All Forum Posts by: Philip Polski

I started investing 1,500 miles away from my local market. It has worked out well for me, however I would say you need to be aggressive and willing to take the risk. You will need technical skills and software to manage from afar, as if you're local. My tenants think I take better care of them than their previous local property managers did.

Here is how I went about it. 

1) Zoom in on a zip code or two and study it - learn to work the numbers until you're confident.

2) Visit the market and walk as many properties as you can so that you know what you will be buying, and understand the neighborhoods. This is when you will find your realtor. A realtor must be willing to walk the properties for you when you're not there, hunt for investor friendly deals, and be an investor also. They must look at properties like you do.

2) Meet with contractors, handymen, and cleaners in person and make sure they understand your situation and what you expect. Always make friends in your market and ask for referrals.

3) Now you are ready to make offers. NEVER get the (gottas - I'm so tired of making offers that I gotta get a deal) Be patient and your first deal will be a good one. 

4) If you hire a property manager remember the buck stops with you - so inspect what you expect.

Best of luck to you Kevin, let me know if you want to chat sometime.

When you consider a HELOC, keep in mind that you need to apply and qualify for that as well. It doesn't cost anything to shop around to see if you can find and qualify for. When you say $25k in assets, what is that? HELOCS can go from 80% - 90% total LTV (loan to value) depending on the bank or credit union.

I would recommend shopping for a small unit that doesn't need too much rehab. Look for "as is" properties and ask the seller to carry the loan. Can you do most of the work yourself? That should save you a lot of cash. Start small and make sure that if the market changes that you have a good long term rental that cash flows. You can also sell it to someone with a large down payment to recover your cash, and hold the loan until they can refinance. This would cash you out and provide some cash flow monthly. Treat it like a lease with the option to buy with a non refundable down payment.

Keep thinking creatively and shop your market every day looking for deals. "The harder you work, the luckier you get"

Just for some perspective: I purchased my first house in 1985 for $80k. The interested was 13% and now the house is worth $450k. What if I thought interest rates might go down and hesitated. 1) I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the house because I would have been renting. 2) I would have lost all the upside and would have paid more when rates went down. 

Please don't be afraid of today's rates, if it's a good business decision today you would thank yourself later.

In my opinion this is a simple question. Compare your cost of ownership with the cost to rent. If you factor in house hacking it's a no brainer. Your tenant will pay most of part of your mortgage. 

I wouldn't plan on interest rates going down much, act on what important now. Trying to time the market typically leads to 

. If purchasing is a long term decision then you will be just fine. 10 years from now you will be way ahead. 

Don't over think this, you can always rent both sides later and buy another one. 

 Just my opinion: If it cash flows today then let appreciation go where it may. Rents are very unlikely to fall dramatically but events can happen that disrupt things for a while as we have seen over the past 10 years. Be sure you stress test your portfolio. How long can you survive if for what ever reason you can only collect 1/2 your rents? If you leverage this is a critical metric. If you can go for a year and not loose money you should be able to sleep soundly at night. 

Hey Elton,

If you contact me directly I'll give you thee name of someone I've used in your area. 

I tend to get more than what the average PM considers market rent. Making your property better than the competition can help make better yields. I often hear from my tenants that they didn't question my rent price because the others they looked at were not well maintained. I also invest from 1500 miles away from my market and self manage. 

look for ways to add value to your product and you will stand out and get a little more for your rental unit. 

Hi Mike,

I operate a mid term rental and provide all utilities in the Toledo Market. I put gas and electric on the budget plan to smooth out the usage trends and find that that works well for me. My property has central air and gas furnace. I have a smart thermostat installed so I can monitor the usage also. I don't find anyone abusing heat or air conditioning and since I provide all utilities including the Internet, I have actually come too appreciate the simplicity and additional control I have. My average monthly cost for everything is about $350.00. I am actually considering doing the same on my next long term rental turnover. Naturally I would increase the rent to more than cover the costs and I do believe it could be a great selling point for tenants to consider.