All Forum Posts by: Shera Gregory

Was this a property that was listed on the MLS? Take a look at the Buyer Agency Agreement. This would normally be something you sign with a real estate firm that will represent your interests in this transaction. Does that agreement say it is just for this specific property or for any that you might want to buy in a certain time period? Is the daughter now supposed to be "your" real estate agent? That's not a good spot to be in and if this was listed on the MLS it could be a dual agency situation which should not happen without full disclosure to you. In any case, you can call the finance or tax department of the city or county and ask about back taxes. This is public information so they should tell you what they have in their records. There could still be some type of error, etc as mentioned by the daughter but you would at least have an idea of the magnitude. Also, you can ask if tax payments are normally paid on a monthly basis. The more common approach is annual or bi-annual paid either directly by the owner or out of an escrow account by the lender.

We installed baseboard heat and a couple of window AC units in one of our rentals in Peterburg where we pulled out the very old floor furnace since we were re-doing the floors (I really hate those). Didn't have any trouble renting and I doubt we would have gotten much more if it had central AC. Do you go to the REIA meetups? I know that some of the local flippers have joined Barnett which was purchased by Home Depot (www.ebarnett.com). I joined but haven't bought anything from them yet. Could be a reasonable source of materials for HVAC, plumbing, etc.

One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is that I get to make my own rules. So when the situation warrants a granting some slack we get to do that. I've never been good at the "I'm just the manager, not the owner" pose. So my tenants know that I own the property and I set the rules. Sometimes this works in my favor since I'm not just a "corporate" entity that they feel OK with stiffing vs. a "real" person. When people get into a bind what do we expect them to do? Number one in my book is communication. In my experience the people who have turned out to not deserve the extra break are the folks who do not communicate. So I really value the people who come forward with info and let me know what's going on. In the long run I have found that they can be the most loyal and ultimately dependable. There's no guarantee, but do what you feel is right.

When I am switching a renter from their first 12 month lease to a month-to-month lease they are sometimes nervous about not having the security of a 12 month lease. For those who have been good tenants I will put in the new month-to-month lease that they have to provide me with 45 days notice and I have to give them 60 days notice. I understand that 30 days is the minimum required, but that just seems very short to me. If I were starting from scratch with a month-to-month then I would probably go with the shorter time period of 30 days.

@David Kirkland 

"Follow up question... do you prefer to work with one-man operations or companies and why?"  -- We are working with two different companies and one is a large corporate type firm and the other is run by a local real estate investor. So we're doing a mini-experiment to see how it goes with both of them. Full disclosure -- we only have one property with each company and are self-managing the rest. We need property management for the ones that are in our self-directed retirement account. There have been positives and negatives with each. For example, I thought that the larger firm would do a better job of tracking and responding to maintenance requests but there have been ones that fell through the cracks in their system. And the larger firm had an approach to filling vacancies that I wasn't sure would work well (they require credit checks before showing prospective tenants ANY property) but it turned out OK. And the one-person firm has been able to keep up with everything so far so no complaints there.

Hi @Account Closed -- there is a very active investor community here in the Richmond area. As with most urban areas there is a wide variety of neighborhoods within a 25 mile radius. Tools like rentometer.com can be very useful (I use it every time I want to analyze a potential buy & hold here). However, you need to look at the detail, not just the average because in some sections properties within a half mile of each other can rent from $800 to $1400. You will find lower priced properties in Hopewell and Petersburg just south of Richmond but the rents are lower and the properties can be in VERY bad condition. Do you have anyone local to be your "boots on the ground"? I think that will be very important in this market. Good luck! Send me a PM if you want to discuss further sometime.

Do they own rental properties themselves? If yes, that's mostly positive since they will have a better understanding of your interests as an investor. Just be sure how they manage filling vacancies. Ask where they have properties. I wouldn't want to work with a property manager who has a number of "competing" properties in the same complex or subdivision since they might be tempted to fill their own before filling yours. But in general, I think that having a property manager who has their own investment properties is a net positive. Of course, if you are considering a large firm who hires people then try to get a feel for their turnover of personnel. That can be a problem with larger companies.

If it's a subject to deal then the loan is not truly "satisfied" so I don't see how this would make it through the normal closing process for a purchase off the MLS. You would need to talk with the listing agent to see if he or she sees any way to make that work.

In the training that we get as real estate agents we are told "be the source of the source". I think that's a good idea here too. Give people information on where they can get their own info about self directed IRAs and 401k's. I have found the educational info on the Sense Financial website to be quite good.

Have you been to local meetups to connect with local private money and hard money lenders? The ones who have been around a while will know the local real estate market and should be able to see the value in the deal that you have. Check out meetup.com to see what is near you. I assume you are in Florida. Here are two that look like they may be close to you:

NFLLA master mind

Panama City Real Estate Investors