All Forum Posts by: Satyam Mistry

@Regina Panga Hello Regina, spend more time exploring all the great resources Bigger Pockets can offer. Yes, there is a Buy & Hold calculator available on the site as well as much more information available from experienced investors. Do not base your decision solely on a calculator, but think about the entire investment and what your strategy is for the property. Something to consider when investing is condos is what the recent HOA fees have been over the last few years so you can see how it is trending. Also, be sure the association is accepting units to be used as rentals and see what recent sales of other condos have been in the same area. Shop around for a few different insurance companies as the rates are some times much lower for condos due to the HOA covering some large CAPEX items such as roofing, siding, foundation, etc.

@Bastian Kneuse Hello Bastian, if you are self managing properties there are many tools out there that have made tracking income and expenses much easier such as Cozy, which is also used for rent collection. Taking an hour to update this every couple months will keep your accounting organized & easier when tax time comes. You can meet with a CPA before taxes are due and have the documents showing income & expenses prepared as well as statements that you receive for each property showing the mortgage & interest paid for the year. You should also provide property tax statements & insurance policies for the year for each property. Many banks also provide detailed expense summaries for card purchases. 

Tracking and updating your expenses for each property will also help you to understand how each property is performing from a cash flow perspective. It also is great to go back and see which CAPEX items were recently done on your expense sheets & and have an idea of others that could be upcoming. Keeping similar systems in place for each property will help streamline your business. For example, I have learned it is easier if I include property taxes as part of my escrow payment, but do not include insurance as I get a discount for prepaying in full for 12 months. I also try to setup as many bills as I can on autopay, schedule property tax payments through ACH, & review online banking transactions every few days.

If you have the details well documented it will make the CPA's job easier & your business more efficient.

@Benjamin Lemieux Hello Ben, sounds like something you have put thought into and it is great you have budgeted your exact amount of reserves and thought worst case scenarios so you are prepared. If needing to find new tenants as well nice thing is that those that have been accepted are providing first months rent and security deposit at time of move in. Also, I would recommend looking closely at the credit reports for prospective tenants and seeing what they have in terms of debt, collections, etc. Tenants with great credit reports will generally have emergency funds for tough times. As mentioned above this is a temporary situation and if you are a long term buy and hold investor that has done your due diligence this short term turbulence will not offset the long term gains the property can provide.

@Taylor Holden Hello Taylor, LVP luxury vinyl plank flooring is going to be a much better long term solution to flooring than carpet. It is waterproof, scratch proof, durable, & easier to clean in between tenants. It also looks much nicer which can help in attracting better tenants and charging little more in rent. 

An appraiser should know the value of LVP over carpet, but make sure you do select a quality LVP and not just the cheapest one available. You can also provide the appraiser a list of improvements you have made to the property for reference. I use the Authentic Plank product from Southwind which is an 8mm thick plank and does not require an underlayment. I took pair of keys and would scratch the sample pieces I had to see how resistant they were. These types of durable LVP flooring come with lifetime residential warranties. If doing LVP throughout the home you could consider using carpet just in the bedrooms depending on personal preference. 

This has been a very common discussion on BP & you will find nearly all investors will choose to go with LVP flooring over carpet. It will cost about 2.5 times more on material as well as install, but something that will look nice & last you many years to come.

@Nick Ziegler Hello Nick, this is something I am interested in exploring more as well, but in the area I was considering this it is usual practice for the landlord to pay the water/sewer/trash bill quarterly. What is typical setup for other small multi family buildings in your area?

@Tyler Winchell I would recommend starting small & getting experience self managing for a year first. Would start with a single family home and understand the income and expense aspects as well as the importance of having sufficient reserves in place. After that I could apply the same principles to a small multi family complex such as a duplex or fourplex. Spend as much time learning as you can then growing from there. All the first time headaches of being a landlord have been discussed on Bigger Pockets and can be referred back to. Having more money for a first investment when starting out in real estate is not necessarily a benefit. Best wishes.

@Charles D. Hello Charles, when having rental properties you are going to need a good list of contacts that you can call on for various tasks. Take the time to develop a list and call around for plumbers, handymen, painters, HVAC techs, etc. If you find and call 5-10 of each of these you will have a few to shortlist and begin to use. Any contact that I have used and been pleased with I ask them for referrals for any other work that I am looking for that they themselves do not do. 

I strongly recommend reaching out to a few local plumbing companies and developing a relationship with one that you can trust and call on when needed. Try finding a local company that you can reach the owner when you call, not that he will always be the one performing the work, but in my experience they will be more cost effective. In the lease I have included a paragraph that talks about tenant caused issues being the responsibility of the tenant. For example if a plumber is sent out and finds the cause of the issue to be from the tenant then they are informed of this and will be billed from us for the service. When you receive the invoice from the plumber you can share it with the tenant for full transparency. Plumbing is one of the most important aspects of a property so it is something you want to take seriously and find a contact you can rely on. Any time I buy a property even if it is turnkey I first schedule my plumber to go through and take a look to ensure everything is correct. I have often times been able to text him and just bounce ideas off on things I have read that other landlords do to tenant proof their properties, etc. 

Before renting a property out there are always small jobs for a handyman to do and one of the last things I request them to do is go around the property and ensure everything is working properly and looking neat. Also when a tenant moves in we go over the move in checklist and I give them a couple days to note any cosmetic or functionality issues. These are good to know about and then also to be able to refer back to at time of move out for deposit purposes. 

Make a list of 10 handyman contacts that you find through facebook, google, craigslist, nextdoor, your local real estate group, newspaper, etc. and call them and explain that you are a rental property owner and you are looking for a regular contact that you can call to do small jobs as needed. Ask them what their rates and availability usually is and start shortlisting a couple of contacts that you can then try when needed. For small jobs I send a handyman out to the property about every 6 months to look around, check drains, change HVAC filters, etc. and email the tenant a few days before notifying them and seeing if there are any maintenance requests. If there are small maintenance requests before this time that are not urgent I let the tenant know that they will be addressed at the next scheduled maintenance service. 

Always add to your list for these types of contacts as it is always good to have a list of a few contacts for each type of service in case one is not available when needed. Ask others who they have used for such jobs and if they would recommend them. Best wishes. 

@Russell Brazil Fortunate to have all 4 of the occupied properties pay on time. 2 other properties that were recently acquired have secured tenants for with leases starting in May & June. Another 2 properties are being updated at the moment and should not have trouble being rented as I have not noticed a dip in interested renters. Through platforms such as BP have learned to tighten and streamline the tenant screening process.

Residences in strong neighborhoods that are updated nicely when put on market for rent can have the luxury of being able to choose from qualified tenants that have good credit, proof of income, & stability which is verified through their application, background check, & credit check as well as how they present themselves online and in person. In many cases they will have an emergency fund setup when times are difficult.

Of course it is not possible to maintain this long term with so many people being out of work, but in the short term when you have a well presented property in a A/B class neighborhood you should be able to find the type of tenants that are able to weather short term storms.

@Arun Dharan Educate yourself as much as you can on long distance real estate investing through books, podcasts, BP, Youtube, blogs, etc. There is so much information out there to learn what to do and not to do. Start looking into an area that you have some ties to and would not mind checking in on as this is your first venture into real estate investing it is beneficial to meet with some contacts such as agents, inspectors, property managers, etc. 

One of the most important aspects of long distance investing is having systems in place and having people to manage those systems. It takes time to build this. If you know someone that is in a more affordable market that has experience and may be interested in partnering with you that could be an option as well. Remember the importance of having reserves in place when investing in real estate and including 10-20% monthly expense for maintenance/CAPEX.

Firstly identify what strategy, returns, and type of investment you are looking for. 

Jumping into a long distance multi family investment as your first real estate investment is not something that I would strongly suggest, but that being said it can be done. Start targeting a few areas that you may be interested in and start calling agents and explain to them what you are looking for and see what is out there. Think about who is going to manage the property and ask questions of property management companies such as what their processes are, fees, general vacancy rates, other properties they manage so you can get references, etc. Also start talking to lenders in the area so you know what you are approved for in terms of financing before potentially finding a deal. Best wishes!

@Kori Kelly Hello Kori, this is a usual request from a bank especially when dealing with secondary market loans as the underwriting process can be quite detailed. They need to follow the paper trail and want to ensure the loan is a safe investment. If that cash has not been in the account for 2 months explain to them how it was obtained and over what period of time. If you have other accounts that have good balances you can share that information with them as well as they want to make sure you have sufficient funds not only for the downpayment & mortgage payments, but also for reserves.