All Forum Posts by: Allen Tracy

Both duplexes I have in Columbus came with an inherited tenant each and then my property management company brought in a section8 tenant for each property so I have two now.  So far the inherited tenants are falling a little behind in rent while the section8 tenants are staying current.  Both section8 rentals had the representative argue on the price and bring it down a little when I think the pricing we had was fair and was below what was listed on GoSection8.com.  The tenants so far have been good and the money keeps coming in so that's definitely a plus.  The biggest downfall so far is I wish all of the money went through my property management company to make bookkeeping much easier.  Much more difficult when some rent is going to property management which has awesome bookkeeping tools and some is coming directly to me which I have to keep track of.

Here's my story and strategy that could be a possibility for anyone living in LA. I purchased my first primary residence which was a 2 bedroom townhome out in the valley. I rented out the second room. It didn't even cover half of my mortgage but it still helped. I purchased it for $405k and four years later I sold for $530k plus I had paid down the loan and kept that rent money. I took that money and purchased a larger single family home further out in the valley, it made my commute longer but I listen to Bigger Pockets audio books now to pass the time. I rent that home out to filming companies which nearly covers the mortgage. After a few years I took a HELOC out on the property and purchased two duplexes out of state in Columbus.

Out of state investing is NOT passive investing even if you have a team in place.  You'll still need to manage your property manager and stay on top of things.

Hey Phillip, I'm in Los Angeles but have a couple duplexes in Columbus.  I've been using ERA Real Solutions for the last six months and have been happy with them.  There were a couple of misunderstandings on my part about the way they charge like their minimum charge is not per building but per door which makes sense and the lawn care charge is per visit not per month.  They manage over 1,000 units and you get access to their AppFolio website which has all of the details of your properties and tenants so they're extremely professional.  With the pandemic they've been a little slower to get non emergency fixes done but that's because it was so hard to find people to work when unemployment payments were high.

Donny the owner is always very quick to respond and can help guide you to the areas that are good to purchase.  He saved me on the first duplex I had under contract to purchase because rentometer told me I could get $750 per side a month and he said there was no way the property would get over $650 per side which would have killed 2/3 of my cashflow and I was able to back out of the deal.

They can even help with rehabs, get bids from multiple contractors, and manage the rehab for you for an additional cost.

I've had to follow up with them on a few things here and there to stay on top of them but I'm finding that's the case with all property management companies.  Having a property manager doesn't make it as hands off as some have said but there's no way I could do it without them.  I plan to continue investing in Columbus and will continue to have them manage my properties.

Thanks @Al D. for sharing all of your experience.  I think the death by a thousand cuts is a great analogy.

Thanks @Jon L. if I ever end up with a property in one of your areas I'll contact you.

Hey @Syed H. if I only had a couple of properties located near me I could self manage but I have a few out of state multi families along with a demanding full time job, a family, and plans to purchase more properties.  I wish I could self manage locally, I know it would be a lot of work but I could give a lot more personal care and attention to my properties.  That's the trade off with out of state investing though.

Thanks @Brianna Reynolds that's more what I expected.

@Ursula Leake I've had terrible experiences with home warranties with my personal property.  I've also seen other posts in this forum saying the home warranties aren't worth it.  The same advice came from my real estate agent.

Thanks everyone, I've been happy enough with them.  There's been quite a few small mistakes on their end that are frustrating but overall nothing huge so I'm not looking at moving to someone else, just trying to see what is considered standard charges.