All Forum Posts by: Mike D.

There's never a right time to buy except for right now.

If you wait X number of years to buy you will have missed out on many tens of thousands of dollars in cashflow and mortgage payoff. Not to mention the experience you'll gain. That better be an amazing discount you're getting at the bottom of the future crash.

You're worried about the market tanking. But if you buy a flip you will presumably sell it before the market has time to "flip". And if it is a long term hold you will be fine if it cashflows. I have yet to turn a "profit" on long term rentals in the first year anyway. I plan on holding them for at least 3 years.

I always buy from the listing agent if I can. I've found the listing agent to be more motivated and will have more information on the property and the seller's situation.

However when I bought my first investment property I found an buyers agent who was also an investor. I felt more comfortable knowing he was working for me (at least that is the expectation). 

@Travis Gibson

I have mostly multifamily. Most of the multifamily is priced way too high and it seems like a better return to go after SFH that meet the 1% rule now. When the economy turns or interest rates rise, cash in on the SFH and start buying MF again. I think the value of moderately priced starter homes (good rentals) will go up as people are priced out of the upper price ranges.

I have a 50 year old hardwood floor that lived most of its life under carpet.

Assuming I can get the floor to look decent is there a benefit of sanding/refinishing ($2500) before renting it out? Or should I just Bona it until it's good enough to attract renters and refinish later if I decide to sell it.

Can anybody recommend accounting software besides QuickBooks? QB stopped being able to import credit card transactions from my bank so that was the last straw for me. 

Zoho looks promising. I have 6 property locations so need something that can tag each transaction or assign a class to it.

Has anyone invested in contractor garages? They are usually 1200-2000+ ft spaces in a steel building. They have large garage doors, heat and usually a bathroom. They’re mostly used by contractors.

Curious what the returns are and how hard they are to Rent. 

Yes we are on the the longest bull run in recent history, but we also went through the largest crash in recent history. Prices aren't much higher than they were 15 years ago if you account for annual inflation.

There will be a slowdown as interest rates rise but I don't think the next slow down will be like 2008.

Enneking Plumbing and Fosters HVAC. Both in Marion and do plumbing and HVAC.

I frequently have small plumbing and HVAC repairs at my rental properties. Leaky drain pipe, bad HVAC thermocouple, bad thermostat etc that take less than 30 minutes to fix. Most of the plumbers and HVAC companies charge at least $90 to show up even if it's a 10 minute job.

Are there ways to negotiate lower prices if a certain amount of business is done each month?