All Forum Posts by: Trevor Greene

Hi Luke,

You can find planning information here: (City of Boise Website - Planning and Development

https://www.cityofboise.org/de...

Here is also a link to the comprehensive plan. It has some interesting information about the neighborhoods in the city: https://www.cityofboise.org/de...

Yes, the North End will face more red tape in the historic area. In my experience so far, the city has been great to work with - very accessible and communicative team there. Some of Veterans Park and the neighborhoods to the north that back up to the hills are very nice, and day by day they are improving. Lots of work going on in that area. I lived in there last year, and I enjoyed it a lot but the North End is still a much better environment. Rents are strong all over, but the North End will be the most competitive and for good reason.

Trevor

Hi Brycyn,

I've been to the meeting that Megan referenced and it was good - I was impressed by how well Sam was able to run a meeting and make it engaging. That's a hard thing to do.

I don't mind networking events and there is a lot of value in them, but I'd also like to meet other local people without the pretense or expectation that those relationships be likely to develop into some sort of business arrangement. I'd be more into a happy hour group that you can bounce ideas off of/share tips and tricks. Maybe we should start one =p

Hi Jess, my partner and I own a few properties in Boise and also run a property management company here. It is dangerous time to be shopping for GCs - lots of the more established ones are booked out far into the future and lots of tail-gate contractors are popping up to meet demand. We've recently worked with Jake from Clevercraft, and depending on the scope of work/your time frame I would recommend him. He is a small operation, and is geared towards creatively bringing the most value to spaces that need to be reworked, and I've been impressed with his attention to detail and portfolio of work so far. Not the quickest given his size, but good value for money so far for what we've done.

I am hopefully going to be bringing him a new project here soon, but I'd be doing him a disservice if I did not offer up his name here.

Otherwise I'd be interested in hearing what you find as you keep shopping. It is always helpful for us to get first hand feedback on other service providers in the area, especially when it comes from people who are paying close attention (rather than larger firms that are doing much more volume).

Hi Bryan, I know there is one that meets most Thursdays at 9am in West Boise. I went once a few weeks ago and it was good. There were maybe 20 people there and one guy who ran the show (surprisingly well, he was a good speaker/moderator). Some of us were new but a lot of them were established and had done deals together in the past. It was a lot about 'deals', lots of talk of wholesaling, flips, hard money lending, etc. They did not discuss any retail/MLS. Only off-market stuff. At the same location on Thursday evenings they have one that is more for full time professionals, agents/managers/etc. looking to network. The morning one was pretty casual.

Watch out for those scooters. They are too much fun, especially for crayon eaters.

Send me a message if you'd like to meet up and get a coffee/beer. I was Naval construction (Seabee) and my partner was a corpsman. We have a few properties here in Boise and run a management company. We've really been enjoying Boise and plan on spending a long time here.

We've signed up, and I've been bringing it up with some existing tenants and also prospective tenants during showings. Most seem to really be receptive to the idea. Right now we have a few first generation immigrants that have been longtime tenants and I really like the idea of being able to reward them for their excellent behavior. They have been really good to work with and it goes against the spirit of credit that they are not rewarded for their upstanding behavior.

Within a few months I will report back, and will likely start my own thread on my experience. I am kind of leaning into evangelizing a bit, hopefully after some practical application over a bit of time I will feel the same.

What kind of experience are you trying to gain? Are you looking to eventually do your own flips, your own long-term rentals, 9-5 in RE sector and have your own properties on the side?

In your shoes I would make a list of people to call and tell lay out clearly what you said here: you want to spend some time doing grunt work for a little bit of money and a lot a bit of experience/insight. That list would depend on your answer to my first question above. I would be clear that you'd be expecting some patience on their part to answer questions and help walk you through how they are thinking about things when time permits. Internships are really valuable, and are something I wish I had taken more advantage of when I was a bit younger.

I would not recommend working for a property manager. It is a lot of boring stuff like showing houses, combing through background checks, calling references, etc. - things I am taking a break from right now =p Maybe you can find somebody running a small crew doing renos/flips of investment properties etc. depending on what you want your focus to be. Maybe just search Boise in threads and send messages to people who are doing things you're interested in.

It is surely interesting to think about. Based on the most recent census bureau data, we (Americans) are moving at the lowest rates ever recorded. It is a concerning trend that people are much less likely to chase work across states than they used to be. There is a shortage of skilled tradespeople across the board, and the boom in Idaho will likely leave us hurting more than the rest for a while to come. I'd like to think that some enterprising builders would figure a way to attract people here, but with building supply uncertainties I wouldn't think anyone would be willing to take too much of a risk. Just thinking out loud - this is not my area of expertise.

Hi Anthony,

Congrats. The down payment for your new house is a complicating factor that might change things, but if you are just looking to cash out and invest your profits somewhere else, my immediate reaction is that it would be hard to find something else that will have better returns than this house you've already bought.

I don't see a problem with an unregulated marketplace for property managers. If they are not good, they will suffer the consequences of the bad reputation they will develop - something easily enabled by the many online review options for displeased clients/tenants. After all, what really does licensing entail? Passing a test and paying administrative fees? In my view it is an annoyance that provides little value to the consumer, and opens the door for special interests to gain at the expense of competitors/consumers (ie. my anecdtodal evidence about Illinois below which should surely be fact checked =p)

It is already illegal to steal people's deposits. If that is the concern and the threat of prison is not deterring that behavior, I don't think the threat of losing a state license will be effective.

My partner is from Illinois. If I am not mistaken, if you want to manage properties that you do not own there, you need to be licensed and work under some sort of master real estate agent. It develops into paying fees to the state for the license, and then ridiculous kick-backs to this master real estate agent. Prices are passed on to the consumer not only directly, but also indirectly from the limited competition caused by this new barrier to entry.