All Forum Posts by: Rod F.

Have you looked for local beekeepers? they will sometimes remove the hive for you.

Hi Sharaya,

 I started with a buy and hold plan.

Everyone I knew (including my realtor wife) tried to tell me the no money down program wouldn't work. I have use it close to 45 times. With up to 5 different banks.

The first one is the hardest. 

I found a unique way of testing the market for rentals and convincing partners at the same time. (I ran adds for houses and put their phone number in the adds). It proved to them the market existed.

I have tried to flip a few but they seemed to end up buy and hold. I am working on one now that I may try to flip In my IRA. I am doing a one man rehab on this one.

I wish I knew more about wholesaling, but I can see the potential in the buy and hold. Most of my IRA rehabs will return my money in a 3 to 4 year period with the house held free and clear.

The first house was a small 2 bedroom with 1 bath in a farming community that was only nine thousand dollars. wife and a future partner said no one wanted to live down in that little town. I told them the town wasn't empty. So I ran adds in the paper. (we used them back then).

2 bedroom 1 bath home in (small town AR ) 295 month. and put his phone number in it.(partner).   

His phone rang off the wall.  (Realize we didn't even own the house.) he said what do I tell them? I told him to tell them it was rented but we had another one coming up could we contact them when it was ready? and got their info.  

We bought house , rehabbed it , rented it for $395 to $450. held it a few years and sold it for 25K.

We own 10 properties in the town now.

I guess what I'm telling you is. The path your looking for is there . you just have to find it and follow it. Be prepared to make changes with the market.  

Partner and I have started rent to owns and lease options now with some of our properties.

Shayne,

Nice work!!   Beautiful house, and landscaping.  so many forget to finish outside when they do the inside.  

congratulation's  George,

Just get our there and start mingling with everyone real estate minded. Spread the words among your friends and relatives too, some will try to help you, by feeding you deals they know about or hear about. The REI group is a great idea. I wish there was one in my area. My wife had her license a few years ago, but I could never convince her to sell our house and get started rehabbing and flipping along with the ones she was trying to sell off the MLS. Keep your eyes and ears open there are lots of opportunities out there.

Good Luck

Jason you said you lost your sod, but  you never said what kind of grass it was? grasses like buffalo grass require as little as 15 to 30 inches per year.  You can do a little research with the local University's  for what's best suited for your area.  

But like I said "to each his own" I'm not forcing my ideas on anyone.  I'm just giving alternatives to a question asked on the bigger pockets forums.

We have had a few people who moved here tried to do the arid climate landscapes. They don't do to well here.  Get lots of weeds though.  kind of hard to mow gravel and keep windows and siding.  LOL 

I don't own anything in California,  Arkansas is where Californians come to retire. LOL 

I know a few. :)

With all irrigation lines it takes a little research in the beginning .  water pressure, volume. etc.  Netafilm is (in my opinion) one of the better drip lines. There are pressure compensating versions that will keep your pressures constant.  there are different models that  have longer and shorter intervals between drips. some are 8 inch some are 18 inch.

Different Gallon per minute or gallon per hour options are are available. I use 1/2 gallon per hour in my garden.

http://www.netafimusa.com/landscape/products/techl...

In the flower beds I use drip line with emitters for each plant . I'm still using a 1/2 gallon per hour emitter. I run it about 4 hours when I run it.  each plant gets about 2 gallon I have about 60 plants. so I use bout 120 gallon  when I water my flower beds.  I have done that about 4 times this year.  (that's about 3 average bathtubs full of water), If I divert my grey water from the bathtub /shower,  assuming I use lets say an average of 25 gallon bathing daily. thats 750 gallon a month,  add my wife,  now its 1500 gallon a month.    

(wife would use a little more she has hair. LOL)

a inch of rain on an acre is 27,154 gallon of water .

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthrain.html (informational website)

I could effectively water a 1/2 inch on an acre , if I had a 1/4 acre that would be like a 2 inch irrigation monthly.  that's just the bathtub, add the washing machine, and the rain gutters. You can imagine  the quantity's going down your drains now.   

With all that said  each state has regulations, you have to comply with. Some don't allow rainwater collection. and grey water usage.  Ours encourages us to conserve water usage.

As far as fertigation. I am using in the drip system, a Mazzei injector.  Here's a informational link. http://mazzei.net/venturi_injectors/. Took me a few tries to figure which model to use. works on volume. The drip tape I use in the garden takes about 1000 feet to make the 1/2 inch model work.   I inject once a week (fertilizer Fridays) on the garden areas.

ONE THING THAT NEEDS SAID. ALL IRRIGATION HAS TO HAVE A BACKFLOW OR PRESSURE BREAKER INSTALLED. IT PROTECTS OUR WATER SUPPLY. 

( A few years ago we had a major fire, burnt our office and warehouse facility down. We rebuilt . due to new legislation we had to put our own septic treatment facility in. The tail waters from the plant is ran through drip irrigation on our complex underground.  (And yes it is government tested and has to comply with all regulations on a frequent basis. )    

By the way its geothermal on heat /cool and hot water also. cellulose insulation. lighting etc.. 

I am in no way soliciting any sales here. I am just offering information.  

Vincent.

I'm in Arkansas, Don't claim to know anything about California or their water restrictions.

I am in the Turfgrass business. Been in it for 30 plus years. Lets just say I know grass.

Artfical Turf:  One thing about artificial turf no one will ever tell you.  Take a thermometer out there in the middle of the day. the temperature will be between 130 and 150 degrees around here.   We deal with it on the athletic fields.  It has to be treated with biocides.  It is a carpet that is I have been told is considered a has mat problem when you remove it here.

Second:  Drought tolerant landscaping, Lacks somewhat in curb appeal, but Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I'm not Particularly fond of cactus, yucca, and those type of plants, but I don't live there.   That might not change my perspective if I lived here. They are somewhat of an oddity here.

Third.   Natural grass. an acre of natural grass is like  running a 2 ton air conditioner. Next time your out on a lawn take time to notice. Options for warm season grasses are

Bermudagrass,  drought tolerant, goes off color in drought.  

Buffalo Grass. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07224.htm...

 Zoysia grass lawns.  again drought tolerant , goes off color in drought.

St Augustine,  Seashore paspalum. 

Things to consider are first if you can water enough to keep sod alive?

Second there are turf colorants that make a drought stricken lawn look green.

(green toes, green lawnger, etc) These are pigments and paints.

We tried to establish Buffalo grass here, looks like we have to much annual rainfall for it.

I Personally  have a 2 acre lawn, on top of the Hill we call a mountain. (1000 ft above sea level) 

I have drip irrigation that feeds he flower beds. I have watered them about 3 or 4 times this year.

My lawn is Common Bermuda grass, I have not watered it for the 5 years I have lived there. only what ever natural rainfall I have gotten.  Right now it is going a little off color. Oh well so be it. (Like I said Bermuda is drought tolerant.)

 My Mower is 5 years old and is  a 60 inch deck and it has 114 hours on it.

I have a 1/8 acre garden that use's drip irrigation. I run that two days a week during the growing season.

My future plan is to reroute gray water and gutter runoff to use in flowerbeds and expand to the trees.  I might even put a little irrigation in the front of the circle drive.

I'm practicing water conservation on a daily basis. But I have a 95% full lawn.  

here you can set your own up on line, secretary of states office for 50 dollars.   

Consult with your CPA for financials. 

A good real estate attorney is another person to have on your team.

It was not a conviction,  There area lot of "drummed up charges" by overachievers in our lives today. Association with someone can get everyone charged that gets dropped later. 

I wish all tenants, had background checks, all tenants had perfect credit scores and no one had pets. But that's not a reality .

You have hired a Property manager, to do the due diligence on your property,  Sounds like you don't trust their judgment. We all have past lives, The difference is some got caught and some didn't doing what ever they did when we were fool hearty kids.

What's allowable in states like Colorado isn't every where else.

My approach to drugs is pretty basic. We tell them when they move in that We don't tolerate it. The sheriff doesn't need  a warrant We have a key and it's Our house. That's usually when they decide to go find another place to live. Usually a 5 minute discussion during the interview process and that solves a lot of my problems.  My business partner does most of the interviews , all he tells them about me is "You don't want to meet that guy".  The good cop, bad cop thing!

Gloss White , Oil bases enamel, and a HVLP spray gun.  Enamel has a hard finish, cleans easily,  Hvlp gun virtually no over spray, no brush strokes, and quick.  I'm leaning toward brushed nickel hardware.