All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

All available credit you have, open credit cards, HELOC, auto loan, etc., is calculated in your debt to income ratio. Just because your not currently using your available credit doesn't mean you won't use it, or max out, after making a major purchase, and banks take that into consideration.

Side note, another credit calculation is the ratio of the amount of credit available to you versus your usage.  For example, a credit card with a $10,000 limit and a $9,000 balance due will produce a lower credit score than the same card with an average $3,000 balance.  It's a representation of how you use and manage your credit.

I suggest you speak with your banker, or other financial specialist, to get a clear, professional understanding of your credit and what actions to take that are best to accomplish your goals.

Managing rental properties is tough, it’s time-consuming, and often comes at a considerable cost in terms of stress and heartache.

Many property owners are afraid to hire a property manager because of the cost involved – not realizing they will actually make more money in the long term due to the increased care of the property. You will get better tenants that stay longer, have less damage and repairs to deal with, and your property remains in great shape.

I want to share with you 7 great reasons of why you should consider hiring a property manager.

1 – You don’t live near to your rental property(s). The more miles between you and your rental property, the more difficult it is to provide efficient, effective hands-on management. Hiring a property manager can be invaluable in dealing with the many issues that you will not be able to handle from afar.

2 – You own many rental properties. The more rental properties you own, the more your work load increases and the more demanding it is to run each rental as effectively as it should be. With a property manager you’ll have fewer complications and commitments to worry about.

3 – You aren’t excited to manage your rentals. If you’re not getting satisfaction providing hands-on management, your morale declines, your productivity declines, and your stress increases. At this point, it makes sense to hire a property manager and improve your quality of life.

4 – You’re struggling to find the time. If you don’t have the time to devote overseeing your rental property, you should consider hiring a property manager before your profits diminish. With a good property manager, you benefit from your investment without sacrificing your time and health.

5 – You don’t understand the laws. If you don’t know or understand the laws, your tenants will. Federal, state, and city landlord-tenant laws change frequently. It’s a property manager’s responsibility to understand landlord-tenant laws and fair housing laws, which can protect you from potential lawsuits.

6 – You’re not a handyman. Property managers build relationships with vendors that can provide a lower cost for maintenance, saving you money. They also perform regular inspections allowing small repair issues to be found before they turn into bigger problems, preserving the value of your assets.

7 – You don’t want to employ staff. If you don’t want the associated stress and additional costs of hiring staff to help with your rental property, hiring a property manager can be your best asset. Property managers are independent contractors and by using one you avoid the hassles of being an employer.

Renting out a property is a business. It is rare that an investor is able to effectively manage their own property(s) at the same expert level of an experienced property manager.

A professional property manager is armed with a lot of knowledge. When issues arise, a property manager is better prepared to deal with the problem effectively, giving you the peace of mind that comes with knowing your investment is in good hands.

Maintenance requests are often the biggest pain for landlords. No matter how ideal the tenants are, appliances break, systems wear out, and little things will need attention. Labor and parts are expensive. Property managers build relationships with vendors. Often, these relationships provide a lower cost for maintenance and repair services that save you money and protect the value of your rental property.

A professional property manager saves you time from having to deal with tenant requests and complaints, or maintenance and repair issues. Most times the needs aren’t big or expensive, but the timing and urgency is. You don’t have to go out and find reputable vendors, your property manager has already done the work for you. 

Property managers — specifically good ones — are worth their weight in gold. It is entirely possible for a truly great property manager to save or make investors more money than their initial fees. That said, the cost of property management is more of an investment than an expense.

The first and foremost advice that can be given is to first check they are in compliance with your state tenant-landlord laws.  Typically there are laws about the property being maintained in a habitable condition with a limited time frame required to complete habitable related repairs, i.e. electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, ...

As a property manager, I agree with you that there seems to be "a lack of quality assurance" as well as a lack of communication and sense of responsibility from your PM.  Unfortunately there are both high quality and low quality PMs in the industry, just like any other business. Having a discussion with your PM is ideal.  If you decide to switch PM companies, check your PM contract. PM contracts are usually for a 1-year term.  The PM contract is also typically between you and the PM Brokerage with the PM managing the property.  The brokerage may not be willing the release the contract but assign it to another PM. You may also have a penalty if you decide to break the PM contract, before its term has ended, and hire another company, which may be worth the peace of mind.

Hello @Isaac Chun,

I too am an Army veteran and I extend you my gratitude for your service. Getting your real estate license is a great way for investors to get educated and understand Nevada's real estate laws, not to mention you will save money by being your own agent.

I too am a REALTOR® and I hold a Property Manager permit.  I would be happy to meet with you and discuss any questions or concerns you may have with the property management of your buy and hold investments. Give me a shout and lets grab a bite and talk.

- Tony

If you have a clause in your lease that smoking is not allowed, smoking marijuana is still "smoking".  When an individual has a medical marijuana card they also have various options of how to take it, other than smoking: edibles, creams, etc.

Remember, you should always confirm all tenant-landlord advice against your local and state laws. 

A 1031 Exchange postpones taxes due on capital gains. Important to stress: postpones taxes. It is pretty easy once you understand the process and regulations.  There are a few regulations you need to be aware of: 

1) The asset being sold must be an investment property and cannot be a personal residence.

2) The asset being purchased with the proceeds must be similar to the asset being sold.

3) Within 45 days of the sale of the property, you must identify the property(s) or asset(s) that you are purchasing in the like-kind exchange and you must designate the replacement property in writing to an intermediary, specifying the property you want to acquire. 

4) The proceeds from the sale must be used to purchase another asset within 180 days from the date of selling your asset. 

Some investors forego the 1031 exchange and prefer to pay the capital gains tax now instead of later.  This would be your personal choice. There are more benefits, like never paying the deferred taxes, and I recommend you speak with your tax accountant, or CPA, to discuss your future plans and how beneficial a 1031 exchange would be for you.

An LLC will protect your personal assets. If you have rental property under your LLC and a tenant sues you, for any reason, the liability would be limited to the LLC assets and not your personal assets. I believe there may be some exceptions and you would need to consult your attorney. This provides a separation between your personal assets and your business assets. Without an LLC all of your assets would be combined and liable to lawsuits.

Your posting is a little vague.  I assume the old couple are complaining and another person is making the disturbance. Is the person working on vehicles during late hours, making noise disturbing others, your tenant or a neighbor?  

If tenant, does your lease state the quite hours are 10 pm to 8 am?  If so, the tenant is violating the lease.  You mentioned, "He's not hurting any one just working on a souped up truck or dirt bike." The noise is hurting (disturbing) the peaceful rights of others. The same applies if it the noise is loud music.

If you do have a noise clause in the lease, this would be a lease violation.  Either way, it is a lack of consideration of others to be making disturbing noises during the late hours.  Tenants, Landlords and Property Managers alike need to be mindful of our neighbors. 

I would discuss the issue with the tenant, letting him know his actions are a breach of the lease agreement and that he is disturbing others.  He may not be aware he is disturbing others.  If the noise continues, you may need to evict the tenant.  

If he is not your tenant, maybe discuss the problem with him directly, with his landlord or property manager. If that doesn't work, your last effort would be to contact the local law enforcement.  There are usually local ordinances against late noisy disturbances.

There are credit protection laws for individuals that provide their personal information for a credit check or background check.  It would be against the law for you pull someone's credit/background and then provide the individual's, applicant's, personal data to the property owner, landlord.  You can provide the landlord information as to whether or not an individual meets certain criteria, yes or no, but any specific details, even sharing their credit score, could land you with big legal problems.