All Forum Posts by: Amy Kendall

I like to set up the applicants through Cozy.  To avoid issues regarding discrimination and all that, I use a first come, first serve process.  Meaning that I usually rent it to the first person that meets my minimum requirements and has good references.  Good luck!

Keep learning, save your money, and look into a house hack

You could put it under contract at the price you think will seal the deal, then immediately start your due diligence.  I would have an inspector go to each one of the homes and do a thorough analysis of the extent of the repairs and the condition of each home.  A video walkthrough simply won't be enough.  Only then are you going to have an idea of the amount of deferred maintenance you will be dealing with.  It will cost you some money to do this, maybe $300 per property or so, but the information you will gather will be crucial to your success.  Make sure you have a long enough period for your due diligence to get all of this done and have bids from contractors for repairs.  Once you have all that information, you will be able to make a well informed decision of whether or not to move forward, or you can renegotiate the deal if needed.  It is a large project for your first deal.  Don't rush it just because the numbers are good.  Good luck!

A base rule used by many is a purchase price of 70% ARV minus any repairs that need to be made.

I did my taxes with an online software for two years and really thought I had entered my depreciation on my rentals appropriately, only to find out later that I had not.  I missed out on enough saving to justify amending those tax returns.  Since then, my taxes and investments have only become more complicated.  I happily pay someone else to prepare them for me each year.  My brother and father-in-law both have one rental property each and prepare their own taxes using tax software.  I asked them if they are able to claim the depreciation, and neither of them knew about or cared about the  depreciation.  So, you can save some money of doing it yourself, but you also might be losing out on some deductions you don't know about.  It just goes to show, you don't know what you don't know.

@Jeff Aririguzo  First of all, congratulations on having acquired the capital to even be in this situation!  Personally, I could pay off the mortgage on my primary home but I choose to keep buying rental properties for now because I get a better rate of return on my money by doing so and get the benefits of leveraging my money.  I imagine that you don't have any rental properties yet from your post.  Are you planning on acquiring rental properties in the future?  What are you goals for the future?  If your plan is to acquire as many rental properties as you can, then it would probably not be in your best interests to put all that money into your primary residence and delay your acquisition of a rental property.

I would like to hear what Brandon and David's goals are for this year.  Where are you guys going with your real estate investments now?  Is your goal to keep growing you real estate empire, or are you happy having achieved financial independence?  As an investment community, we talk so much about the accumulation of wealth and how to get there, that I think that becomes the focus of our discussions and we start thinking that is our final goal.  But really the end goal is not the accumulation of wealth, but what it allows us to do.  I think a lot of new investors lose focus on the end goal and start focusing on making more money.  I would love to hear a podcast that highlighted successful investors, not as much how they got there, but what it allowed them to do.  Maybe that could be a new question to add on to the famous four, "What does real estate investing allow you to do that you otherwise wouldn't be able to?"  or more directly, "How has real estate investing allowed you to enjoy life more?"    

@Joshua Paul I think that your brokerage definitely makes a big difference in your success.  I started with a discount brokerage because it was cheap but it didn't offer very much support or training.  I still had some success there, because I was very motivated and committed.  Then, I realized I wanted to focus on working with investors because I own my own rental properties and enjoy that type of real estate.  That is when I found Remax.  At first, I was hesitant to join because the fees were substantially more than what I was used to.  I took the leap, however, and it has been the best decision I could have made.  The other agents have been so helpful and being surrounded by successful people will help you become more successful as well.  I would say to join the brokerage that you will offers you the most support.  If there are people there you think you will like and are successful, those will probably be the ones that will help you along the way the most.  Good luck!

I always rekey as well.  We have changed all the locks on our properties to the smart key locks, which has made it so simple to do.

Awesome!  What a great success story!  Thanks for sharing!