All Forum Posts by: Andrew Syrios

Welcome to BiggerPockets Mark and good luck investing!

It's hard to say what is bread and butter, but if you're looking for rentals, you want to be in the "Goldilocks Zone." You don't want to be in a war zone, but luxury houses also aren't great (unless you're going for that particular niche). My favorite is the middle to lower middle. Three beds is better than two, two baths is better than one, but small 2-1's can make for very good rentals. 

Also, forget the 2% rule. It's junk: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/05/06/2rule-die-horrible-death/

- good books to read?

- Multifamily Millions by Dave Lindahl

- The Landlord Survival Guide by Jeffrey Taylor

- The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

- What is the common range for management fees?
- Usually it's around 4-6% after paying all their expenses (which is basically their profit margin) including payroll for third party onsite property management. Offsite is usually 10% plus first months lease.

- Generally... does the management company pay for minor maintenance.
*or is that something the management companies are expected to cover out of their Fee? 

If it is an onsite management company, it will bill you for its maintenance. You're basically paying their staff and for the supplies. 

*do you need in-house maintenance?

Depends on the size of the property. Over 50 units, probably. 

- Do you need an in-house leasing agent

Again, depends on the size of the property. A colleague of mine with a 39 unit property found one person to do both the maintenance and leasing (we were self managing, so this was an employee). But that's not a hugely common skill set.

- Shucks..... a general job description of what an owner would expect a management company to perform would be helpful.  

Leasing, maintenance, tenant relations, collections, evictions, accounting, providing you reports and letting you know of CAPEX needs, doing that CAPEX, etc.  

Welcome to BiggerPockets Alex and good luck investing!

Getting a new car makes sense, but $15-20,000 seems high, especially if you want to become an investor. Do you think you could talk her into a used car, maybe in the $6-10,000 range?

Welcome to BiggerPockets Matt!

Welcome Eric! I would recommend you be very cautious with out-of-state investing. I wrote an article a while back on it you might find helpful: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/12/23/investing-out-of-state-essential-items-to-vet/

It has to do with a combination of 1) each loan, or even property on a package loan requires a certain amount of work regardless of size, which makes small loans burdensome and 2) the perception that cheap properties are in rough areas or rough shape, which many banks consider risky. Whether that perception is correct is another question altogether.

That being said, I've talked to a lot of banks and they often have different criteria and are looking for different things. We've had banks lend on cheap properties before, although usually as part of a package with more expensive properties thrown in. I would get on the phone and start calling banks to see if you can find anyone who's interested.

Great post and congratulations @Account Closed!

Welcome aboard Stephanie!