All Forum Posts by: Ben Riechmann

I would start with the rich dad poor dad series which gets you in the right mindset and has different authors as you go along that are masters in their fields.  You can get the books cheap on Abebooks.com and support local small book stores abound the country.  You can get audio versions there as well.  

Susan, I am saying I am paying much above the minimum.

Local industries in Ohio are having trouble finding people to find and staying on good paying jobs that pay above the mininum.  So this is not a minimum vs. pay above the minum issue.  I also offer side work for people that need it that is well above minum and living for people that can't do more skilled labor and many who say they need work don't show up.  We have a job for a full time maintence person available with benefits that can work at our many rentals and do some simple fix up tasks, most importantly clean and be on call when asked at a nice wage, but its hard to find someone.  Its funny how many I hear want to work and how many I offer them a job that pays over their last and they don't even last long enough to see what the job is really about.

My wife for a certain demographic likes to use Apartments.com.  But if they help you with your listings and offer suggestions on what to rent your places for, it is crucially important who manages your account.  We have enough rentals to be semi big but not super big.   You get the right person there things are great.  You don't, it is very annoying.  I am not big of zillows new customer service system and think apartment.com is better and quicker to respond when you have a lot of listings.  If using apartments.com, geling with the person in charge of your account is key.

It depends on what kind of deal you want to do. Hard money lenders are good for some kinds of deals. Some workers I had now own investment properties as I told them to look for investors at REI meettings and ask around for those that are looking to get out of it. Then try to find one that would sell as a land contract or some other kind os seller finacied deal. They went and did that. It is good to always be networking with different people in all areas of real estate as one may know a person interested in the type of deal youare interested in. Join investor groups on social media in your area, do rei online if there are not ones near you. Bigger pockets has some good videos on youtube on different ways to finace deals. It often also depends on the kind of deal you are trying to get done too. A deal to get a trailer park made, more money than you would think. requires a different criteria than a 6 plex. The more you talk to the more ideas you get on how to do different things.

You are very welcome!

Auctioneer is a very good field to get into.  Property managers make good livings.  Home inspectors make good livings.  Archtects do very well and structural engineers.  As for investing, you can sell rent to owns and land contracts.  There are so many different ways you can do a deal as an investor it leaves lots of options as an investor,  which is why I love it.  You can be a developer if you are good at getting partners and much bigger deals together.  The list goes on.  

They use that 50% to use to buy the materials for the jobs most often and to make sure some of their workers will be able to have some money for the work, but mostly the material part.  Roofers for example often want that for the materials to do the job.  Unless they are a roofing company that can also do financing in house, which also mean they are more likely to be insured.  This can be a big thing in that a roofer that does a job badly can end up costing you a lot more damage on your house than the cost of a new roof.  I had a friend that didn't tarp the roof right when a storm came  up and 20k in water damage was done on the house.  I guess I am going beyond the scope of the question, and hoping you find the right contrator for the job as well.  Good luck.

I agree with Joel.  You can now do evictions, but it may be better to do the carrot instead of the stick to get them out in a quicker fashion.  Offer them money if they get out by a certain time.  Sometimes tenants don't stay to be troublesome but they don't have a lot of other options.  If you offer money and a solution where they don't have an eviction on there record you may be able to get them out.  I have always won evicitions without a lawyer, but I always am happier if I can come up with a deal where I don't go to court and they leave.  If they owe money, add that to rent if they can pay it instead of kicking them out.  Coming from someone who always wins in court, it still takes time to get them out and is a pain in the butt.  It is often better to come up with a mutual beneficial plan.

Costs are hard to answer as it depends on if you are doing it or having others do it.  Crawl space and what has gone on due to the duct tape deal.  The thing is you don't want to leave it as a duct tape fix.  Getting plumbers or jack of all trades guys are hard to get in a timely fashion.  So I would look on your next door app and check with your local hardware store for refernces for a good guy or gal to take care of the issue for you.  I would have this taken care of before this becomes an issue.