All Forum Posts by: Poem Turner

Keith and Janet Prang at Gold Medal Property Management are outstanding folks. I highly recommend them.

http://www.goldmedalrentals.com/

I also recommend anyone at Austin Title!

Wes, welcome to BP and the Austin area!

I am a "part-time" investor as well. I manage our rental properties, homeschool my two children and work with out of state investors. The broker I work with is a personal friend, but as an independent brokerage, he also allows a lot of flexibility; Jason Crouch with Austin Texas Homes. His company has been around for over 20 years, so he has relationships with.......well, everyone. As long as you communicate your plans with him, and RSVP to the occasional gathering, he's fine with it being "no" almost every time, he just wants to know you're still out there! That being said, his established relationships mean you have built in resources and access to free training and seminars just like the big firms. We're currently going through the Buffini Peak Producers course, but I've only made 2 of the last 5.

Feel free to check him out and give him a call. He's a great guy and an outstanding agent. 

http://www.austintexashomes.com/

Thanks Laurie! I'm actually in the same boat, so thanks for the info!

@Kris Martinez- Thanks for your input. The home warranty is more of a crutch, if they even agree to it. I had not heard of it not covering things in the inspection report, I've never been asked when I used it for personal properties in the past.

Taxes are pulled from Bell county website, insurance is a real quote, and PM is 8.5%

I like your 5/5/5% rule of thumb. What do you mean by 10% leasing?

Thanks @Bill Tyler, transferable warranties were requested should they decide to have the repairs done. I suspect the seller doesn't have the cash to do the repairs, we thought giving him the option would make him feel less powerless. We'll see.

Hah! OK, so I knew it wasn't a first class property, but it's pretty bad. You know how you say a house has good bones but needs cosmetic work? This one doesn't have good bones. Roof - trashed, foundation - sinking at each corner, windows have been replaced with plexiglass! (I'll be on the lookout for that from now on!), metal railings and balustrades - not to code, HVACs - all failing due to the tilt of the foundation pooling the oil and keeping them from being lubricated properly, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

That being said, we've gone back to the seller with two options: them repairing the roof, foundation and windows with ~5% off the contract price, or them selling it to us for a song and we fix everything. Let's see how badly they want out!

 @Bill Tyler Oh my! That sounds pretty questionable. This seller is being pretty transparent in terms of sharing his financials with us, but obviously you can type whatever you want in a spreadsheet. We're angling for a home warranty/service contract, and then pray the HVAC units fail this summer! But if we don't get so lucky, we'll account for replacing them early on.

Thanks for the insight @Michael Boyer. I know what you mean about CapEx, it works the same with budgeting for your own home....... I'll definitely keep an eye on what the inspection shows.

This may be a little ambitious......but there's a quadplex I'm considering as a first investment. Because the numbers look like they work.

It's an older property, and definitely a C neighborhood. But a well kept C neighborhood if that makes sense?

The owner is out of state and wants out, badly.

All units are rented and under a reputable property management firm. Wasn't my original plan, but 4 doors an hour away in an older building may be a wise move for the first year.

Roof is 15 years old, 2 HVACs will need replacing soon, and possibly a water heater. I'm angling for a home warranty from the seller. 

All units' floors, kitchens and baths were reno'd in the last year.

I'd appreciate any feedback from those of you with a seasoned eye. Am I being far too hopeful with 5% maintenance and repairs?

Thanks!