All Forum Posts by: Rich Vogel

I just have one phone. I have all my tenants phone numbers in there so I know when its them calling. Why do you feel like you need two phones?

I would call a bunch of insurance providers in your area and price them out.  I would also go to a real estate meeting in your area and see who they are using or you might meet an insurance broker there. That is what I did and he is great.

1. What's the best way to collect rent ? -- I get it sent to a po box.

2. Should I accept Section 8 tenants ? -- I would say it depends on your skill level as an investors. If you have a good screening process(you still should screen Section 8) and if you can stay on top of the them then yes. 

3. Should I go to a realtor to create my lease/find me a tenant. -- I find my tenants by myself. I put it on rentlinx.com and craigslist.

4. How do you figure out the rental market value for your property? -- Look at what is currently available in your area on craigslist and zillow and so on. Then call or even go check some places out to see how they compare to your property.  This also gets you to learn the market in general.

5. Should I get Renters/landlord insurance ? Just a regular landlord policy. 

6. How do you find your tenants or list your apartment? -- rentlinx.com and craigslist.

7. Does the landlord have to pay for trash removal/water? -- It depends. In bethlehem the landlord is suppose to pay for trash and at least keep the water bill in there.  

If you ever have any other questions just shoot me a pm. 

@Drew Oberholtzer I would call as many local banks as possible. I eventually found one but I must have called 30 of them. 

@Sheen Ford I would call up the mortgage company explain to them the situation 9/10 will have not problem with it and then just put in writing to cover yourself. 

Thanks 

Rich 

@Jason Thomas have you set up financing for these properties yet.  I know by me they won't touch loans that low.  But if you haven't looked into it you might want to start working on finding a lender.

@Jeremy Taggart I actually use the above lease.  I had my lawyer review the lease and he thought it was pretty good. 

Hi @David Dachtera

If your only doing 3k at a time and your heloc is 35k you’re not at risk for a bank lowering your limit that low but if you are doing large sums like some of the readers mentioned above then you can be at risk. When the economy was going down the bank actually came to me and told me that they were lowering my line from 150k to 122k. So for instance if I was using my heloc as my savings account just to keep my interest low then I would have lost access to that money. When I asked them why they lowered it they stated cause they wanted to lower their exposure to the market. My partner’s bank just got bought by another bank and his bank manager told him that be prepared that they might be lowing there HELCO outstanding amounts.

Does anyone include the risk of your bank lowering your heloc and in essence taking away your savings?

I would have to say

1. Plans and Goals I think it is important to have goals and plans and recognize when you have tweek them. Write them down and review them often

2. Learn, Learn, Learn.  Whether that is through biggerpockets, books, real estate meet ups.  And realize you always can learn something new no matter what stage of investing you are in

3. Drive/ Passion this is more of a mindset thing but I think that it is important that you have it. You have to want to achieve it.  I think part of this is having your why.  My why is that I want to beable to spend as much time with my family as I can.  I learned a long time ago that time is the must valuable currency in the world.

4. Build a network.  By building a great network of people this can make your life a lot easier and can save you a lot of money.  Find good contractors, real estate agents, insurance brokers, attorney's, other investors, mortgage broker, private money lenders, mentors. 

5.  This one might not suit everyone but it was very important for my success find someone to listen or a feedback partner.  I come from a family that is a strict get a 9-5 with benefits work 30 or 40 years and then retire and everyone worries about how much money everyone else makes compared to them.  So I this one aunt who I can bounce all my ideas off of and she gives me some great advice and is always very positive which helps me keep driving forward even though the rest of my family is very negative.