All Forum Posts by: Perry Rosenbloom

Hi Mark,

I've read just about every article on your blog ;-)

Just through Craigslist ads I've been getting 2-3 inquiries per day for the last week of people interested in seeing the home...

Maybe they won't show up and/or won't really be interested though :-( We'll have to see, I guess...

Bumping to stay notified about this

Well, we are under contract on our first investment property! Actually, it's the second time we're under contract on our first investment property... Walked away after the inspection on one deal...

Anyway, here are the details:

4BR/2BA SFH in Greeley, CO
1600 SQ FT Ranch built in 1955
New AC, New Water Heater, Old Roof, 10 year old furnace that has been serviced every 6 months for the last 2 years
Mostly hardwood floors with a little carpet. Tiled kitchen and bathrooms
Kitchen is completely renovated

Under contract at 147,500
Taxes: 682/year
Projected Rent: 1,500/month (based on the responses I'm getting from Craigslist, I think we could probably even get 1,550-1,600).

I know that a lot of people here very much like the 40/50% rule. Other investors I've spoken with locally feel that's very conservative. Also, two family members own investment properties in Florida and Atlanta and haven't come close to those numbers... We'll see how it pans out for me :-)

Regardless, with the 40% rule, we're cash flowing roughly $2,200/year; however, considering I will have higher quality tenants at 1,500/month, the home is completely renovated, vacancy rates are less than 1% and the only major repair looming (fingers crossed) is the roof, I think it could be realistic to have our total operating expenses (including insurance and taxes) at roughly 25% gross rental income for the first few years, which should give a CAP of 9.11% and COC on 20.73%.

We'll see how naive I am ;-)

Wish me luck!!!

PS Special thanks to Grant P. for his recommendation of a real estate agent.

I'm sure he does :-) I'll shoot you an email with his contact info

Hi Wayne,

I've worked with MANY VA's over the last 2 years and have had varying degrees of success.

1. Full-time VA from the Philippines found through a head hunting company out there. That ended after 2 months of aggravation and constant headaches.

2. A VA who does as-needed graphic design work for me. Based out of Pakistan and found via elance. He's VERY cheap and produces great work. Call on him only when I need him.

3. A VA team based out of Haiti found via Elance. Did very good work but disappeared off the face of the planet after 5 months.

4. A VA based out of Canada that does as-needed transcription work. Found via Elance and very pleased.

5. A VA based out of India that I found almost a year ago after I fired a part-time assistant that worked out of my home office with me 3 days a week. He has been phenomenal. I pay him more than most VAs out of India (6.50/hour), but he's well worth it. The trick with him (and other non-native English speaker VAs) is getting him to use his brain. You need to tell him to cross his T's and dot his i's.

6. A VA based out of England that does as-needed, part-time work for me. She's been great so far.

And others...

The most important recommendations I can give:

A. If they are across the pond, make sure they spend at least some of the time working on your schedule. This will allow you to train them more easily.

B. Create detailed documents explaining everything from start to finish.

C. Screencast by Jing will be your best friend.

I personally prefer Elance as I have used it for years.

** - Edited to answer your questions specifically - **

I pay them via PayPal. I use Elance to find and hire them. Elance also has a screencast feature that enables you to see the work they do. It takes screenshots of their monitor at various intervals.

Freelancers out of the Pakistan/India area will cost anywhere from 3-7/hour. Philippines will be looking for part or full-time employment and can cost anywhere from 300-1,200/month. I wouldn't hire anyone from the Philippines for less than 750/month full-time. You won't get the right skillset.

I use LastPass to send them passwords that are encrypted so they cannot see my passwords but can access my sites. I can also revoke the passwords easily that way.

Basecamp is a lifesaver for managing them.

Overall, I could not live without VAs. They are essential to my business.

Good luck!! Just like with REI, you're gonna make a few mistakes before getting it right ;-)

Mark Ferguson Just shot you a message. Thanks!

Thanks, everyone!

Hey Everyone,

I'm looking for an agent in northern Colorado. Having a difficult time finding a quality agent. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Perry

Marco Santarelli - Love that line! Thanks for the recommendations and inspiration :-)

Ali Boone - Trying to fully understand all the numbers. I'm getting there. Concerned about being able to understand the rental market in an area I'm unfamiliar with. Will shoot you an email :)

Grant P. - That's far outside my skillset right now. Don't even know how to begin investing like that. I'm a numbers guy and don't know what numbers to look for in non turnkey projects :-/ (I can put lipstick on anything but that's about it).

Mark Ferguson - Greeley seems to be the most appealing. To do something like that with financing is too much cash for me right now. In a few months, that will be different.

Ali Boone - I am considering investing out of Colorado. Perhaps Jacksonville, FL, as I have family in the area and they are in the real estate business. Any recommendations on where to begin learning about investing out of state?