All Forum Posts by: Andrew O.

@V.G Jason.  Why does having a PM mitigate liability?  If someone gets injured wouldn't it still come back on the property owner?

@Nicholas L.. There's not any good PM companies here unfortunately. I've heard nothing but horror stories. I don't mind fielding the calls as I don't get many. My issue is the big expenses as of late. It's taken a huge hit on my emergency funds. I didn't think I'd have to replace 4 roofs at once.

@V.G Jason. I agree, quality is definitely better than quantity.  I don't think old roofs would be a deterrent though to purchasing a home if the price is right.

Once you have the system down and a big reserve the stresses go away. It just all happened at a bad time and trying to pay for everything at once is going to be a struggle. My reserves were big enough to cover 2 roofs, but not sure how I'm going to pay for the rest yet.

@Bob Stevens. Ahh that makes a lot more sense. That must be nice to have them all paid off! I have 8 loans locked in < 3% for 15 years so I don't mind having loans on them. The others I've been debating about paying off early.

The roofer is actually charging $475/sq. All the big names charge that much at least. I have a friend, well more of an acquaintance, and he gave me a number of a roofer who is supposed to be good and reasonable. I'm scared to go with individual guys though, the first time I did that the guy showed up drunk and high and did a poor job on the roof. Ended up having to have a portion of it replaced a few years later.

I'll have to start looking around more though for my contractors. I'd think my market is smaller than Cleveland so if you can get those prices I should be able to as well. I've just used the guys that were recommended to me from other local investors and realtors.

@Alecia Loveless.  Wow, that would have been an awesome investment!   You must live in a booming city!  I'm in a population of about 110k and it's just maintaining.  Majority of adults are state/city employees so income is steady, but there's not a lot of people moving here.  Houses definitely won't appreciate much here, if I held on to them for 20 years I'd estimate they would only be worth $100k more than what I paid for them.  It's hard saying though.

I don't mind managing the properties.  I really don't get too many calls.  I'm mainly just stressed about having to replace all of these roofs at once.  I know a lot of people don't agree with paying mortgages off early, and I'm not fully convinced it's a good idea either, but I'm at the point where I'm not sure if I want to continue to expand my portfolio and so I wanted to at least pay off a couple properties, but that will have to be pushed back until next year.

Hopefully in 20 years I'll still be doing it!  I can't sell these houses at full price with a leaky roof so I'm going to have to replace them regardless.  Might as well ride it out and see how things go from here!

@Chris Rich.  Thank you.  I do have good tenants that pay on time and all units are rented currently.  I just need to get past this month and start building my reserves back up.

@Bob Stevens. I wish I netted $10k-$15k haha.  I haven't seen any properties net $500-$750/door.  Maybe if they were all paid off I could.  On average I probably net $350-$400/door (that includes my mortgage - I've seen some investors not include their mortgage payment when calculating cash flow).  I'm  replacing one roof now that is 26 sq and the bid was $12,350.  I'm not sure how you can get it done for $5k, I don't think that would even cover the cost of materials here.  Same for a furnace, that would easily cost $1200 in just material.

I make money on the properties I have rented, I think I just grew too fast.  The costs of renovating the new properties is more than what I'm getting from rent in the others.

@Ke Nan Wang. That's awesome you self manage 30+ properties.  That was initially my goal to hit around 30-50 properties.  I wish I could build new construction and rent them out, but I'm in a market where the sweet spot for rent is around $1,000/mo so there's no way to make the numbers work on a new build.  Usually when I purchase a property I buy them in distressed and gut the inside.  I do a lot of work myself to help cut costs, but I was single when I bought the majority of my units so it's a little more tough now lol.  I'm in the same boat as you though where showing the properties is the most work I usually do on my existing rentals.  When I do get calls, it's for no heat/AC, roof leaks, or maybe a sewage stoppage.  I agree though, the quality of doors is more important than the number of doors.  I think a lot of the people that chase the number of doors are more of the slumlords that don't care.

@Marc Winter.  That's true!  There's a lot of people on social media that makes it sound like owning RE is a walk in the park.  They either don't know what they are talking about or trying to sell their book lol.

I think SHTF already lol.  I don't mind getting no heat/no ac calls, plumbing leaks, section of a fence blows over, etc.  I wasn't prepared for reroofing 3 houses and a carport all within a week or two.  That's a little more catastrophic.

I agree, slow and steady growth!  I'm going to get past this month, take some time off from purchasing new properties, and regroup!  I might have to skip the vacation this year, but early next year would be nice!

@Michael Smythe Haha I feel a little better today but I agree, it's time to suck it up.  I just have to think long term.  The portfolio increase is definitely nice and it'll only continue to get better!