All Forum Posts by: Alex Johnson

Hi April, I work with Atlas Real Estate Group here in Denver. We manage about 2,500 units in the state. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions and I’d be happy to point you in the right direction

I’ve always used Hotpads. It syndicates with Zillow, trulia, etc. The best feature I find is that it tells you how many people have contacted the listing in the last week. Helps me judge how the property is priced (contacted 50 times in the last week, it’s way under priced)

If you want to a avoid the headache and can afford it (managing a large number of units), higher an eviction attorney. I deal with multiple evictions on a weekly basis and it’s as easy as posting the 3 day and emailing a picture to your attorney, waiting to hear from the attorney to see if the case needs to go to the sheriff, and scheduling the actual eviction. That’s it. The only time it gets more complicated is if the tenants file an answer which almost never happens

If you’re trying to sell the idea of a recently remodeled, beautiful move-in ready home, I would not want any work going on during showings. I would want that thing to shine. I would hope the extra two weeks of holding costs wouldn’t kill your margins. Get the work done, list it a few more weeks closer to the warm buying season, list it for a few grand more than you anticipated and see what bites

@Ron Read you make some great points here, a lot of them are spot on. I actually have been working with the largest of the companies (Invitation Homes...who has gone through quite a few mergers recently) running their acquisitions and dispositions out here in Colorado for the past 4 years. For the type of product they buy, it is very difficult to compete with them if you're an average investor. That's not to say we can just buy anything. We get beat out all the time by first time home buyers (not really applicable to this forum, but that's who our competition is). As for the self-cannibalization, that is a little market specific. We are in the process of selling 8 homes for them in a certain HOA. We listed 4 at the same time, all went U/C in a matter of days, all over asking price. They also view density in certain neighborhoods as a good thing (to a point). If they own 5 of 6 homes that are for rent in a neighborhood and renter Sally wants to rent there because of the schools, guess who they're going to have to rent from.

These REITS are banking on a long-term paradigm shift from a society of home owners to one of renters, among other things

I just recently started using Everlance and like it so far

Focus on “operating” part of NOI. A property should operate the same regardless of how it was purchased. Investor A can leverage the hell out of a property, but that shouldn’t change its operational efficiency (maximizing income and minimizing expenses). Investor B can pay all cash for the same property, but the property should/will operate the same. The debt component will come later and will affect your cash flow, equity returns, etc.

Here in Denver we have someone who does new install, site finish, water base poly for around $7/ft. He’ll refinish for $2.50-$3/ft

Originally posted by @William Murden:

@Alex Johnson Thanks, is the seller responsible for any repairs to the property? Is it ok to have contractors look at property or does the house need to be under contract before I can have them look at it?

You can ask the sellers to make repairs, but they don't have to. I'd rather shoot for a large concession/reduction and do the work myself. That way you know it's done right, and you can try to negotiate a reduction that is far above what it will actually cost to do the repairs. As for the contractor viewing the property, that's between you and the seller. If you're not under contract, just talk to the owner and ask them if you can have a few contractors go out to get a bid on the repairs you're going to do. If you are under contract, you probably have an inspection contingency and contractors can go out at the same time as the inspector

Do both. The purchase price needs to reflect the rehab needed, and the 203k loan is a way to fund those repairs. If you take the rehab costs off the purchase price and have no more money to do the repairs, you're stuck. If you don't reduce price and choose to do a 203k loan, you just paid too much