All Forum Posts by: Ron Daugherty

Ryan,  did the PM say what the turnaround time was on the repair request?  You may have an issue with the repair time frame and need to look at the PM for reinbursement.

I say that, because if you have this scenario your PM is responsible in my opinion.  The spring broke and the tenants transportation is inside.  He called the PM to advise them the door is not working.  If the PM waited days to get a repair done, that is on the PM.  You can't expect the tenant to be without transportation.  There is absolutely no reason that spring could not have been repaired same day, or next if the tenant called in the afternoon.

I would make sure you don't have that situation with your PM first. 

I think it depends on what you are comfortable with.  I personally don't use a General, but I have a heavy construction background and know how I want things done and quickly spot when they aren't before it's too late to change.  If you don't have that ability, you may be better off hiring a GC, which of course will eat into your profits. 

I do some work myself and subs for what I can't do in a timely manner.

I wasn't able to read all the replies, so this may have been suggested and answered already.  I would compare which will generate the most income in your pocket.

Scenario 1,  pay off the rental.  You said it would generate an additional $1k per month, or 12k a year.  But what about the tax write off of the interest on the loan.  You would need to subtract that from that 12k a year since you won't be able to write off any interest going forward.   My loans are all commercial, so that's a big amount each year.

Scenario 2, pay off your mortgage.  How much does that gain you per month in $$$$.  I'm guessing it's more than the 1k you would gain on additional rental income.   I realize that won't gain you any $$$$ per month now since you still owe on it, but what it does is gain you years for paying it off early to reach your retirement goals.

I would run the number that way and see which fits your long term plan the most.  I think I would pay down the mortgage on your primary house so you can pay it off early.  That will give you some flexibility in 10 years or however long it takes to pay the rest.  You could always pick up another rental at that time or two to replace the income you lose from your 9-5 job.  But, you have to figure out what's best for you and your long term plans.

Cesar, between Sunnylane and Sooner is where my rentals are.  Stay as close to Sooner as you can, but East of Sunnylane is a much better area.  You will pay more for properties in that area, it's worth it to me for the lower amount of headaches and higher rent prices.  The city will still be a pain to deal with, no changing that.

I currently have 4 in Del City, and in closing on a 5th.  Like others have said, the City can be "fun" to deal with.   Also, when crunching numbers, location matters a LOT.  I don't look at anything west of Sunnylane.  

West of Sunnylane, south of I-40 and all the way to 59th is an F area in my book and not worth the hassle with the class of tenant on top of dealing with a difficult city.  I won't touch anything in those areas.  Get calls all the time and politely decline no matter how good they may appear. 

Everything I have is close to the Base, Sooner between 29th and 44th.  I've had real good luck with properties in that area.

I use Shelter for my Rental Properties also,  use NREIG out of Kansas City for flips/vacant properties.

Josh, my son is in the Navy and we go through this every few years. The first thing you should look into is which city will your BAH go the furthest, OKC is the lowest cost of the cities you list, but it also will be the lowest BAH. That would limit your options on BRRRR or househacking.

My recommendation is see which city will give you the most bang for your buck with your BAH allowance and go with that one.  If you need any help, send me a PM I would be glad to help you with it.  Like I said, we go through this quite a bit with my son. 

If you were certain that was the floor you wanted, why didn't you check before he started?  Sounds like you need to be on site more often.  Is this a regular contractor or first time using them?  If first time, even more reason to be on site more often.  

After the fact, not sure there is anything you can do.  If I'm the contractor and you don't pay me, I would say you saw the floor being installed and didn't say anything, pay the balance or get a lien on the property.

Sorry, majority of the blame on this one falls on you in my opinion.

We ran into the same issue and started building our own.  We've gotten to the point now that we have a CNC machine on order to start doing all of our finish work on flips in house.   

You could go the RTA route, there are some places in Dallas that sell those types of cabinets.  Not sure what the savings would be.

Honestly, it's getting more and more difficult to find deals.  They come up from time to time, but you have to be ready to jump when they do.  I missed out on a duplex in Del City that was a couple of blocks from the base just last month.  Our market is very saturated with folks looking for the same thing you are.  The good deals don't last long.