All Forum Posts by: Antoine Baisy

For my first rental property, I would like to buy and hold a duplex. Looking around my area, the deals I see on the MLS are either in need of serious rehab or already have tenants. Since this will be my first rental, I was wondering what you think would be better to start with, rehab or tenant. It seems like there are pros and cons to both strategies. Here are a few I see:

Pros for Rehab: You get to see and correct the condition of the house immediately, you get to screen your tenants before giving them the keys

Cons for Rehab: time and $$ in rehab work, no income until you can find tenants for it

Pros for Tenants: Income right away and no need for immediate rehab (hopefully)

Cons for Tenants: Do due diligence to ensure income-generation (evaluate lease and rent details), mystery quality tenants, unable to fully inspect house condition

Where would you begin?

@Anthony Kondor how will you know how much to offer the owners of the properties?

Thank you Jorge and Carol for the advice!

 Exactly, there are so many. Not always easy to tell which ones are actually worth delving into, but asecurelife looks like a good one. Thanks!

I have arranged for Bulldog ADT to hook up security in my house, but I'd like to know if anyone else has worked with them before. What was your experience like? 

Then I remembered Simplisafe. which ease of install and month to month payment plan is attractive to me. What are people's thoughts on Simplisafe? 

 Yeah, I'm completely confident there are still real, helpful people on the site. But as things like this get as big as it does, you get the people who simply walk around handing out business cards. That being said, I do feel you came off a bit abrasive for your introduction thread. I hope your face-to-face attempts yield better results. 

I enjoy a good beer. I'm new to this stuff so you don't need to pick up my tab, but I am interested in a laid-back shop talk.

@Zachary Akey Did you PM any of these people? How is the BP networking going?

@Jay Greene Listening to the podcast has put a lot of books on my to-read list. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", 4-Hour Work Week, Millionaire Next Door, Cashflow Quadrant, 10X Rule, The One Thing are all books I've heard mentioned over and over on the podcast by successful investors.