All Forum Posts by: James Lusk

@Mark Doty Just for reference, I have had an inspection on a 12 and a 16 in Tacoma and each of those were around $1k, as well as a 15 in Cleveland which was $975. These were done by pretty solid inspectors so I believe that $1K should be a pretty good number to budget.

@Nicholas Moran I just used Kurt Hoes with North Ohio Property Inspection and he was great. Great communication and a very thorough report. He includes video when needed and has a drone to get high roofs and aerials. He was also very knowledgable. I’m out of state and therefore I wasn’t present at the inspection. He works with OOS investors frequently. I highly recommend him. 

@Joel Fine You should be able to get a copy of the water and sewer bills from the owner during the due diligence phase. Have you asked for them? You can also just call up the utility and ask what the bills have been. I just did that on a 15 unit I have under contract where the owner was very slow to provide information.

@Oren K. this is great to hear. I will send you a pm.

I have seen this question pretty much daily since I set up a keyword alert for Cleveland and I haven’t yet seen a single response from someone who was content with their 3rd party PM situation in Cleveland. All I’ve seen are people who self manage due to the lack of a capable management. I sure hop someone decides to take advantage of the need for solid management in the area soon and starts a firm.

Great work Caleb! I love how you have a plan and are acting to make it happe . Good luck as you move forward!

@Tim W. I am currently underwriting small to mid apartments around Edgewater and a few other Cleveland neighborhoods. I was asking the same question to agents and other investors during our trip to Cleveland this last weekend. Every investor I asked said no one else charges, therefore the market wouldn’t support it. I had an agent say he does it in his rentals in Ohio City, but perhaps he just wanted to me to buy a property. It wouldn’t be the first time an agent told me whatever it took to try to hook me into a purchase. Anywho, my next step is to speak with some local property managers and see what they think the market will bear. In Tacoma where we have 2 apartment complexes, utility fees are fairly standard so there is no problem putting them in place. I would be Leary if hiring a company to put RUBS in place if I don’t feel confident that tenants will pay it. What kind of fee structure does the company have?

Also, I did search dozens of listings on Craigslist and apartments.com and couldn’t find any that advertised any additional charge for utilities. 

If I find out any useful information, I will share it here.

Best of luck!

@Matthew Dunn ......We just refinanced and recaptured all of our invested capital.

@Matthew Dunn “The best way” is subjective. My wife and I just finished a $280k rehab on a 12 plex and we had a standard commercial loan on the initial purchase, then used a combination of HELOCs, borrowed against a 401k, borrowed against my whole life policy, and used some private money.

I am having a detached garage built next to one of our properties and need some concrete/foundation contractor references. Does anyone around the North Seattle area have someone they would recommend for a job this size? The property is located in Lake Forest Park, WA.