All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@Albert Hepp Northern New Hampshire. The more reputable agencies in my area will not become a buyers agent for less than 3%.

Any flat fee agents are not with the larger local agencies that have the market share of the listings and buyers.

For those listings with agents from out of the area, the sellers typically get lousy service, lousy response from their listing agents, and much less of the market share of potential buyers.

My area is somewhat geographically bounded by various different mountain ranges and the agencies from “East” or “Down South” might get 1-2 listings a year but will likely never gain much of a foothold due to their distant locations.

@Will Almand I love small multis. I have several and will buy more as they make sense.

I don’t think well maintained, well run properties that have rents at or close to market value should ever be that difficult to sell.

The only downside I’ve had is some difficulties in dealing with a shared driveway. I would try to avoid this type of situation again. And I occasionally get one tenant complaining about their neighbor. Occasionally there’s really an issue but usually it’s a busybody who doesn’t like what the neighbor is doing. I think this is just typical discourse for owning property though.

@Marc Shin We have used small baskets of the trash can size to make them look more upscale. Make sure they will easily fit with your small trash bags.

Some places you can find these are yard sales, antique stores, World Market if there’s one close to you.

@Mark Thiel This is not legal advice but I think most LLCs are overrated unless you are required to have them for lending like with many DSCR loans.

I believe solid insurance and a good umbrella policy will suffice.

LLCs require additional filing fees and tax returns and just complicate things. In some states the annual fee is close to $800. That adds up over time.

@Lynkeisha Dixon I'll play devils advocate. I think LLCs are over rated unless you have to hold the property in one for financing like most DSCR lenders will require.

Generally speaking solid insurance and a good umbrella policy will provide ample financial protection for most liabilities.

@Albert Hepp Northern New Hampshire. I’ve just made an offer on a building and the listing commission was 3% paid by the sellers. The seller declined to offer any compensation for the buyers agent which falls on me as the buyer and the agent that provided me with the listing requires a 3% buyers commission.

So not much has changed. Just that now I’m responsible for 3% that prior to the lawsuit I wouldn’t have been required to pay.

@Jevani P. Barron I would only consider selling if the gain would allow me to buy a better property with considerably more cash flow.

Long term rentals typically require much less work than a fix and flip. If you’re looking for a more full time job I’d consider that. If not I’d consider staying with the rental and raising the rent to market rate at lease renewal in May.

I’ve had about a 60% turnover on units that were under and I’ve brought current. The other 40% realizes it will cost a lot of time and effort to move and that they’ll likely be paying even more afterwards.

Since the tenant has been there a long time your market rent will be less than market rent for a newly renovated place which should be a consideration of the tenants.

For instance I’ve got a building that still has 3 unrenovated units. Fair market rent for these is $800. The other 4 similar units that have been renovated fair market rent is $950.

@Mario Morales Hi Mario. I’m not sure if the metric has changed much with inflation and rising costs but I’ve repeatedly heard that $200 per door is a good cash flow.

I honestly believe a lot of investors are being forced to buy properties that cash flow less per unit but then one big expense and you’re in trouble.

Last I checked my average across 30 units was something like $179/door. Typically I’m seeing higher appreciation than cash flow but it can be hard to tap into that equity if rents won’t cover the new cost of the refinance.

@Henry T. Despite the fact that my decks were up to code when I bought them I have had my insurance company do inspections and make me install lag bolts on many things that are in my opinion fine.

Either I risk losing my insurance or I do what they tell me.

In this instance I would tell the buyers I wasn’t fixing it as long as there wasn’t some other reason to compel me to do the repairs.

@Don Konipol Most of my deals have been bought for less than market value.

I do understand that market value becomes what has been paid for a deal but with minimal work and renovations my deals almost always significantly increase in value in the first 6 months.

This is why I love real estate. To me it’s a challenging game, an intricate puzzle where if you learn how to play you get great results.