All Forum Posts by: Shain Ismailovski

Hi Helen,

A lot of investors I work with with remove an oil tank if they can. The liabilities if something goes wrong with the tank are immense for the property owner and they would rather not risk it.

Hi Logan,

I'm not sure if you can target a specific group page, but you can target people who like certain things and if those things align with the group and the area the group is based out of there is a chance those people will see your ad.

Listing sites are notoriously inaccurate. The algorithms  they use are not specific to certain features that add or lessen value to a property. You can turn to an agent for advice or look at the homes in the area that have sold. That will give you a better idea. Study the listing, the pictures, and the property details. Then look at similar properties and you may start to get a more accurate idea.

Thanks for sharing! I have been looking at Allentown for a while.

If the tenant has had no issues before as you have mentioned I would consider the offer as well. Having that money up front would be useful especially for the purposes you explain. My only advice would be to negotiate the discount to something between 5-8%. That means more money to reinvest. Still, the offer as it stands seems like a decent one so long as even after the discount you are cash flowing positively and at a healthy amount. 

Hey Josh,

The tenant is violating the lease by smoking inside. Regardless of when they move out this is something you need to address as you will be left with the unit when they leave. Getting the "smoke" smell out can be a pain not to mention smoking inside is a liability for you. You need to send the tenant a "Notice to Quit." A notice to quit essentially means that you mean business. A lot of landlords use it prior to evicting a tenant and some states mandate it. I'm not saying you have to evict the tenant and if they have been fine up until this point there is no real reason to. However, you can let them know that if they continue there will be some monetary penalty that will be attached to the next rent. If that penalty is not paid it is technically grounds for eviction as they did not fully pay the rent. This all varies state to state and again, I don't think you should evict them, but it may be enough to light the fire under their *** rather than lighting your home on fire with with a joint.

I attached an article for reference below:

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-a-notice-to-quit-2125264

Love to see it and hear about it!

I know a few landlords who use Cozy and like it.

https://cozy.co/

Hi Bud,

First thing you want to do is ensure any and all rent increases fall in line with local regulations (if any). When do each of the leases expire? It may be easier for you to wait to raise the rent after the expiration in order to give the tenants enough time to adjust their budgets and not cause any issues with the previous lease agreement. Regardless, when the time comes to raise the rent my advice would be to do it in smaller increments. If you're paying $870 in rent and then your landlord tells you next month you're paying $1250, that tenant may not be too thrilled. That's an extreme example, but a lot of data shows that increments of $100 and up scare tenants more than smaller increments. Instead, raise rent either 3-5% or in $50 to $75 increments depending  on the situation you feel is appropriate. Then proceed to increase rent yearly with each new lease drawn up and let the tenants know that this will happen each year or however long you want it to. Make sure you let the tenants know why rent is being increased and to keep the increases fairly consistent. It is a slower process, but just by increasing rent $50 you add an extra $600 coming your way a year.

I have always found it interesting that many of the investors I know or have worked with have only  operated in the Post-Recession Era and many of whom don't exactly know how to operate when the economy takes a sour turn. Yes, they have contingencies in place and have portfolios diverse enough where they feel they can weather the storm, but don't have an idea of what day to day investing and deal finding would be like in that situation. I would be interested in hearing from those who started investing and working in real estate pre the financial crisis and what some of the strategies they used to come out on top were.