All Forum Posts by: Andrew Brewer

 I see your point and you are correct, In his position I would love to not be liable for the actions of my dog. It seems the issue is finding someone willing to sign away their rights. I personally won't do it, but perhaps the next guy will

I'm curious as to why the landlord is doing the right thing? The dogs are his, therefore the liability is his. Why should I be responsible for associated costs if his dog bites me? 

If I had a tenant with a dog I would make them sign a pet addendum of course, however it is a different scenario because they would own the dog, not me.

Not trying to be combative with you, just trying to understand your thought process. I don't have any tenants in my rentals with pets, but I will be adding that a clause into leases in the future should I decide to rent to animal owners

I've been in my lease for 6 months and have 6 months left. I've told the landlord that I will not sign the addendum and he is pretty peeved. He seems to think that since he owns the property I have to sign whatever he tells me to otherwise he will throw me out. I have not broken the lease in any way. I carefully read it before signing and make sure that I adhere to it.

Unfortunately I think you are right that I will need to find a new place in 6 months. The dogs are very friendly and I'm not worried about them at all, however I still don't think it is wise to sign away legal rights. I know that sometimes animals (and people) can snap without warning and if that were to happen I don't want to suddenly be responsible for thousands of dollars of medical bills. 

I work in a sometimes dangerous service job and I do my best to be careful and stay safe, however I would never sign away my workers comp and disability rights just in case something ever did happen, I guess I look at this the same way

 read the original post. "One of THEIR dogs"

The dogs are not mine, they are owned by a member of the landlords family and live on the property with the landlord who takes care of them.

Hi Everyone, I have a California specific question.

My wife and I rent a guest house and the landlord just came to our door and asked us to sign an addendum to the lease releasing him from any liability that would arise if we were to be bitten by one of their dogs. 

The addendum states

"Tenants hereby expressly and knowingly release, discharge, and hold harmless Landlord from any and all liabilities arising from any injury, harm, loss, or other events which may occur as a result from Landlord's dogs. Tenants agree to indemnify and hold harmless Landlord against any and all losses, lawsuits or expenses by reason f the liability or potential liability of Tenants pets/dogs or arising out of any claims for damages."

I am wondering if it is legal to sign away your rights to a personal injury claim like this. The dogs are very friendly and we are not worried about being bitten, however we also want to make sure we are still protected IF anything were to happen because you never know. Does anyone have any insight into the legality of this?

Hi Everyone, I am trying to wrap my head around how cashflow works with commercial financing. 

From my understanding, commercial financing is typically on a 20 yr amortization schedule and rates readjust every five years. Typically there is also a large balloon payment at some point. I haven't figured out how to accurately plan for the future considering you don't know what your rate will adjust to. 

Can anyone shed any light on how they budget/plan with commercial financing? 

I've heard that a lot a people will simply sell their buildings right before the rate adjustment and buy something new, but i'm interested in long term buy-and-hold. 

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I wanted to pose a question about analyzing potential properties and how to make the numbers work. For my personal goals and purpose of this example I'm looking for long term buy and hold using conventional financing with 20% down at 5% interest assuming closing costs at 5% the house and looking for a minimum of 10% COC return. What I am trying to determine here is a "rule" of my own to use when evaluating potential leads and if this is feasible. I'm looking in the KCMO market and used the average property tax rate of 1.38% in jackson county as my number for taxes(not sure if this makes sense). I would appreciate any insight and positive or negative criticism.

I've heard about the 2% rule, the 1% rule, the 50% rule and how these rules should be used as a general test to determine whether to evaluate a property further. I've also heard that the 2% doesn't really apply at this point in the market cycle and that 1% are harder to find than ever now.

By my calculations, it seems that nothing under the 1.25% rule will cashflow. I realize that everyone uses different numbers but I prefer to be more conservative in mine and here is how I've broken it down. This is also assuming a property is rent ready at purchase. I've used round numbers to make things easier.

purchase price: 100,000

closing costs: 5,000

down payment: 20,000

mortgage: 80,000

rent: 1250   <----- must rent for this amount to make the numbers work

vacancy @ 10% = 125

property management @ 10% = 125

repairs @ 5% = 63

capex @ 8% = 100

taxes @ ~ 1.38% = 137

insurance @ 65/mo

P&I 430/mo

cash flow after all expenses = 205/mo = 10% COC

Does anyone have any opinions? Also is it feasible to be looking for these kind of purchase/rent ratios at this point in the market?

Hi everyone, I had a question about etiquette surrounding your agent and your deal funnel, specifically regarding being sent listings from multiple sources and then pursuing them.

Example: I have an agent, but I am sent a listing from a wholesaler who has a property under contract with the owner of the property and I want to buy said property in cash. Do I involve my agent? Do I need to involve my agent? Is it bad form to not involve my agent?

Example 2: Same scenario as above, but I have had a hard time finding comps on said property and would like it if my agent could try to pull some for me

Does anyone have any insight on how to approach scenarios like this where you get leads from multiple sources? I don't want to alienate people because I am ignorant of proper protocol

Hi everyone, I'm trying to gain some insights into the KC market and get a better feel for the neighborhoods while I prepare for my first purchase. I'll be heading out to KC in a few weeks to check everything out in person but wanted to get an idea for where to look. Does anyone have any insights into good rental areas that they would be willing to share? I'm much more familiar with the KCMO side and there seems to be a lot more information about MO.

Thanks everyone!

Hi Everyone, I'm looking to connect with other investors in the KC market. Let me know if you're interested in connecting

Thanks!

Andrew