All Forum Posts by: Randy Gutierrez

Assuming your family is shielded from your risk, the quickest way to do it would be to flip homes, but I would not recommend that for a beginner. STR would be another option, but a lot of markets are saturated, so you must do your research. Keep in mind the keyword here is "quickest."

 Overall, it is okay, but it still requires relinking the accounts periodically, which seems more security-related than anything else. I have a mortgage connected that, for some reason, reports it as an escrow balance, throwing off my balance sheet. 

1 property won't get you very far, the only way to potentially make some respectable supplemental income from just 1 property is the STR route and that basically has to be a home run.

If you take the LTR route with 150k you can get 3-4 SFH's in Class C/Class D areas in PA or CT to start. Again that won't make you rich, you would need dozens but it at least gets the ball rolling.

@David Ribardo might be able to chime in

I feel like this strategy would just lead to more questions which in turn will take up more of your time. Guess it would depend on demand in your area.

 95% is pretty good, I'm not sure that you will ever hit 100% with any service you use. Tenants can be complicated especially if you are investing in lower class neighborhoods, most will do what is asked of them (95% in your case) but there will always be some that will either lack the knowledge or resources to do as asked.

All my properties range from 1890 to 1910. I'd say keep an eye on the foundation and the underground main sewer line. Everything else usually gets upgraded over time but those two are rare cases if they did get upgraded. Homes that old also have a bit of settling, I've yet to cut a perfect rectangle of a door.  You may find old knob and tube wiring within the walls but no longer in use, you may come across lead paint that has been painted over 5 times, you may find the old duct system when coal was used to heat a home, and you may even find what appears to be stables in a basement. At the end of the day you would still approach it the same way if the house was built in 2010, you look at everything.

This is where you have to pick your battles and this one sounds like it is not worth the time. Just give him the deposit on move out day and call it a day. The attorney's fee alone is probably 1-3 months worth of rent. It is cash for keys technically and it wont be the first time you do it.

In the current market environment I would 100% prioritize cashflow. If you cashflow properly you will usually always have a hedge against any market downsides, in other other words you can whether the storm. Additionally you can manage setbacks better within your own portfolio. Appreciation usually comes naturally if you analyze your deals right and buy right. 

Appreciation/equity gives you a tremendous amount of leverage to scale, almost feels like a superpower compared to just cashflow. I can refinance a property tomorrow and get 50k in cash. To get the equivalent of that in cashflow it would take me years.

For me, if one is starting out they should prioritize cashflow to mitigate risks, once you have a decent amount of cashflow I would tip the scale a bit in favor of appreciation as you scale.

If the abestos is encapsulated then it is fine. As an example, if you have abestos under some old flooring then just leave it be and put new flooring over it.

Apart from that, just focus on your capital expenses which are your big ticket items such as roof, plumbing, electrical, foundation, and HVAC systems. If those are all in good shape then most of the other stuff is minor and cosmetic.