All Forum Posts by: Arlan Potter

if they are cheap, buy them. Long term tenants are a plus.  I would not do major interior upgrades with tenants living there. Exterior paint, roofing and curb appeal is fine.  

Don't do anything to disturb lead paint with tenants residing.  

Buy them, collect and stock up on the rental income, and rehab them if any ever move out.

SFR is single family rental. Buy your first investment property close to home. It is extremely difficult to manage, renovate, deal with investments at a distance. Leave distance investing to experts with a long history of investing. The only way to learn is to watch every detail of your first few or 50 investments. I had a property only 35 miles from my general investment area and before the rehab was done I had had enough. Just an irritant making the trip when my other investments were all close. I sold the house as a flip.

Beware

accounting.  (Says the retired CPA real estate investor)

buy a Sfr close to home.

how many rentals do you own now? If very few, you might want to start even smaller. I started with duplexes and a 4 plex. Even this after 40 some SFR's.

www.hudhomestore.com

Any(maybe) realtor should be able to bid for you.  

The houses are held for owner occupy or city employees like fire fighters, police, teachers first, and then if no takers, they open to investors.  Supposedly a $250,000 fine for an investor to buy and lie able living in the house.

It used to be easy to buy HUD houses, not so much anymore.

sell it.  Rent cheaper houses. 

like said above. It has to be builders risk insurance. The term is for one year. No refunds for early sale. A rental property insurance will not cover the house, if the insurance company finds out or determines that the house was being rehabbed for sale. The bank would also require it.

The other insurance question is do you also have workers comp and liability insurance. These areas probably pose a greater risk, and are the most likely to be ignored. It is More likely for a handyman painter to fall off a ladder than for the house to get destroyed.

We require subs to carry WC and liability insurance. If not I deduct what it will cost me from their bill. The only subs I pay the insurance on is day labor people.

I learned something for the umpteenth time. If someone tells you that they can fix something, or put something together on a property, assume they are clueless until you actually see them do something. It is amazing how many dudes will say they know everything when in reality they are almost morons when it comes to rehab.

if I start a remodel on one of my older homes, I replace windows. It doesn't cost me that much and I like the values added:

Better looks

More energy efficient

And most of all, in case of a fire, the tenants can get out quick

I own a ton of old houses and it has always worried me that someone might not be able to easily get out in case of a fire. And storm windows just complicate egress.