All Forum Posts by: Amy Kendall

@Shawn Massengill You should be able to do your exchange to multiple properties as long as the total exceeds the previous property.  It sounds like you have a good problem.  My husband and I have been debating selling some of our older properties as well and exchanging up.  We are looking to trade up into more expensive multi-family properties, but I have really enjoyed the single family homes we have.  With that amount of equity, you could look into multi-family housing and probably match or exceed your cash flow.  We are actually looking into the Florida area as well and will be closing on a new fourplex in Ocala here soon and one in Jacksonville probably early next year.  They both will cash flow pretty well.  I like that I am increasing the overall value of my portfolio through leverage while maintaining good cash flow.  Just something to think about.  Either way, you should turn out fine.  Best of luck in your move and selling off the properties!

@Austyn Victoria  I love your quote, "If you're not growing, you're dying."  One that someone told me that I always remember is, "one property won't change your life, but ten will."  I think you have a great plan to get started and keep moving by buying a property every few years.  House hacking is a great strategy for the Utah market right now.  Everything is pretty competitive right now and duplexes go fast.  I think people are pretty savvy on the living for free part of it now.  You can also look for homes that have a separate entrance that you could use as a basement apartment.  Sometimes those don't get listed as a basement apartment or a mother in law, but aren't hard to make into one.  So you can broaden your search that way as well.  

Best of luck to you!

Amy Kendall

@Casey Christensen we will have another meeting next month.  I think we are tentatively planning on April 25th at the same time.   I will post it again on Bigger Pockets.  I will definitely

give more than a days notice this time around.  Our first meeting went pretty well, and we are still deciding exactly where the group will be going, but I am pretty excited about it.

Tonight from 6:30 to 8 we are having our first Meetup for Multifamily U. It will take place in the REMAX office by the pool table. This is a national group and we will be running the Provo Orem Chapter. If you want to learn more about the Multifamily Apartment and Commercial space of investing and management then you should attend. If if you are unable to attend we invite you to join the group for future meetings as well as just to help us grow the group. Please let me know if you have any questions and we hope to see you there.

Link is below.

https://www.meetup.com/MfuProvoOrem/ 

Tonight from 6:30 to 8 we are having our first Meetup for Multifamily U. It will take place in the REMAX office by the pool table. This is a national group and we will be running the Provo Orem Chapter. If you want to learn more about the Multifamily Apartment and Commercial space of investing and management then you should attend. If if you are unable to attend we invite you to join the group for future meetings as well as just to help us grow the group. Please let me know if you have any questions and we hope to see you there.

295 W. Center Street Provo Utah!   We will have light Refreshments! 

@Eric Mitchell   A PM usually charges between 7-10% of your gross rent/month.  You could have them run all repairs through you and could still do that yourself.  It might be something you want to consider if you are going to acquire more and more properties.  My father-in-law has a single family home that he manages himself.  He feels the same about increasing rent and likes to still collect rent himself each month.  He gets to know his tenants.  There is nothing bad about that, but now his tenant has fallen on hard times and is often late with rent and making half payments.  He can't bring himself to ever charge a late fee or not accept a half payment and post a notice.  It causes him a lot of stress.  I have offered multiple times to manage the property for him and set up everything online, but he likes the interaction and being part of the process.  Just be honest with yourself whether you will be able to make the tough decisions regarding your tenants or if your emotions will interfere.  My husband loves the numbers side of real estate but would let all the renters stay for free to avoid confrontation.  He knows that about himself and chooses to stay out of the management side of our business.  I enjoying managing our properties, but believe me you can have good tenants and still get market rents.

Great discussion and advice by everyone.  What is holding you back from increasing rent to $1600/month?  Do you have a long term lease in place?  If not, I would tackle that problem first.  Making an extra $250/month helps your numbers out significantly.  If the issue is that you have a soft heart and don't want to be the bad guy, then you might consider hiring a property manager to do it.  You would still end up with better cash flow and it would take that off your mind.

I copied that from @Kyle Pierce's post.  Got to give credit where it is due!

@Wayne Williams  Sorry for the delay in posting.  I haven't attended too many meetups recently, but I am hoping to attend more this year.  I copied this from another recent post lately, and I believe it is accurate, "There's quite a few meetups in utah. Utah REIA (utahreia.org), UVREIA (uvreia.com), Salt Lake REIA (slreia.com), there's a wholesale meetup the second thursday of every month at mimis cafe in murray, and an investor meetup the 1st thursday of every month at club 90 in Sandy." I hope that helps! Good luck!

Only 40-45 minutes away does not seem too far at all.  I have several properties that distance away from me that I manage myself, and I have never felt that they are far away.