All Forum Posts by: Randall Alan

 @Sara Valentine

I would just point out to you that the typical Tesla charger is a 220 volt installation.  This would likely take putting it on its own circuit breaker unless you have some spare 220v breaker available.  This would require your circuit breaker box to have space to install it as well.  As long as your box isn't full... no issue.  But if it is, it becomes a question of how to accommodate.

I wouldn't so much ask that the renter return the installation to how it was previously - but rather that if / when the charger is removed the 'house wiring' is to remain and must be properly capped off.  Usually there is a plastic like conduit that runs to where the charger is mounted.  If it were my situation I would want to see the conduit left there so that the next person who wants to install a charger already has 90% of the installation work sitting there waiting for them.  The labor to drill through the wall, install 220 wire to the box, hook up the charger is probably $300-400... (at least that is what I paid for mine - with the breaker box very close by).  So I would want to see the wiring & breaker remain to not waste the installation expense.

All the best!

Randy

@Stan Koper

Hi Stan,

Presuming you are talking about a beach home on the Atlantic coast... be sure that you are also accounting for flood insurance as well.  If you get flooded your regular "All Other Perils" and "Hurricane" policy will not cover any of that flood damage... which is usually where the significant expense is on a claim. 

All the best!

Randy

@Rob June

I would say, "Don't make it too complicated."

If you are working a full time job, you likely have no time for a BRRRR deal where it will take either doing or managing a renovation. Not sure if you would do that reno yourself or hire it out... but regardless it is harder then you give it credit for. Doing it yourself takes time, and trying to manage contractors if you aren't experienced with that is a whole learning curve to itself. If you hire retail contractors you will pay too much... so finding people who work on the side is the less expensive way... but that comes with a learning curve as well... are the qualified, are they going to show up? Can they pull a permit, etc, etc?

Driving for dollars is conceptually fine, but the VAST majority of your effort will be spinning your wheels.  There are a crazy number of reasons why a property you think is available isn't.  Foreclosure (where the lender will sell it at auction)... and "No, they aren't looking for you to save the day and buy it at a steep discount".  Technically they are often required to take it to auction to determine the fair market value of the property.  Selling it privately (to you) doesn't pass muster with the courts who oversee the foreclosure (because it doesn't establish fair market value like an auction does).  Then there are probates... same general thing... the executor has a plan already.  Then there are the people who will sell you their house, but want retail, and the list goes on and on.  I would suggest possibly looking for inheritance situations... that is where the new owner actually has leeway to decide to sell if they want to... but couldn't tell you how to find them (never done it).  

So while I wish you well... I think you are over-complicating it looking for the 'hidden inside track'.  It' not that you won't be successful doing what you plan... it's that it is way more effort than a more traditional approach.  You will multiply that challenge by including the "Oh, I don't want to use regular financing... I want you to carry the note" / creative financing approach.  That is probably only going to work if a property is free and clear... and that is likely a small fraction of the list.  A 1% response rate multiplied by 1% chance that are interested in creative financing equals hundreds of phone calls trying to find 1 deal.  1-2% is a really good wholesaler response rate usually. 

We have bought off the foreclosure market, we have bought off of craigslist, we have bought from wholesalers, we have bought off the MLS, and we have bought from private individuals in a number of capacities. More than once we have bought a second property at the closing table where we asked, "Do you have any others you want to sell?"

Referrals are a great inside lane where you just let everyone you meet know that you buy real estate.  It likely won't pay off immediately... but out of the blue you will get a phone call that "Sam" told me you buy real estate".  We have gotten great deals like that!

My thoughts: Just starting out, simple is better.  I would start by searching Redfin and sorting their table view by $/square foot.  This will give you the cheapest properties for sale in any given search area per square foot.  The advantage there: they are ALL actively available... so no spinning your wheels other than to sort the crappy ones from ones you would consider (which you can do from the pictures on the listing).  Then start making offers that give you the margin you need to make it a good deal.  

Looking for the deal that likely isn't there is just a harder way to do it.  It can be done... so not saying it can't ... I just suggest it's easier to look at the deals that are already out there.  

Another thought for you is that cold calling often what you will find is people who are in dire situations, or just not handling reality well.  Ask yourself what it takes for someone to get into a situation where they are losing their house, or the house is completely neglected, etc.  Two of the wholesale deals we dealt with were very sad situations where the people really weren't completely 'stable' if I had to try and give it a name.  They grabbed the 'lifeline' the wholesaler through out to them.  Lets just say that neither one ended well, with us having to evict 1 tenant 6 months after leasing their house back to them; and the other one actually passed away in the house due to medical conditions they were suffering a few months later.  I'm sure they aren't all that bad... but just trying to warn you that it's not all rainbows and butterflies!  I think wholesalers just accept that as a part of the roadmap and tell themselves they are helping the people.  My personal thought is that most would have been better off putting their property on the open market in 'whatever' condition it was in and let the investors find them that way (probably by searching Redfin, etc  like I listed above).  

Putting a wholesaler, and a subsequent investor in the middle of someone desperate to sell their house is almost always going to not end well for the seller.   

Wishing you all the best

Randy

@Nate Marroquin

I had to laugh at "4 tenants coordinate themselves to cover the utilities"! 

Can you not hear that conversation... "Well I keep my heat at 68, and  you keep yours at 76... and somehow coming up with an agreed upon method to split something that you aren't measuring for them?"

The best short answer is:  You are the landlord, you know what the utility bills are per month across the year - or you can call the utility company and they will tell you.  Given this, average it out to come up with a monthly figure that includes the highs and lows - plus maybe a 'fudge factor' to cover the unexpected -  and give them one rate to pay per month (or to include in your monthly rental rate).  

Let them know it is subject to change based on a yearly review (or something like that).    If you were renting on a 1 year lease I would say it is subject to change at lease renewal... but not sure how you handle it by the room.  I would also probably include some language about electric vehicle charging requires separate metering or something like that... Because that could really run your bill up if that were to occur.

Asking your tenants to be responsible for something they have no way to measure is really just a non-starter.  Asking them to split it evenly will just lead to arguments over how "I'm hardly ever there and never run my ac below 82, why should I pay 1/4th of the bill when Tenant 3 keeps his place at 62 degrees!"

All the best!

Randy

@Calvin Stewart

Hi Calvin,

My suggestion to you is to recognize that the real estate market is cyclic… rewind 3 -5 years ago and it was a booming market and your mentor would not have been giving you the “side hustle” speech.

We got into the marketing 2018 and literally quit two 6 figure corporate jobs a year later because we replaced our income with buy and holds.  (We went at it hard though… we bought 8 duplexes and 5 single families units in one year!).  To put that in perspective though,  our average $/sqft purchase price was about $78/sq ft.  Could you do that today?  No way!  Property values have doubled to tripled, and our interest rates were in the 3-4% range as well back then… not 7%+.  

BUT… that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible again… we are just at a different part of the cycle ( call it ‘the higher side’ or what have you.)  So at the moment, it’s more of a waiting game for the cycle to come back around to more favorable interest rates and pricing, and for supply/demand to rebalance themselves - read “sellers willing to give up their 2.5% rates or decide they want to move more than hold onto the rate.  It will happen… “when” is the question..  The last time that had to occur (bubble of 2005-2008) it took several years to become a crazy awesome time to buy again.  

Just like with the stock market, it will not seem like a great time to buy… (when things are likely crashing for one reason or another).  Right now the executive branch of our government is throwing us nearly weekly curve balls to where no one really knows what to expect next.  So a lot of people are just in a holding pattern trying to figure out where our economy goes next.  

We have managed to buy 2 properties to flip this year and should make out well.  Otherwise we manage our rental portfolio for our regular job. 

Cold calling is a pretty thankless job… lots of hang up’s and no thank yous.  While it’s certainly possible to hook a fish that way… it takes a lot of spinning your wheels to try and find a workable deal… and then you have to close it.  As a high schooler I think it will be even harder as your age will work against you to a degree.  But I admire your tenacity and ‘go-gettiveness’

I would encourage you to find your local real estate meet-us and start circulating there if you haven’t done ao yet.   You will learn a lot, make connections, and find opportunities you hadn’t considered before.

But I would disagree with your mentor as a whole as to the “only a side hustle” as a whole.  With that said, I would not disagree that it likely starts off as a side hustle.  Every house you buy will likely net you $300/month if financed (and you got a good deal).  So ask yourself how many $300’s you need for to be a full time job! Then it won’t be a side hustle! 

All the best!

Randy 

@William Kane Rodriguez

I think most of my concerns would primarily be around the timeline factors associated with any new build.  

Just know that the quoted time to build something may vary GREATLY from what you are told up front.  A relative of mine built a new house (granted during what turned out to be the pandemic era) and it took over a year longer than expected.  A lot of that was due to permitting.  But there’s also just a lot of challenges in getting skilled people to do the work, and I would now suggest the tariff situation could impact you adversely from a supply perspective and increased costs for materials.  So you definitely will be taking on more unknowns doing a new build.  I would anticipate whatever you are quoted for a completed price to be higher than that when finished due to the above.  Builders get to adjust the price of things if their costs go up… just keep that in mind.  

The advantage of a new build would be that you get to make it exactly how you want it.  One thing to keep in mind is to avoid over-spending on the units that are not for your personal occupancy if you are looking to optimize profits.  Tenants do not require fancy wall finishes, or solid surface counter tops, or top of the line  “anything” to be quite honest.  “Nice enough” and  “functional” should probably be the typical goal for a rental unless you are going to be charging a premium rent. 

The other advantage of a new build is that your maintenance expenses will likely be lower in the first 5-10 years.  No new roof, new hot water heater, and likely few calls for AC repairs, etc. 

It probably would depend on availability of what units were out there to choose from if I were making the call.  If there was something that worked, it would get you into the multi-family business 12-18 months faster than having to do the new build, with a lot less unknowns.  

All the best!

Randy 

 @Victor Mejia

Hi Victor,

The proposition of buying property out of state comes with some associated "givens".  If you buy out of state, you are necessarily going to be using property management.  You might say, "Why yes, that was the plan!"  But there is a counter balance to doing that - and that is the expense of it.  

The best way I can explain it would be to give you a fast example.  Let's say you make $300/month free and clear after principal, interest, taxes, property insurance, and a maintenance reserve each month on a financed out of state rental.  So your expected "net" income is $3,600/year if you were self managing a property locally).

Now let's put that property a state away, and bring in the property manager.  Let's say your rent is $1,200/month.  The average property manager is going to take 10% gross each month, and when there is a turn-over, they usually charge the first month's rent to place a tenant.  (We'll neglect the vacancy rate of 2-4 weeks that probably comes along with that as well just to not make the example too extreme.)

So the property manager is going to take $120/month for his monthly fee, and $1,200 for filling the unit.  Of the potential $3,600 you thought you were going to make that year, the property manager just took $2,640.  That would be 73.3% of your potential net profit for the year.  And this scenario presumes you didn't have any significant repair costs to cover as well.  There are obviously a lot of other benefits to owning an investment property besides cash flow... but it is the cash flow that allows you to hold onto the property as you gain appreciation, and mortgage pay down, and take advantage of tax write-offs.  Some would argue that low cash flow is acceptable.  I would agree you will always make more off of appreciation...  but for myself, I actually live off the cash-flow of our portfolio... so it isn't acceptable for me personally -and I don't think it is smart from an investment perspective because it puts you more at risk.  So... food for thought there.  

I would personally suggest trying to buy something local if it makes sense and avoid those fees.   You gain a lot of experience along the way as well which will make you a smarter RE investor down the line.  Honestly it is really quite easy.  One of the biggest secrets is to subscribe to a cloud-based property management platform.  We use one called Rentec-Direct - but there are dozens of them other there.  They will collect your rent, screen your tenants, broadcast your rentals, track your expenses, and so on.  They are very affordable and make life a lot easier.

Keep in mind that borrowing money (Home equity loan) to borrow more money (mortgage) creates 2 expenses you have to overcome each month.  You will have a higher payment each month to try and cover if going that way.  

Be sure to consider what happens if a tenant quits paying rent, and then doesn't move out and you have to evict them - from a state away... (read attorney fees, filing fees, a month or two of lost rent as well where you have to pay the mortgage, plus the Home Equity loan out of your own pocket).  It's not that it happens all the time... but it does happen.  You need to make sure you are financially stable enough to absorb those types of things, plus if anything big breaks... like a $5,000 AC bill, or needing to replace a roof, etc.  

It's not that I'm trying to paint a bleak picture... I just don't like to see a beginner think it's all going to be blue sky and butterflies and then run into what should be somewhat expected complications.  We had a bad run on air conditioners last summer and had to replace 7 units in 2 months!  That was $30-35,000 in maintenance we had to cover.  Just starting out that won't be you - but $5,000 just starting out is big enough!

 As you build a portfolio the nice thing is that the other units kick in to help cover / offset high expenses another unit might run into.  But just starting out where you just have one or two is probably the most dangerous time as far as finances go if you aren't deep on cash.  So I offer those cautions to you.

We do long term rentals.  They are fairly stable, but will net less money than short term rentals as a whole. Out of 37 units we self-manage, we probably turn over 2-3 a year.

Otherwise, as far as loans go - I would say that very little cash flows well when financed at 7% interest rates.  Too much of your money is going to the bank in the form of interest.  With the high rates we are at right now, I would probably suggest a shorter term adjustable rate mortgage with the intent to refinance it down the line (presuming you think mortgage rates will eventually fall back down). 

 You have to find really good deals where you can net a descent cash flow to make it make sense to buy something.  Don't buy something because it cash flows $100/month.  Your money is way better off sitting in the bank earning 4% interest in a savings account in my opinion.  It's just not worth the hassle of tenants and risk of potential expenses if you ask me.  For us, our line in the sand on a financed property is that it has to make at least $300/month/door.  So a duplex would be $600/month after principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and a maintenance reserve.  As you do own properties longer, you do benefit from rent increases to help you make some more money, and there is always the option of refinancing higher interest mortgages down to lower ones at some point. 

Hope some of it helps!

Randy

@Sherry Wirtz

 A high yield savings account will get you about 4% and you have easy access to the funds.   I can’t recommend the stock market… just too volatile these days.  

If you know the timing of your need for the future funds you could look at setting up some short term CDs for part of it and probably get fractionally more interest. 

Those are at least 2 safe options for you.  

Look for an internet bank that is FDIC Insured. There are many…. We have used Bask Bank, which is a branch / division of a bank in Texas. They are FDIC insured. But again, there are many… so you can check your options.

All the best! 

Randy

 @Jim Cantrell

We may not know enough about your situation… but you have to decide what type of operation you are running on this particular unit.

I respect the concern fur the tenant.  And if you want to donate your property to such a cause that is clearly your choice.  But at the end of the day a rental is usually a business… not a charity.  Again, my hats off to you if you choose the charity route… but there is such a thing as being too caught up in your tenant’s lives.  It is not your responsibility to fend for your tenant.  I too have gone to bat for a tenant where they got behind and I literally found them $11,000 in Covid related grants to support housing stabilization to not only catch up what they were behind on, but also pay 3 months forward rent.   6 months later they were behind again.  About once a year I have to pull out the “it’s either get caught up, or get out” card… and they always get caught up.  Section 8 almost always has a multi-year wait for a voucher.  There is never enough supply.  

My best suggestion is to set up a path that puts your rent where it needs to be, and then it is essentially HER responsibility and choice whether to stay.

When I have taken over units where the rent was way too low, I went to the tenants and said, “With the sale price of this unit, the rent has to increase to where the unit isn’t losing money.”   Therefore this month’s rent will be what you paid last month, next month’s rent will be 1/2 closer to the target rent, and the 3rd month and beyond will be at that new target rent.  This gives the tenant the better part of 60-90 days to sort out whether they want to stay and pay more, or find another place to live.  So I am providing a reasonable path that allows them time to look around, and decide what to do.

I get that may not fit your scenario exactly - but I also suggest it’s not your responsibility to be a charity if your goal is to be a for profit business.  There is a place for both… you just have to decide what your purpose is for that unit.  There likely isn’t a win-win situation that involves your unit unless you can find another source of revenue for her… perhaps sponsorship, etc.  

I would start with seeing if she is a member of a church,   Congregations will sometimes support hard pressed members.  Another thing you can check out is to google “emergency rental assistance “ plus your city / county / state.  There are sometimes programs that you may not know about out there…. But typically they are single or short term use.  During Covid there were many grant programs… but less now.

Family is always a great go-to… but if there is no family you have to expand to find someone who can hopefully either offer financial assistance, or a program that can take her in as a resident, etc.

Realistically she should be receiving social security, and perhaps if she is so low-income she may qualify for other government / charitable assistance.   I would reach out to your local government and inquire about any programs that could possibly either support her, or offer her a different living situation.

by formalizing a reduced rent you actually lock yourself into receiving that lower rent.  The better thing to do is to formalize the higher rent and then seek to find someone to help support her if you are going to insert yourself into her situation.  I would establish a timeline by which rent will be where you want it and let it be her responsibility to solve.  You have no idea if she may have someone who could be a benefactor to her, and probably won’t until more rent is due / overdue. 

All the best!

Randy 

 @Akila Baskaran

Hi Akila,

I know you say you are new to RE investing.  But I would suggest that Foreclosures are really not a great place for beginners to start.  The topic is really broad.. and you are basically asking for "tell me everything"... so I will start off by saying that there is no way we could ever tell you everything you need to know... its just too nuanced and too many variables to possibly explain in a post.  But I will try to tell you a few things to help. 

The answer to a lot of your questions is going to depend on where you are located.  I'm in Florida, so can't give you specifics on OKC, but can tell you the general basics based on where I'm at... which is pretty typical for many locations (but don't quote me for your specific one).

The first thing to know is that there are a few flavors of foreclosures.  Sometimes the word is thrown around a bit loosely... but in its truest form a foreclosure is handled by the courts.  The courts are not in the real estate business... so they have no interest or capability to show a property to let you inspect it.  Sometimes you can glean some information about what a property looks like on the inside from a previous sale's photos that might be floating around on Zillow, etc.  But typically you have no idea what the inside is like - as photos like those could be years old.  Who's to say whether there is an AC unit in the attic / closet, whether someone stole the appliances, whether the roof is leaking, or what-have-you.  The general rule is "expect the worst and hope for the best!"  This is why foreclosures sell at a discount compared to other sales channels.

I will tell you that I have put my face up against more than a few windows as I have walked a foreclosure property when I can tell it is vacant.  If a door is unlocked, I might have had a peek around?!?   But often times there is still a tenant living in the property.  It's a 50/50 role of the dice if someone in a foreclosure is going to be civil to you if you approach them about their house.  Maybe they will give you a tour... maybe they will tell you to go fly a kite (or worse).  I personally don't approach properties that are occupied.  

But if they are occupied, there is a better chance that they haven't been stripped like many might have if they were vacant.  

Some locations have auctions literally "on the court house steps'... in Florida it works more like Ebay... most counties use a company called "real foreclose".  You register to bid, and have to have 5% of what you want to bid on deposit with the company (ie. real funds).  If you have $5,000 on deposit with them you could bid up to 100,000 on a property.  If the property auction exceeds $100,000 you won't be able to bid again because you would be past your 5% on deposit.

In Florida, if you win the auction, you have to show up the next day with the other 95% in certified funds.  If you don't, you forfeit the 5% from your bidding account.  So there is no financing, or time to apply for a loan... it's pretty much an all cash deal.  

I've heard of other places actually doing a more typical 30 day closing where you might be able to line up financing... but have no personal experience in that method.

As for titles and liens... it's all on you to do your research.  You can pay to have a title company run a title search, but more often than not you can read the foreclosure documents and determine a lot of information.  Given the odds of actually winning a foreclosure auction, the idea of paying to have a title search done on multiple properties is generally restrictive.  I've done it once when I was pretty serious about a purchase... but otherwise I do my own courthouse research by reading the foreclosure documents (online in my state).  A real title/lien search is going to be more thorough in all likelihood.

The most important piece of information is "who is the one foreclosing?" It could be anyone... a 1st position lender, a 2nd position lender, an HOA suing for their HOA fees, a 3rd party where a borrower pledged their house as collateral on a contract, etc, etc.

The biggest thing to know is that senior positions survive less senior positions. So a first position lender will typically wipe out lower position liens. There are exception though... municipal and federal liens typically survive. So if an HOA is suing for their annual fees, and you win the auction, there is likely still a multi-hundred thousand dollar loan on the property from the lender in first position. Again - you are playing with 'big financial numbers' and unless you really understand what you are doing, you could get yourself in a really awkward situation where you win something only to lose it to YOU being foreclosed on by someone else with a more senior position... so be very careful! I see people all the time bid on HOA auctions thinking they bought the property for $10-20,000. Then they find out that the mortgage on the property survives and have that 'oh #*$$#" moment.

Another thing to know is that auctions frequently cancel at the last minute because someone will do something to protect their property.  For instance, if someone files for bankruptcy, the sale will be canceled pending the bankruptcy.  Sometimes buyers will catch up the payments at the last minute to get the lender to cancel the foreclosure.  There are other situations where a potential buyer may catch up the borrower in a side agreement to buy the property at a discount.  So don't be surprised to see many auctions get postponed or cancelled. 

I googled OKC foreclosures and found this site which looks like it has the basic rules for bidding in your area, etc:

https://docs.oklahomacounty.org/sheriff/sheriffsales/

That same link also has another link to all the current available properties.

Happy to answer more specific questions, but hopefully some of that helps!

Randy