All Forum Posts by: Steve K.

Here's a great article on the topic if you haven't read it: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-14...

Maybe "Bitcoin Jesus" will lend you the money for your down payment(s). Even at 12-20% interest, it could be a smart play if BC continues upward at the current rate. 

Or, solve the problem for everyone by starting your own credit union that recognizes BC as collateral on loans. Every problem is a business waiting to be born, and this thread has repeatedly exposed the problem. Salt, Nebeus, CoinLoan and EthLend are still getting off the ground, there's plenty of room in this nascent BC lending market for someone with means (and balls)! 

Any water heater gurus out there? We're remodeling a unit after an eviction. Gas was off for a few weeks, and now that it's back on the water heater isn't working. For a while the pilot would stay lit until the unit heated water, and then go out. Now I can't get the pilot to light at all. It's a 2015 Rheem, internal thermo-coupler kind I believe, I can't access the thermo-coupler to clean it or anything. Is it possible that the gas service interruption caused a problem with the water heater? The tenant says it was working prior to the service interruption. The gas furnace located right next to the water heater is working fine so I don't think it's a supply issue. Hoping to avoid replacing a water heater that is less than 3 years old.  

Thanks Chris!

Looking for a PM for properties in Longmont and Lakewood, CO. I've spoken to about a dozen PM's already, none will service both Longmont and Lakewood. Looking to have all properties managed by one PM. Anyone have any leads on a decent PM that services both Jeffco and Boulder County?

Thanks Bill S. Great advice. 

Haha a bunch of replies from lawyers! Thanks for the advice gang. Does it make sense for me to draft something and have our attorney review it/ sign off on it, or should I just ask him to write the whole thing? Our business plan that I wrote before embarking on this journey already covers most of what the operating agreement will address. There's nothing complicated about our LLC, it's a simple 50/50 partnership.

Does anybody have a good operating agreement that they would be willing to share with me to adapt into our own? Colorado doesn't require one to set up an LLC but our lender wants one so I need to write one. Looked online but only found generic samples that I could work off of if needed but if anybody has a really good one they'd be willing to share for me to work off of and customize for our LLC it would be greatly appreciated. We just paid a lawyer too much $ to review our lease agreement, so I'm hoping to find a good operating agreement without feeding the lawyers any more of our hard earned money if possible (sorry lawyers).

@Sandra B. I mentioned English classes only because of an El Salvadoran family we have in one of our units who have been here for years but haven't had the opportunity to learn ANY English because they work all the time and they work with only fellow Spanish speakers. They told me (in Spanish) that they would like an opportunity to learn English but they don't have access to classes, since they work 100 hour work weeks just to pay the bills and don't have time or money for anything else. I'm not sure how to solve that problem for them but it crossed my mind. I only have basic Spanish so it's hard to communicate with them beyond a basic level "theres a leak in unit A so we're shutting water down to the whole building so we can fix it," etc. however thank you for pointing out that some people may be offended if a landlord were to recommend English classes, that's a valid point. In the scenario I'm dealing with they want to learn English badly but don't know how so it's a different situation. 

Good ideas coming in here. We've stuck with capital improvements so far and have made tenants happy while increasing the value of our properties. I've even remodeled units fully in order to justify raising the rent, while tenants were living there. It takes a special relationship with the tenant to pull that off. Sometimes I just wish there were more I could do. Bike racks, solar, wifi, Christmas gifts and rewards to good tenants for paying rent on time are all great suggestions. I also appreciate the comments about staying out of tenants lives unless there's a problem, fixing things promptly, and keeping the relationship strictly business. Our main goal is building PASSIVE income after all. Our plan is to achieve that by transitioning to a PM when we have enough units to get a good rate and enough cash flow to justify the fees, but I'm also interested in maintaining a healthy conscience personally in the meantime. The human element of investing in MF rentals is real and can't be ignored, for me at least. 

Hi Lee L., Several of our buildings are in a town (Longmont, CO) that recently developed municipal Wifi which is actually provided by the town cheaper than commercial services. It's also the fastest Wifi in the country. So for these properties it seems like a no brainer to provide Wifi to the whole building from the town. I'm looking into setting it up now and I don't see any downside. It's hard wired in with fiber so I think the service will be very reliable, and if/when the tenants have connectivity issues they can call the town who provides the service along with electricity, water, sewer, and trash. Pretty ideal scenario. I plan to include the very minimal fees in with our utility fees for the common area and even thought the tenants will be paying for it they'll still be benefitting because it's much cheaper than any other Wifi options. Not every location will have the same scenario but I imagine moving forward more and more cities will be developing muni Wifi. For other scenarios I expect there are still efficiencies of scale to be gained by supplying Wifi to a whole building, but there is also potential for increased headaches if you had to manage it.