All Forum Posts by: Robert Curls

thanks @Tyrone Green and @Michele Fischer for playing along!  I wonder how those Aberdeen multifamily properties compair to the mobile home parks in PeEll.

In FL Ceiling fans are a requirement.  I found some $35 fans at Home Depot the other day and installed them in a rental I'm fixing up now.  Big mistake, these things were pieces of crap, making all kinds of strange noises as soon as I turned them on.  I've installed close to 40 Ceiling fans over the years, I won't buy these cheap ones again.

I'll start.

Good Morning Brandon are you looking at Seattle Multifamily properties today?

Everyone,

As Brandon mentioned in the last podcast (webinar replay) he has a keyword alert that sends him a text message every time someone puts Seattle and Multifamily into the forums.  Lets have some fun blowing up his phone today. :)

All,

I have to do a little shameless plug for my wife.  She is a realtor in Clearwater FL and recently had a big situation.  Her seller decided to cancel the contract for the lawn maintenance and pool maintenance people after he got his investment property under contract.  Grass grows rather quickly in FL and pools can take a nasty turn for the worse in a matter of days if not properly cared for.  Needless to say the yard was  shin high in most areas with some weeds, i kid you not being waste high on my (I'm @Brandon Turner size, and I will challenge him to a fight at the next BP summit :)  ).  The day before closing the sellers agent calls my wife and says if this isn't taken care of there will be no closing.  Her client was unable to get anyone out there to take care of it with a days notice, so what does she do.  She takes our mower over there and mows the place herself, and shocks the heck out of the pool.  

The closing happened today and now a new couple are first time home owners.  I'm proud of her for doing what ever it takes to get the job done.

Hi @Mary Ann you mentioned utilities in the expenses.  What utilities?  Just water / trash? or does that include power / cable.  I know sometimes when single families are split like this they never become separately  metered.  This is something to consider as if / when you move out and do have two tenants in there this can eat up your profits.  Also, I'd look to see if this property is zoned for multi-family or single family residential.  

Last thing, I'm in Pinellas, is this in Tampa proper? Just curious.

Hi Nick

The duplex was a seller financed deal that I found through a wholesaler. I met him at a local REIA meeting. I send up with close to 20% down at the end of it, 5k went the the seller $9500 went to the wholeseller and I have a note for 45k @7%. The reason why I went with the seller financing, even though I could have gotten a Lowe interest rate via conventional financing is the place is a dumpy little duplex. I didn't want to have to go through the traditional appraisal process and deal with under wrighting. The numbers work out even at 7%.

Opening an equity line  on your home is an option, but it depends on how much you could leverage, what are you going to do with the money, and how good of an investment are you buying. I probably wouldn't do it to fund a down payment for another property that will be conventional financed because the lender will see th at you've been shopping for a mortgage. If it were for a down payment on a seller financed deal, then maybe. Or if it were to purchase a property out right then I would consider it. I was looking at leveraging lending club for a ridiculously high interest rate to be able to purchase a house in Pasco county. The thought was id buy it out right, then redo it into conventional financing after seasoning the property. The rent would have covered the payments but I just couldn't stomach the thought of paying that much interest.

It all comes down to your position on risk, some people are risk averse. I like taking calculated risks, I've left six figure jobs twice to peruse my dreams, fortunately I have a wife that believes in me and that I will not harm our family in my ventures.    I'd be happy to hop on Skype or a call to chat and strategize if you'd like, just PM me.

Blake,

I used google voice for my marketing, this includes direct mail, Craigslist listing, and yard signs. You can sign up for additional google accounts to get different google voice numbers. This way you can split test your marketing to see what works better. For example maybe have one phone number for post cards and a separate phone number for yellow letters. Remember, what matters gets measured. Also with your primary google voice number, you can have it ring or forward texts to your cell phone. If you have an android phone there are some cool integrations too ( I hear there are some with the google voice app for iPhone but I have no experience with that). Another platform that I've looked at in the past is call fire, its a more business ready call platform than google voice, but I'm cheap and google voice is free.

Hi Blake,

I'd stick to the list and keep hitting them.  The key is to be consistent, set your calendar and don't deviate.  There are plenty of people on BP that are far more successful with their direct mail campaigns that I've been, but my experience is keep sending the letters.  Also, plan out when you want to receive your calls.  I found that it takes about 3 days from the day the letters go in the mail to when the phone starts ringing.  I don't like getting calls on the weekends so I would send letters on Friday or Saturday anticipating the phone to start ringing on Monday / Tuesday.  It would ring through Thursday typically and then be dead Fri / Sat / Sun.  I then drop the next weeks worth of letters in the mail.  If you send out on Wednesday, plan on getting calls on Saturday and Sunday.

Good Luck!

Rob

Hi Nick,

If you sold your townhouse for $160K, you'd probably have to pay a realtor 5% in commissions (if not 6%) which equates to $8K, closing costs would probably ring in around 5% as well (another $8K so you'd walk away with approximately $21K (this is if the buyer doesn't make you do any repairs first or force you to give any concessions).  Depending on how long you've lived in the home, you may also have to pay capital gains taxes.

It sounds like you live in a nice part of Ft Myers, and in a very affordable place.  Why not continue to live in the townhouse and use your 20K to buy a cash flowing rental?

I'm in a similar position, we rented our old home and bring in $350 over the mortgage payment. However everything in our home had been updated and I knew that I wouldn't have large repair costs for 5-6 years. We also don't have any HOA or possibilities of special assessments. The plan here is to sell it within 5 years, this should allow for appreciation in the market, and allow me not to pay capital gains taxes. We're a year in on it now and I've had to replace the electrical panel (thanks insurance company) and had a small flood which required about $500 of new flooring. Contrast this to a duplex that I own where the mortgage payment is $350 and it brings in $1100 in rent.