All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@Will Boedeker I've had the same problem with the Zillow rent estimates. In some towns they're $500 too much and in others they're $300 too low and the data is 4 years old. And in another I get no estimate because there are no comps everything is STR and I'm planning on a yearly rent.

@Justin R. I was in a partnership about 22 years ago where the husband of a friend found the deals and my spouse and I were partners with the wife. We brought the money and the husband was going to do the work. Everything seemed to be going well with the first building which was a six unit apartment building with owner financing already full of tenants. If needed some TLC which it got, and we got a great tax write off and two years in the husband brings a second deal.

This building is vacant and will need a total rehab and will have 10 units when it’s done. After renovating one unit the husband says I’m out of money. My spouse and I say we have you what you asked for , your all in budget and he says that was per unit. We go ballistic and say we never would have agreed to spending $600,000 for a building when we could have had our pick of apartment buildings for $150,000.

Husband goes to work at first building. We go over and my spouse takes the checkbook out of his truck. We analyze it and realize he’s been stealing tens of thousands of dollars from us. We confront wife who is the partner. She says so what he works hard. We hire a lawyer and take them to court. We win in court and they are forced to buy us out for a large settlement.

My suggestion is if you have a partner always analyze the books and go over the finances frequently.

@Jayden Hamilton In my state I’d consult an attorney and the first step would be a notice of intent to not renew the lease. Then they would have till the end of the next month to vacate. I wouldn’t accept money from them because then you’re back to square one and it becomes a game of cat and mouse. Each month you have to start all over again and they pay every other month.

Then if they don’t move after 30 days I believe attorney starts eviction process.

May not be as simple in all states depending on how your moratorium is written but I believe you can still process the eviction it just will not go through the court system yet. But it might get in line on the docket.

If you can offer them cash for keys. Which likely won’t work but telling them you’ll give them $1000 plus what’s left of their security after you’ve assessed it, to be out and leave the duplex broom clean by the 20th might work. It would be cheaper than an eviction.

@Jayden Hamilton I have it in my lease that tenants must pay by personal check (if I receive one with insufficient funds this is no longer an option and must be one of the following ever after), certified check, cashiers check, Venmo.

If someone wanted a different option electronically I would discuss it but never cash. I don’t want anyone thinking I carry around large sums of money or have the risk of counterfeit money. Also I don’t want my tenants to think I’m going to come pick up their rent.

You have to be in charge and train your tenants to do what you want them to do. If you have their email I’d send an email stating new guidelines for payment of tent stating how you will accept it and that you will no longer be accepting cash and follow it up with a letter or a certified letter.

@Jayden Hamilton I’m not sure where you’re located but Facebook is one place you can find local listings if you’re in a larger market. You can also call local real estate companies and/or local property management companies if they rent out houses and see what they have available. Sometimes grocery store bulletin boards have postings or local newspapers.

I personally did not find the Zillow estimate to be anywhere close to what I could get for my units. It was $500 high in one town and $400 low in another town with the last data collected in the second town being 4 years old. The 3rd town if won't even estimate in which is strange because it's the largest town but mostly all of the rentals have gone to STR and so there's nothing to comp to.

@Jayden Hamilton I would advertise your unit(s) for current fair market value to begin with. You should be able to rent them.

Many investors in my area are only signing month to month leases right now not for the reason of raising rents but for a way around the eviction moratorium. If the tenant fails to pay rent they are given a notice of non renewal of lease which currently is an allowed way to get someone out of your unit in New Hampshire.

I’ve got 2 units I’m about to have to rent and will be offering a 1 year lease on one and the other I will probably offer a lease for the amount of time it takes it to come due for June 1, 2022. That unit is needing flooring and some work so it may not be ready till September 1. I’d rather have my leases come due in the summer when it’s convenient for people to move here as opposed to the winter when it’s -15 and snowing.

@Jayden Hamilton Hi Jayden, Usually if you can provide proof that something is incorrect with your tax card like they’ve got your building measured bigger than it is or too many bathrooms or a deck that is no longer there it’s easy to get your taxes lowered. Or if you know of similar properties similar size, age, number of apartments or if it’s a house same number of beds and baths and similar age and renovation style you can pull their tax cards as comps and provide theirs and yours and say my house/apartment building is assessed at $150,000 and these three are assessed at $100,000, $109,000, and $92,000. And they should reconsider and give you a new assessment. It may not be for as much off as the others but it should be for some.

Comps should generally be in a fairly close area if you live in a large city. If you’re in a smaller area you might be able to go to a larger area for the comps. You also might see if a real estate agent will help you for a small fee because they’ll be most familiar with what’s out there.

@Jayden Hamilton The BiggerPockets Rental Calculator will do the best job. It incorporates all things associated with the purchase of a property. Purchase price, down payment, loan term and rate, expenses broken out, taxes, electricity, sewer, water, gas(oil), trash, you can customize expenses, rental income, other income such as laundry or parking or storage, and then analyzes it into neat reports for you that are easy to understand and if you have questions you can post the report in a forum question and fellow investors will explain it to you.

You can use this calculator 5 times for free and unlimited if you become a pro member. The cheapest way to become a pro member is to watch one of the webinars on Wednesday and at the end they offer a discount code to go pro.

@Sarah Schwab Personally I’d be concerned about a negatively cash flowing property. While I’m sure in California appreciation would eventually get your money back when you sold it could be another 7-10 years before rents raise high enough for you to be making money and then there’s expenses too!

I know there’s other “emotional” reasons for why we invest the way we do. For instance if you wanted to retire and live in Long Beach that might be more of a compelling reason for this investment. Or if you discussed it with your accountant and could recoup your negative cash flow against your salary on your taxes. I have no idea if this is possible so please consult a professional.

Otherwise I might suggest looking elsewhere where you would have a positive cash flow for a return on your investment.

@Bhushan Walde For under 4 units non owner occupied you will need a 25% down payment. If you are looking to house hack there are programs out there that will help you get a lower down payment, down to 3.5% for an FHA loan.

5 units and over is commercial and will be subject to those requirements.

As was mentioned above set goals, and if Austin is too expensive look to another market and set a team up and find a property management company.