All Forum Posts by: Gerald K.

Welcome to BP. Check out the learn tab up top and dig in. There's a ton of info to learn here. Also check out the Podcasts. Get out and meet people in your area - find a local Real Estate Invesment group in your area. Good luck and see you on the forums.

@Mark Ferguson , It's been hard finding good deals over here too. How does this current deal compare to the last few you've done? Your deal still looks like market price is inexpensive compared to out here and taxes in your area are 4 to 5 times lower than here. Only one day on the market, so I guess that means the price was right.

The lower priced buy and hold properties in good areas out here have increased around 40% from a year or two ago. Not at the bubble levels, but definitely making it tougher to find good deals. I think there was a pop up when interest rates and prices starting moving up. Once the media started in on recovery talk, it was off to the races. But recently it seems prices may be moderating a bit.

Those pre-sales maybe should include some kind of escalation clause. Good idea on the higher pricing for the one with the views. The new construction photos are always nice to see. Thanks for sharing.

REO and short sales for lower priced buy and hold properties in good areas are becoming harder and harder to find. Some places have doubled in price. How's your market? Have you had to change your strategy? What's working, what's not?

I depends on where you live and what kind of investing you want to do. If you live in an area where the average price for a house is over 500K, that may limit you to what you can do in your area.

If you want to invest out of state, you have to rely on other people. You can build a team you can trust, or you can go with a turn key company that has a team already in place. Whatever you do, make sure you do your own due diligence. Don't trust anybody ~ or trust but verify. CYA!

Some tie rent increases to the CPI, but probably setting rent at or slightly lower than the average comparable rents in your area would make more sense.

CPI rent increases on multi-year leases was discussed here:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/104233-anyone-tied-cpi-to-their-multi-year-lease

@Sheree H. , You have received a lot of good advice here. When a tenant is allowed to repeatedly pay late, not pay late fees, you have basically allowed them to establish new rules for the lease. In fact, if you allow this to occur, and you end up in court in front of a judge, the judge may consider what's been accepted by you over a period of time as the established agreement - it's called lulling the tenant - and you could lose the case. Also, serving the lawful notice to pay or vacate must be done according to your state's landlord tenant laws. In WA state, we cannot simply send a letter in the mail. Timing is also very important. Other's in your area may weigh in on exactly what the proper procedure is in your area as I am not familiar with it. I'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice. Good luck.

One of the benefits of rental property is to have the tenants pay off your mortgages. If you have a lot of rentals, you have a whole team of tenants paying off your mortgages. I think debt is OK during the time you're building a portfolio of cash flowing properties - ones that cashflow above and beyond all expenses including maintenance and vacancies. When you get to the point where you want to retire, you would need income to live off of. At that point, you either need enough positive cashflow or enough debt paid down to make it happen. However, when you're starting out, paying off the mortgages with your own hard earned cash seems like workng for money versus having money or your tenants work for you.

More information would be helpful. What kind of rental agreement? A lease, or month-to-month? Are there late fees per your rental agreement? Is this causing you a lot of trouble constantly trying to get paid?

Rental agreements are useless unless enforced. Good job.