All Forum Posts by: Aaron Arnold

@Akeem Moreno people answer questions on here like they’re about to be sued if they give the wrong advice.

If I could go back and do it all over the number one thing I'd change would be to do a house hack - it's incredibly powerful on a number of levels. If you have the knowledge and feel comfortable doing that it's a great option. Easiest course of action would be the FHA loan. In my market you could buy a nice duplex in that price range and that would be an awesome place to start and learn the ropes.

@Cameron Riley we use avail and it’s been solid for us. Fairly robust platform, handles almost everything for us and Customer service is great.

@John G. We use landlord locks. I have one master key on my keychain that opens every door we own. Highly recommend.

@Fahad Meer I also use avail and love it but it’s entirely online. I’ve found that most of my tenants prefer this over paying with a check and they all have smart phones. If someone doesn’t have a bank account they can use cash to purchase a pre-paid Visa card and use that. Super easy for all parties.

I have a potential tenant who I’ve throughly screened and everything looks good. His credit score, background and income are all verified and qualify him for the unit. He wants to pay the first 2 or 3 months up front. I think his work is somewhat seasonal so he has some money available and basically just wants to avoid blowing it. Should I be concerned?

@Chris Seveney awesome answer. Thanks for sharing!

Is there a note buying strategy that would be roughly the equivalent of brrrr deal that allows you to retain and reuse your capital? Where do I go to learn more about it?

@Vivian Ji I use Avail.com as my property management platform. It’s fairly robust, very affordable and basically accomplishes my needs. I use it to market the property, screen applicants, draft leases and then manage properties. Tenants have a portal and they can submit all maintenance request which are then delegated to the appropriate parties. There are several similar options out there like cozy and I’m sure they’re all fine.

I also use lockboxes on my units for showings. I collect most of the applicants info up front through avail - including a photo ID - and if they are qualified I simply send them a pin that’s active at the time they want to view. They can then let themselves in and out. This has been game changing for me. I hated this part of the business and using this process has freed up so much of my time.

I occasionally need to have an additional document signed and I use DocuSign for that. We are completely paperless so I also use Dropbox to store any important documents.

I'm currently researching ways to automate my email responses. I've been tinkering with gmails canned responses and am exploring a VA to handle some those tasks. As we continue to grow I'll add a dedicated VA to essentially replace myself in the process.

I hope if anyone else has a system or a technology that they love they’ll share it too!!!

@Rahul Handa the 4% rule of thumb is based on the Monte Carlo simulation and I think most “experts” are reducing the number down to 3%. If I were planning any sort of long term income strategy I would use 3% or less. I’d still be uncomfortable with that but I’m not a huge believer in the accumulation model or Wall Street in general.

@Chris C. Read the book Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett Gunderson. It doesn’t specifically say whether you should surrender your 401k but if you’re headed down that path it certainly provides some insight.