying to buy and hold your 4th or 5th property you are in a world of trouble if you're trying to rely on future off the shelf financing to get to say, 10 properties or more.  Some form of bespoke financing is usually required to get above the 6ish deal mark.

Yes.  Do you know anyone that will?  If not, see above, you need a portfolio lender.  Someone who doesn't sell the loans and can evaluate YOU and YOUR performance.  Hard? Yes.  Impossible? No.

Greetings from Brevard County @Brianna Walker if you're doing wholesaling and you run across anything in my area just let me know!

Welcome @Patrick O'Sullivan glad you're here!  Greetings from just a bit to the south in Brevard County.

Hey Jeff,

If you're going to do the front-end work yourself I don't think you need a property management company.  What you need is a good cleaner and a good handyman.  And of those two, one needs to be ok with getting paid for hourly based tasks outside of their specialty area.  

A good example is cable repair, you need someone to be there between the hours BrightHouse specifies to let the repair guy in, wait while he fixes the problem, confirm the fix, and sign the paperwork.

It may only happen a few times a year but it's far cheaper to pay someone a few hours a year than a property manager.

And if you put a remotely managed keypad deadbolt on the property, make the key exchange a code exchange by email as a part of your tenant welcome flow.  Add in bulk, delete used codes after departure.

As for your location, I'd do Kissimmee over Davenport unless you're trying to split the difference between the Orlando attractions and Legoland or something like that. In which case Davenport makes some sense. 

On the loans, I'm guessing when you get into it you'll find they'll want closer to 30% than 20%.  Unless you've got a track record with a local bank in your area.

Hi Monika,

I've been contacted by someone from your sales arm recently and I applaud your marketing engine.  I'm being serious too.  The property your sales guy called me about isn't that old and he knew enough to ask quite a few correct questions. 

That said, I think you may be missing a key selling proposition here. The pitch was money.  And it was a pretty good pitch.  It got me to bring it up to a few people.  

Nothing about reputation though. When I manage my properties I know what kind of reviews I'm going to get, within reason.  But when YOU manage my properties, what happens when your manager is crap?  I can solve short term complaints from renters because they communicate to me directly.

But the long term effects of a bad management company won't get back to me until the renters leave reviews echoing through Airbnb, VRBO, etc.  Reviews that will last as long as the internet.

I could talk at length but to answer your question, no, I wouldn't use a manager if they could only guarantee what I'm currently netting unless they could also guarantee what I'm currently rating.

@Jeff Graves there is a particular feature I hate about Airbnb if that helps.  The restrictions on content in communications is mildly infuriating.  I cannot send a link to my website to show prospects the area, attractions, extra photos, etc.  Airbnb strips out all URLs that aren't Airbnb.

I find myself sounding like a five year old that's just grasped the concept when I type out www dot mysiteaddress dot com to prospects just to get it by Airbnb's filters.

And not CCing me automatically is annoying, VRBO sends a copy of all correspondence by email by default, both inbound and outbound.  For me it's easier to see the entire communication thread in email, works offline too. 

But, on the flip side, VRBO's new service fee and the screwing of long term high-tier listings is a dumpster fire in real time.  So there's that.

Hey Jess!

The Orlando market is indeed an attractive one.  And lucrative if you've got all the info at hand.

However, and I'm not trying to say anything more than "do your homework," but are you willing to learn all the ins and outs of vacation rental regulations in the Florida County in which you're looking to purchase?

@David Faulkner put it very well, there are some pitfalls here, especially if you go in planning to find a property manager to do the regulatory back-end for you.  Those absolutely exist, don't get me wrong, but unless you know what the regulations are (at least in principal) you can't double check their work on your behalf. 

I know you mentioned a community but that may not be where you end up and Orange County is as different from Polk County as it is different from Brevard County.  Not all Property Managers collect the correct taxes for you, let alone submit both the county taxes and the Florida State taxes on your behalf. 

BUT! You asked a question at the end so here is my take.  Vacation Rental is my preference, much more work than long-term but much faster reaction time to market changes

And to be honest, not all THAT time consuming, you may actually learn that you love doing it yourself from afar.  It is totally possible to manage booking/payment/access yourself and contract out the cleaning and maintenance.