All Forum Posts by: Tom NA

I don't know of any car dealership that will accept "equity" as payment for a BMW... Until you find a buyer at that retail price (and odds are it won't be an investor), that's just imaginary money. And we all know that selling at so called "full price" is not an easy task these days so you would need to be prepared to hold this for some time.

I would be careful that by taking cash out of this property, you aren't making it cashflow negatively. In fact, it may already be negatively flowing based on how much money you put into it. Odds are the tenants won't exercise the option and then you'll end up with a higher mortgage to support at the same rental rate.

2 possible improvements with "Post Since Last Visit":

1. Can we configure it to list more than 10 posts? I spend too much time loading new pages vs. seeing the new posts.

2. Any way to improve the speed when a user does need to go to a new page on this view? It seems slower than much of the rest of the application

Actually, doesn't seem to be fixed. My "Posts Since Last Visit" just gets longer and longer every visit.

Hey Josh,

Anyone reported a problem with "View Posts since Last Visit"? Mine seems to always come up empty now and this is my favorite view for seeing the new stuff. Thanks and great job on the new forum!

Bartstop,

I know this doesn't answer much of your question but to be direct, unless you can sell those houses you bought for $70k *today*, those appraisals aren't worth anything more than the paper they are written on. Additionally, in most areas of the country, I wouldn't expect these to be worth much more in 5 years than they are today. So, in essence I suspect these properties are "paying off" via some small cash flow today but your expected gain on sale could be many, many years away.

Same comment as Jason regarding CL - deals are hard to find and you have to get lucky but you might find something on Craig's List. Your ability to act quickly and perform will help you immensely. I could pay cash and close as quickly as my last seller could be ready and that combo helped me get a great deal.

Also, if you don't know how to analyze a deal, you will never be able to act quickly enough to get a good one. My last purchase was 2000 miles away but it took me 30 minutes to engage with a local realtor and get enough info to make me comfortable with the purchase.

Good luck and keep up the with the learning Mouschi!

I'm glad to hear about the reassessment Ram. That should save you $1500 or so which is a nice little bonus!

I hoped you would respond BeachBum and honestly from all that I've seen from you, I'd love to have you as a property manager. If I ever invest in Hawaii, I'll look you up. For anyone who's interested, I'll give some detail on what I look for in a property manager and I try to be pretty thorough before hiring someone but obviously, I'm still not good enough at it.

I want:
o Phone calls and emails returned within 1 day, both for myself and tenants/potential tenants.
o Flexibility to show my unit when it is vacant. Every hour a potential tenant has to wait to see my property is an hour they have available to go view someone else's and people won't wait long before moving on.
o Maintenance/repairs taken care of in a timely manner - properly done at a fair price.
o Somebody who understands the regional rental market - what price will draw tenants, if incentives are needed to draw tenants, etc. I shouldn't be the one recommending the rental rate.
o Somebody who knows how to market my property.
o Somebody familiar with the local laws and willing to promptly enforce them.
o Somebody who can screen potential tenants appropriately including financial checks and criminal checks.

Now, let's look at my first property manager in AZ:
o Terrible at returning phone calls. I had potential tenants complain to me that they really wanted to see the property but the PM didn't bother returning their calls.
o Of my 3 tenants during her tenure, I found 2 via Craig's List while living 750 miles away. She had no concept how to market the property.
o Required my hand holding for all maintenance. I had to get involved with any and everything but I'm not sure why. I want someone who tells me what needs to be done, they get it taken care of, and all I have to do is write a check.
o On the positive side, they were well versed in local law and ensured that rent was paid on time or else legal proceedings would begin. They also were very good at doing the screening to keep out people that couldn't afford my property.
o Btw, I interviewed at least 20 PM's prior to hiring this one so I didn't just jump into it nor did I choose the cheapest. My only regret is that it took me almost 3 years to fire her. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and will address the next PM outlined below in a much more timely fashion.

Now, let's look at my property manager in IN:
o Slightly less terrible at communication but still not very good.
o Pathetically weak and I'm at fault for letting her be and not being crystal clear with her on my expectations. As a result, it took me directly calling a local lawyer to get eviction proceedings underway as she couldn't even get a proper "Pay or Quit" notice posted for me. I will never let that happen again.
o She neglected to tell me that it was her husband's contracting firm doing all my maintenance and the prices do not please me. His prices may or may not be fair but they seem high and it's a major conflict of interest that I don't like.
o Again, I've seen no marketing ability and the only tenant placed since I've taken ownership is from my own Craig's List ad. She is showing no better skill with my now vacant 2nd unit.
o Despite my continued requests, it took her a full 6 months(!) to give me a single statement showing inflow and outflow. It only came after a very direct discussion and I just don't get it. Does she really believe someone can run a business without knowing the financials - I had no idea what was spent on some of the maintenance.
o Incredibly slow at getting my units ready to rent. Should I really need to wait 2 weeks for painters when half of the area is unemployed?

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful for some. As many have said, it's very tough to find someone good. My friend in AZ has been great but to someone's question, I don't know that I would recommend that route as the best way to go. It worked for me but could be a recipe to destroy a relationship if things don't work out. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about my IN property. She's not good but it's a small town so my options are limited.

Thanks for the education Wheatie - the only part I wasn't aware of was taxability treatment of Roth vs. Normal IRA for certain investments - everything else is basic math and logic. Obviously I don't believe in putting my retirement accounts into RE so my knowledge is incomplete here...