All Forum Posts by: Tom R.

My first property is in escrow now after I made my offer I created a excel worksheet to keep track of all my income and expenses related to the property. It subtracts all expenses from the income and shows me my profits or losses for the month and year. There is also a big red band at the top that changes to green when I have earned more than my initial cash investment.  It even keeps track of the loan subtracting the principal paid each month so I can see how much equity I am building.

I had the house I'm purchasing inspected and some of the things he found concern me. Aside from a few minor problems that I can fix easily for less than $100 there were a few problems that I consider to be major issues. 

1 The TPR discharge pipe on water heater is PVC and drains directly into the drip pan.

2 The electric panel is missing the deadfront cover and one breaker in the electric panel has more than one wire connected.

3 A horizontal sliding window has been installed as a vertical single hung window in the bathroom.

What do you think I should do?

The multi-family residences I run the numbers on do cash flow any more than single family residences. With a higher purchase price and more work involved to manage multiple tenants it doesn't make any sense to invest in those properties. I will continue to run numbers on multi family but I need to almost double my cash flow vs a single family that's cost a little less before I will invest in one.

I'm just starting out myself, my first house is in escrow now. I would not buy a house with little or no escrow. For one thing just starting out the costs associated with buying an investment property and getting it to market are likely a good amount higher than you think they will be. I am paying about $3000 more in closing costs than I expected Insurance is about $20 more per month than expects then if you want to be protected from a lawsuit you should have a lawyer draw up you leases and other legal forms which will probably be $150 an hour or more. An investment property will not build up very much equity at first with a 30 year loan. It will be several years before a home equity loan will net you a substantial amount and what if the bubble pops before then? If you have look else ware to get good cash flow I would suggest you do it.

I don't mind that we've got off topic I'm learning a lot. I've got a whole list of things that would disqualify a renter but I also want to a little flexible I understand that people make mistakes and they may or may not learn from them. I wouldn't have rented a house to myself 5 years ago

I'm just getting started as a real estate investor and I'm trying to get an understanding of as many different scenarios as possible. What would I do in this situation?

I'm pretty handy, I did my mom's kitchen remodel by myself for example. Say my tenant broke something that I could easily fix myself like patch a large hole in the drywall or replace a few broken tiles. What do I charge the tenant for labor?

 I agree that's probably the intent of the question but not how it will look to the disabled. Just as a smoker won't see questions about their smoking habits to be anything but a sign that smokers probably aren't allowed. I've worked with the disabled for more than 5 years for many of them the slightest appearance of possible discrimination is enough for a lawsuit.

I'm considering using turbo tenant for my application and billing process. I was reviewing their application when I was this question.

Do you have any special requests or needs we should be aware of?

For me this raises a red flag. The disabled are a protected class I'm not sure its legal to ask the question. By asking the question it seems like a disabled applicant could accuse me of discrimination if I reject him or her for another equally qualified tenant.

What do you think?

My first property is in escrow and I'm trying to get ready to evaluate applicants. I want to have a full set of standards before I start evaluating applicants that way I can prove I used the same qualifications for everyone. Whats you're credit score drop off for applicants? I realize that the higher the rent the higher the drop off should be. The property in question will rent for $1000 which is a little less than the local average.

My first property is in escrow and I'm trying to get ready to evaluate applicants. I want to have a full set of standards before I start evaluating applicants that way I can prove I used the same qualifications for everyone. Whats you're credit score drop off for applicants? I realize that the higher the rent the higher the drop off should be. The property in question will rent for $1000 which is a little less than the local average.