All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Scott Mac Yes the design is important. (As a designer myself, I'm a tad biased :) 

It costs the same in materials in paint/flooring etc for bad design as good generally, but the effect of poor design choices vrs. good can make a big difference in your return. So it's worth taking the time and effort to figure out what will appeal to tenants/buyers and look current while withstanding the test of time so it doesn't look dated in a few years. 

With furnished units the design is key - and if you've done a good job of keeping your "permanent" elements versatile and as timeless as possible, then you can change out the decor here and there to suit. So if @Ben Leybovich decides Pig in Glasses has lost it's appeal to potential tenants, he can swap it out for a more Kafka-esque Iron Butterfly image and it won't cost him an arm and a wing. 

Hi @Christopher B. here's a link: 
https://www.phoenixsyndicationworkshop.com/
I learned a lot, met some great people, and Phoenix isn't a rough locale in January. Hopefully it doesn't need to take place online in 2021 ;-)

@Ben Leybovich As an investor, it's a relief things are are going well despite the circumstances. I think if I had to pick one thing that impressed me most at your syndication workshop is how you guys had projections for a 10 yr hold, jic the you-know-what hit the fan, especially after such a long bull market. 

"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst" is what my divorce attorney (and close girlfriend) told me lol. Of course the Covid has indeed hit the fan and splattered all over the walls, so having that Plan B and even Plan C (like the furnished units you set up) is crucial. 

Reviving this thread - I talked to a realtor here who said she's heard of people doing a work-around for hosted short-term stays. You post as a 31 day rental but provide a nightly price and state that there's no cancellation fee for staying less than 31 days. 

Has anyone had any experience with doing this? It seems like it would be a legal. I'd be curious to talk to a local RE attorney about it. 

@Steven Griffith @Ali Parnell @Matt Honeyford

So I'm interested in buying at auction OOS in Huntsville AL, Jacksonville / central FL area, or Clarksville TN. 

Here's what I have so far:

1) title search - hire your own title co for this - not the auction site's title co @Wayne Brooks

2) Call municipality for unpaid bills. I would add call Bldg Dept for any open permits.

3) Hire contractor or someone to do a drive by and take pictures, get a sense of condition. (Do they only let you go in ahead of time if its unoccupied?)

3)  Review terms of sale

4) Decide on max bid; get cashier's check

I've also heard you should work w a RE attorney prior - true? / what are the reasons for this?

What are the implications of purchasing a property that's occupied besides having to possibly evict?

Hi @Mike Johns & @Jake Williams - I'm also interested and would appreciate any insight. 

@Eryka Santoyo @Marcus B Hsu 

FYI -  @Dave DeMarinis is a CA investor who does PML/HML for BRRRR or flip in Huntsville.

@Vinh Huynh I'm sure someone probably already suggested in the last 200+ posts..., but jic, if the area has a college nearby, you could rent individual rooms to students to up your income, short term rentals to traveling nurses, physical therapists, or Air B&B if its allowed. 

Thanks for bringing up the contractor contract framework @Connie Burnett. If I had known to do that, it would have made a big difference in my Huntsville house's renovation timeframe. Since then, I discovered it's outlined in @David Greene Long Distance Real Estate Investing book. It's a carrot-stick approach of a bonus for finishing early, and a reduction for going over the agreed upon timeframe. For the record, it's a common way to structuring contractor contracts; and I learned that CalTrans, the CA gov organization in charge of highways etc, uses this type of structure. 

@Nathan Sharp I appreciate you posting your flip and keeping it real and honest. There's a tendency towards podcasts and posts of being all REI rainbows and unicorns. It can diminish overall credibility, and I think it's important to share our mishaps so we can all relate and learn.

I'm finishing up an OOS rehab buy and hold that has gone seriously sideways on the time frame. Similarly to you, it came from having a contractor who is honest and hardworking, but just not experienced enough to handle the job. If I had managed it better, my outcome would have been better. (I have a habit of thinking that if someone says they're going to do something then it will get done when they said it would, because that's what I do, therefore, I don't need to manage them...) Lessons learned. I'll repeat the process doing things differently next time. 

Good for you and your wife taking on the project and seeing it through. Next time will be better, and it sounds like your wife is on her way in a new RE career. :)