All Forum Posts by: Wil Reichard

It’s more than doable. I personally like the idea of fixing the property to rent it out. More commonly known as the BRRRR strategy here on BP. Take this for example: Buy a house for $100k. Let’s say rehab will cost $30k. (First you need a rehab loan. A lot of hard money lenders will do 85-90% financing on these loans. So you’d bring down 10-15 percent. Loan amount would be anywhere from $110.5k - $117k. Once it’s fixed up you can refinance it off of the projected ARV. Let’s say the ARV is $185k. And let’s also say we can refinance up to 75% to be conservative. We now can finance up to $138k and still have a quarter of the houses worth in equity to remain. This can cover your refinance costs, or potentially even put money back in your pockets. This way essentially have very little to no money in the home, and you can turn around and buy more properties. This requires more knowledge of contractors, conditions of homes, and a little more risk. But with more risk, comes reward.. Hope this helps. Try reading as many books as you can and keep seeking guidance and success will follow.

Hey all,

I am trying to get a list generated for my direct marketing campaign. The last few companies I've contacted don't go into this much detail. I was wondering who you guys use to, or would use to get this list...

1. Probates 

2. Inherited Owners

3. Recent Evictions

4. Recent Divorces 

Anything would help, 

Thanks

I go there right after the sun has set and feel it out. I did that with my property I have now. Drove to it, parked on the street, and took a walk in the neighborhood at about 9:30. Just getting a gut feeling for the place helps. Possibly ask the neighbors how they like the neighborhood.

Originally posted by @James Baker:

Originally posted by @Audrey Ezeh:

Originally posted by @Samantha Klein:

Thank goodness I don't use online rent collection like ERP. I tried it and it was not working so well because tenants didn't always have all of the money when Cozy would pull it and it would cause delays in whether rent payments failed or not. I wouldn't know until the 6th or so if rent was actually paid.

 I decided to open a rent collection bank act locally and have all of my tenants deposit rent on their time. It has been working much better and now I spend less time chasing tenants and more time growing my business. 

 That is what I am transitioning to. I am closing on Friday on 5 units and I set up a business account last week for them. They do not need an account number, just my business name is all they need to make the deposit. I do wonder, how do you differentiate payments when the rent is the same? I have not gotten around to checking with my bank but can they write a 'memo' stating their name, that way I know to whom to credit the rent? Have you had this problem and figured out a solution? 

 We have the renters write their address or last name on the deposit slip before we scan it. You can always pull up images of your deposit slips and the checks. That way you can see who paid. Talk to your banker to see how they can have this done for you. Every bank works slightly different. Good luck

Originally posted by @Matthew Olszak:

Oh for crying out loud. I'm not associated with them, but have been watching this play out. They changed banks. When someone opens a new bank account and makes substantial deposits suddenly, the bank holds the money (as they legally can) for a certain period of weeks to protect themselves from fraud until a relationship is established. That's what I believe is going on - the new bank is holding the funds in their account, so there are no funds to forward to yours.

Bad/novice business planning, yes. Fraud, hardly. Put out the torches and let the folks spend time getting their affairs in order to resolve this problem vs. handling the mob reaction.

 Not always. Normally a company like that will have significant funds in their accounts and will not carry over any higher amount with cash or personal/business checks. They will always use cashiers checks or wire the money. Both can be made available immediately. And their lack of communication is a big red flag. I appreciate them calling the company out if things aren't being handled like they should.

I work at a bank. This doesn't sound right.

Are they the owners or are they renting? That's always a good one. Renters won't treat the property like an owner would in most cases

Ask when the roof, water heater, and HVAC was replaced. When was the electrical updated if the house is old (built before the 90's in most cases).

Ask if they've had to install extra pillars or fix the foundation. Ask about water damage. Check to see if there are any cracks along the slab or brick that the house is on. Check to see if there are tarps in the crawl space. Turn on hot water and check to see if it turns hot in a reasonable amount of time. Check electrical box to see if it has breakers.

I know this is an older post, and I hope you had good luck in your search. Just thought this would be helpful in the future.

I would grab as many books that you can find that are recommended on here and start reading. Grab set for life and Robert's rich dad poor dad books and read as you go. Also, if you don't want to be an agent, try finding a local investor and ask to pick his/her brain over some coffee. Good luck to you!

Originally posted by @Amia Jackson:

Originally posted by @Amia Jackson:

Originally posted by @Jerry W.:

@Amia Jackson, you are not correct in your statement.  It appears you have confused a service animal with a companion animal.  You do not have the right to find out the diagnosis of the person with the animal.  While it is may seem unfair to the landlord, it is the law.  I have had people try to force a move into an apartment with multiple cats and was able to fight it off, but you need to be very careful because the rules for each are different and getting it wrong could be costly.

 If a person is asking for a reasonable accommodation for a disability, you are most certainly allowed to ask about the nature of the disability. Some states even allow you to ask for a diagnosis. This is especially true if the disability if not readily apparent which is almost always the case with mental and emotional disability.  The ADA calls is "Sufficient Medical Documentation" 

In a nutshell you can ask for

1. The qualifications of the doctor performing the diagnosis and how they come to thier conclusion. 

2. The nature, severity, and duration of the disability 

3. how this disability affects one or more major life areas. 

4 .How the accommodation would allow the disabled person to be helped in those major life areas. 

Accordingly if the accommodation is a ESA that person must provide evidence the have an emotional disability, the disability substantially limits them in one or more life areas, AND that the pets help them in that/those area. You also have the right that the person requesting accommodation complete medical testing if the nature of their disability is not apparent. The accepted for of testing for emotional and mental disability is the DSM-5. It's pretty much the only thing used to certify a mental or emotional disorder. 

 This may be true in some states, not sure of any state that would allow this though. But this is illegal in many states and can carry a hefty fine. You cannot ask a veteran to show you a diagnosis of his PTSD disorder. Paperwork for the animal is about all you need. ESA and SA are very tricky. Like I said, some states few and far may allow this, but for many states across the nation that's a big red flag.

- I worked and trained with service animals and emotional support animals.

I bought my first, live in house, a few days ago. After taking the trim off around the base boards I realized there was about an inch drop over the hallway area in the floor. A rug covered it previously.

It was as easy as taking a jack under the house with a pressure treated beam and a cinder block and supported the weak area. That was all it took.

I say this to let you know foundation can be simple, but it can also be a huge headache and a financial burden. It really depends on how bad it is. Have an inspector go under the house and check it out. Find out if it just needs some supports, or if its going to need repair on the pillars and etc. Good luck!

@Matt K. I gave myself as an example.