All Forum Posts by: Akshay Nihalaney

Having terrible experience with RentRedi. Until now I was giving them a benefit of doubt and continuing with them, but should've seen the signs.

I noticed this month (on Dec. 18th) that one of the payments made by my tenant on Dec. 6th was never deposited to my bank account. I raised the issue with their chat support. It's now Dec. 28th and it's still not resolved.

Another tenant who used to pay me thru Zelle (to avoid RentRedi's $1 fee on ACH transaction) decided to pay using credit card this month as he did not have money in his bank account. For some reason RentRedi rejected their credit card transaction. Due to this, he finally ended up paying thru zelle a few days late. The problem is RentRedi is charging me for the rejection of his credit card. I have no idea why the card was rejected, but it's ridiculous to charge the landlord for this fee. The credit card processing is between the tenant and RentRedi and nothing to do with the landlord. RentRedi is now asking me to now collect this fee from the tenant, who says the card was perfectly valid and should not have been rejected by RendRedi

RentRedi has now disabled my landlord account and my tenants can't pay their next month's rent. They get an error saying the Payment Account is not setup.

I'm now scrambling to move to another system so I can process tenant's rent before start of the new month. I've had it with RentRedi.

I've never posted negative about anyone on a public forum, but this has been a terrible experience for me and hope this feedback helps others making a decision

Having terrible experience with RentRedi. Until now I was giving them a benefit of doubt and continuing with them, but should've seen the signs.

I noticed this month (on Dec. 18th) that one of the payments made by my tenant on Dec. 6th was never deposited to my bank account. I raised the issue with their chat support. It's now Dec. 28th and it's still not resolved.

Another tenant who used to pay me thru Zelle (to avoid RentRedi's $1 fee on ACH transaction) decided to pay using credit card this month as he did not have money in his bank account. For some reason RentRedi rejected their credit card transaction. Due to this, he finally ended up paying thru zelle a few days late. The problem is RentRedi is charging me for the rejection of his credit card. I have no idea why the card was rejected, but it's ridiculous to charge the landlord for this fee. The credit card processing is between the tenant and RentRedi and nothing to do with the landlord. RentRedi is now asking me to now collect this fee from the tenant, who says the card was perfectly valid and should not have been rejected by RendRedi

RentRedi has now disabled my landlord account and my tenants can't pay their next month's rent. They get an error saying the Payment Account is not setup.

I'm now scrambling to move to another system so I can process tenant's rent before start of the new month. I've had it with RentRedi.

Hi @Mike Nowa - I live in NYC and invest in Albany. It’s about 2.5 hours drive. 
you can certainly find a single family and even a 2-family (bit of a stretch) there which could cash-flow. 
I had to drive up there several times a month when I started last year to set up my team. I now go there once in 2 months (unless I have some renovations in progress, for which I go more often).

Looking back, I don’t think I could’ve have done this with out of state investments (I had considered San Antonio). I know a lot of people do out-of-state, but it does take a certain type of personality, especially when you’re just starting out. 

Hope this helps. Good luck!

@Julie Greenhouse - I live in NYC as well, invest in Albany, NY; which is about 2.5 hours drive. You could cash-flow and get appreciation in the Capital District.

There are a couple of other suggestions here -

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Hope this helps.

@Jimmy Gonzalez 

reach out to @Alison Walden. She and her partner are investors/realtors in the capital region and also does PM. 

https://www.rooteddevelopment5...

She should be able to help you out.

Welcome @Anna M. Xiques! I live in NYC & invest in Albany. I think you're at the mid-way point.

Happy to chat if I can be of any help.

Good luck investing!

Hi @Jacob Zimerman - I'm and Investor/Agent in New York. Happy to connect!

Hi @Austin Plantinga

I live in NYC and invest in Albany.

I have worked with @Alison Walden, she is local to the capital region and has helped me with my 3 deals in Albany. She is an investor herself, so understands the different investment strategies and can help you with what you're looking for.

Good luck with your journey. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any Qs. would be happy to connect.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Albany.

Purchase price: $248,200
Cash invested: $115,000

Large 3 Family House.
Purchased with conventional 25% down with tenant in one of the units.
Made cosmetic upgrades to the 2nd unit, furnished it, and rented out by room to students.
Converted the 3rd unit from a 1BR/1BA to a 3BR/1BA. Renting it by room to professionals.

Hired property manager, but didn't work out for us; so fired them quickly and took over the management.
Changed strategies several times within the first year and learnt a lot from our mistakes.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Living in NYC and looking for cash-flowing opportunity at a drive-able distance.
After evaluating different markets, I did not feel long distance investing was for me at this time.
Numbers made sense, seemed low-risk; so just pulled the trigger.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

On MLS, thru an agent.
Only one unit was occupied and others were vacant. It was listed for a few months, sellers were eager to sell.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional 25% down with a local credit union.

How did you add value to the deal?

One unit was rented, and I could've rented others as-is; but decided to add value for highest & best use and maximize cash-flow.
One of the units was already occupied.
Made cosmetic upgrades to the 2nd unit, furnished it, and rented out by room to students.
Converted the 3rd unit from a 1BR/1BA to a 3BR/1BA. Renting it by room to professionals.

What was the outcome?

Total Invested: 70K down + 45K in renovations and furnishing = 110K
Monthly cash-flow after full stabilization: $2,500 (after setting aside CapEx & vacancy reserves)
Initial Cash on Cash: 26%

Refinanced:
Appraised for 340K
Refinanced with 80% LTV and pulled out 85K of the invested capital
Cash invested after accounting for refinance: 30K (115K - 85K)
Monthly cashflow after refinance: $2,000.
Cash on Cash after refinance: 80%
Equity after re-finance: 68K

Lessons learned? Challenges?

When purchased, the thought was to rent to families/professionals; pivoted to rent by room to students for a better cash-flow model.

Renovations to the 3rd unit was completed in the middle of Feb. Since, we still had months to go before peak summer rental season, did a 3 month furnished rental to travel nurses.

We now have experience of self-managing with several different strategies - long term rentals, rent by room, medium term rental to travel nurses.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Albany.

Purchase price: $248,200
Cash invested: $115,000

Large 3 Family House.
Purchased with conventional 25% down with tenant in one of the units.
Made cosmetic upgrades to the 2nd unit, furnished it, and rented out by room to students.
Converted the 3rd unit from a 1BR/1BA to a 3BR/1BA. Renting it by room to professionals.

Hired property manager, but didn't work out for us; so fired them quickly and took over the management.
Changed strategies several times within the first year and learnt a lot from our mistakes.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Living in NYC and looking for cash-flowing opportunity at a drive-able distance.
After evaluating different markets, I did not feel long distance investing was for me at this time.
Numbers made sense, seemed low-risk; so just pulled the trigger.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

On MLS, thru an agent.
Only one unit was occupied and others were vacant. It was listed for a few months, sellers were eager to sell.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional 25% down with a local credit union.

How did you add value to the deal?

One unit was rented, and I could've rented others as-is; but decided to add value for highest & best use and maximize cash-flow.
One of the units was already occupied.
Made cosmetic upgrades to the 2nd unit, furnished it, and rented out by room to students.
Converted the 3rd unit from a 1BR/1BA to a 3BR/1BA. Renting it by room to professionals.

What was the outcome?

Total Invested: 70K down + 45K in renovations and furnishing = 110K
Monthly cash-flow after full stabilization: $2,500 (after setting aside CapEx & vacancy reserves)
Initial Cash on Cash: 26%

Refinanced (after 15 months):
Appraised for 340K after repairs.
Refinanced with 80% LTV and pulled out 85K of the invested capital
Cash invested after accounting for refinance: 30K (115K - 85K)
Monthly cashflow after refinance: $2,000.
Cash on Cash after refinance: 80%
Equity after re-finance: 68K

Lessons learned? Challenges?

When purchased, the thought was to rent to families/professionals; pivoted to rent by room to students for a better cash-flow model.

Renovations to the 3rd unit was completed in the middle of Feb. Since, we still had months to go before peak summer rental season, did a 3 month furnished rental to travel nurses.

We now have experience of self-managing with several different strategies - long term rentals, rent by room, medium term rental to travel nurses.