All Forum Posts by: Anton Ivanov

@Derrek H.

For the criteria, I only work with property managers that were referred to me by other investors. The more the better. That by itself will eliminate the majority of bad companies. Other than that, I have a pretty detailed list of questions that I ask them to make sure they offer the services that I'm interested in, they will manage the types of properties I have and their fees are reasonable. Pm me and I can send you the list of questions.

As far as keeping property managers accountable, you need to create checklists, guidelines, etc. for how you want things done, go over them with your managers and make sure you agree on everything. Then follow up and make sure they're doing thing according to how you wanted them done. I like to talk to each property managers over the phone at least one a month and obviously check all statements, maintenance receipts, etc.

@Brian Kaplan

It's definitely gotten harder to find worthwhile deals across the board and you're right - we are due for a correction soon. I think at this point it's important to learn how to manage your cash flow, don't over-leverage and have an emergency fund specifically for your properties in case things go south. With those 3, you should be able to whether a recession, provided your properties have strong positive cash flow.

As far as buying more - I've taken a break in the last few months, but I'm going to start looking for off-market deals again soon. I think you can still find something, it just may not be as common place as a few years ago.

@Alan DeRossett

No, I travel to these places myself. You definitely need to take travel costs into account, but I wouldn't say they make up a large expense for me, as I don't have to visit these places often.

@Dalton Toelkes

Send me a pm or email and I can give you some recommendations.

@Leon G.

I've replied to this question on here before. Basically I only find them through referrals and have a detailed questionnaire I go through with each one.

@Dan Chaney

If you read through my comments in this thread, there are many more details than in the original post...

As far as lending, you are correct - you'll start maxing out on conventional loans at around 10 or if your debt to income ratio gets higher than 45%-50%. I used conventional loans as much as I could on my first few properties, which were mostly SFRs. In the last 2 years that I've been buying multi-family, I've been using only commercial financing, which works very differently and doesn't have a limit on the number of properties you can finance.

As far building your network out of state - it takes a lot of time (many months). I've visited the cities I invest in many times, met with all of the people I work there on each visit, on top of regular phone conversations with them, especially property managers. You can't expect people to "do the work for you" without putting in the work and processes in yourself.

@Ian Walsh

50% rule is too general. If you're serious about buying a property, there is no reason why you can't look up what the property tax bill actually is, what the insurance is going to cost, estimate maintenance and cap ex based on the actual property condition, etc. I just see to many people use these rules and think that's all it takes to analyze a property, which is not the case.

@Rene Dunnagan

If you're saying you've spent $25k just to "learn" and "set things up", without actually buying a property, I'm a little shocked. There are so many free resources, especially on this site, that I don't think you need expensive courses or seminars to start investing. 

Frankly, you also don't need an LLC, especially if you're buying SFRs with conventional financing and without partners. You won't get any benefit out of it.

@Jerome Kaidor

I think @Jay Hinrichs was speaking from the point of asset protection and risk mitigation. Once you get a few dozen properties, I would agree with him that you don't want to over-leverage your portfolio. But at the same time, refinancing to pull cash out is definitely a viable strategy to keep growing.

@Chantele Joordens

What I like to do is to network with other local/remote investors first, and then ask them for referrals to agents, property managers, etc. This way you'll actually get recommendations from other investors like you to people who work well with investors. I haven't had much luck just doing online searches because like you pointed out - it's pretty hit and miss.

I can also suggest asking every person you meet in real estate for at least 2-3 referrals to somebody else to keep your network growing.

@James A Oates Jr

Biggest hurdle/problem with out of state investing is definitely property management. You need to find a kick *** PM who knows what they're doing and will take care of the properties for you.

@Kenny Jenkins

You can send me a pm for recommendations. I would strongly suggest you fly out and not only visit the property and meet your PM and rest of the team, but also drive around the city and the different neighborhoods to understand the local dynamic.

@Mansi Kothari

I've done an extensive write up about the direct mail campaign I did here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/56...

@Suzanne Goodman

I've shared a few posts in this thread about how I work with PMs.

@Ozkan B.

It may look easy on paper, but everything has been a lot of work. I'm a very goal/achievement oriented person and enjoy making progress in all areas of life. I probably have over 150 goals at any given time I'm working toward.

@Shannon Young

I'm not sure where you're getting the 4 property maximum. If we're talking about conventional loans, you should be able to get up to about 10, as long as you still qualify based on your debt to income ratio.

If you're using portfolio, hard money or commercial loans, you can finance as many properties as you want, provided the lender is willing too work with you.

@Logan Brown

I get this question a lot. Turnkey properties were a stepping stone for me that helped me expand my portfolio out of state and build confidence to buy and manage properties remotely. It's easy to say that I could have skipped it in hindsight, but I would probably go the same route again, because again it was a learning experience.

With that being said, you need to realize you'll be paying market values for these homes, which will affect your profit.

As far as tips, the biggest one I can give you is to not treat turnkey properties differently than any other property. You still need to research the market it's in. You still need to understand what neighborhood it's in and the types of tenants you're going to get. You still need to get the property inspected, etc. Don't assume that just because it's a turnkey property, it will be a good investment. Most turnkey properties are not good investments.

@Tressie Hollins

See some of my other comments where I went over property management. 

@Gary Murano

I think I replied to a few similar questions in this post. If you look through my comments, there should be a post with info and links to where I typically look up market information.

But in short, right now I like markets which have relatively low home prices, high cash flow and strong economic/job/population growth projections. These tend to be mostly inland and mid-western cities, away from the coast, but definitely not all of them.

I think these markets will deliver a good combination of rising home values, rising rents and cash flow. Similar to the rationale in this BP post: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/biggerpoc...

Unfortunately there isn't one place where you can look up all of the info, it takes quite a bit of time.

@Lee Johnson

I've written about in previously in this thread in a few places.

@Gregg Heminger

Yes, I've had more than 1 VA loan at the same time. The way VA loans work, is there is a total maximum loan limit that you can be exposed to. As long as you're under this limit, you can get more than one loan. The limit varies by county. If you go to their official website, they have some nice PDFs that describe various scenarios of how you can use VA loans - give it a read.

@Alex Evans

No, it's not required. You can get a VA loan with 0% down as long as you qualify. I put a down payment because I like to have at least some initial equity in my properties to reduce risk and because I wanted to have positive cash flow on this property, which would not have happened with a 0% down payment.

@Susan Hill

If you're really making $7,000 a month in profit from a single duplex, after the loan payments, vacancies, all maintenance & repairs, cap ex, utilities, landscaping and all other expenses - I don't see why you would sell. I haven't seen those kinds of returns anywhere. I typically profit about $250-350 per unit on my deals.

With that being said the question of holding vs selling always comes down to - do you have a better place you can put your money (return wise)? If the answer is yes, it makes sense to sell. If no - then keep it. 

@Christopher Grobbel

As far as finding PMs - see my other answers, basically always find one through referrals.

As far as keeping PMs accountable - develop processes and strategies for how you want thing done. For example, leasing guidelines, make-ready scope of works and pre-approved budgets, procedures for dealing with late payments and evictions, etc. Get it all in writing, send this to your PMs and go over to make sure you're on the same page.

I also like to do a phone call at least once a month with each of my PMs to check up on things, answer any questions they have, help them with any problems, etc. And then obviously check all of your statements, leases and deposits.

@Tomma Price

I covered that a little in my original post - all of my deals have been self-funded. I have a pretty high income from my full-time job, startup and rental properties. Combined with a savings rate of about 65-70%, I can save for new purchases relatively quickly now. It was a little slower at first.

@Benjamin Mann

If this is a general question, there isn't anything preventing you to refinance turnkey properties, provided the property value appreciates enough to allow it. I haven't done this with any of the turnkeys I own, but I only had them for a few years.

@Nima Mohajeri

I touched on this throughout the comments somewhere, but the biggest advice I can give you is only work with a company you were referred to by one (or better - several) other real estate investors. Meaning don't go with call-calling or cold-searching - work with companies who have a good track record.

@Rebecca Shine

My biggest "criteria" for property managers is that they were referred to me by another investor(s) who used them in the past. Meaning I don't cold-call or cold-search for PM companies - I only get them through referrals.

I also prefer larger and more established companies, as opposed to very small operations or companies who've only been in business a few years.

I think those two can be applied by anybody. The rest of your "criteria" will depend on what you're looking for and what types of properties you need managed. Nowadays I buy only multi-family properties, so I find PMs that specialize in those and have in-house project management and rehab teams.

@Nixon Davis

Sent.

@Benjamin Mann

No, I bought from Decas Group and have been overall pretty satisfied. I've heard good things about Spartan Invest as well, but haven't worked with them directly.

You have to be careful in Birmingham, though - it's a pretty depressed market, especially around the city center. Older homes, lots of bad areas/streets and most tenants will be Section 8. If you start going out to the suburbs, it gets better.

@Leo McNair

Sure, I'll send you the questions in a bit.