All Forum Posts by: Holly Baldwin

Whoa! I've seen some bad ones, but these are terrible! lol!

You are getting great advice! Real Estate investing is more likely a marathon than a sprint. :)

Here is a link to the Dave Ramsey page where you can create a zero-based budget for your household. It is what I use and it is fantastic because it gives you guidelines and percentages of what you should be spending in the different categories i.e. housing, entertainment, etc.

http://www.daveramsey.com/mobile/home/

Oh please be careful investing with no emergency fund for yourselves or your rentals. That is VERY risky! I know because our rental just cost us $5000 this year to repair. That can really hurt if you don't have any funds stashed away. Being impulsive and impatient could be additional whammies. Trust me....I've been there, done that.

With that warning, comes a congrats because you found this site and are now on the right track! Get educated and fund your personal emergency account before you jump into anything. You have to get your own financial house in order before you find an investment. Of course, I tend to lean toward the conservative side of investing so its up to you what is best for you.

Good luck and enjoy all the resources you have found here on BP!

Welcome Dana! I am just north of you in Layton. :) Getting started with your first place can be so exciting that you just want to dive right in. However, you really need to get some real estate education under your belt first. Speaking from experience, just jumping right in with both feet first can really burn you bad! The good news is you have come to the right place, as this BP site will really help you get a good educational foundation started. There is no hurt in window shopping for properties and even analyzing them as if you were going to buy....that might help you pinpoint what it is exactly you are looking for and where. Get your financing figured out too because properties only perform if you buy them right!

So good luck and maybe we will see you at the SLREIA meetings in the future.

Hey there guys! I know of 2 property management companies that might be able to help you out there in Phoenix:

MBA Real Estate - this is who I have managing a SFR of mine in the West Valley of Phoenix. This property is pretty far out West of Phoenix for them, but they still do a great job for us. They have some quirky fees, so read the fine print (the entire management contract) before you sign up, as is the case with any company though. We have been pleased with them so far (8 months in) with no major drawbacks.

A fellow BP member, Dick Rosen, has experience with property management in Phoenix area. You could give him a shout out too.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/drosen

Welcome to BP! More and more of us Utahns are joining and having great experiences from this site. Good luck and I'm jealous you are starting young!

@Dick Rosen

Thanks for your response! You have the experience to give Alex more info than I so thanks for responding. (And Bill Alpert said that he was able to talk to you too about managing properties for him. All these networks and info on BP is truly great!)

I was surprised that you do the maintenance yourself too on the properties you manage. How many properties are you over?

I jotted your name down so if I have any issues and want to change managers, I will contact you for more info.

Thanks again!

@Alex Tseng

You are doing the right thing by getting on here and asking questions and posting in the forums, etc. Keep interacting with others as much as possible. I know that I am learning a ton from everyone!

@Michael Rudd

I am sorry I don't know abut any Utah laws regarding managing your Utah properties while living outside of Utah. I would think that would be really hard from Alaska though! I think I found that Arizona law when Googling property management companies in Arizona. Even if I lived in Arizona where my property is, I am the type of person that would have a property manager so I didn't have to deal with landlording myself. Just a personal preference.
@Michael Rudd

Terence -

The 8% does not cover all those extra fees. It is just for their cut of the monthly rent. I haven't had any other experience with any other property management companies in that area, so I can't say whether or not it is a typical fee or not. I have been in conversation with another BP member and he said that there is a company called Pruitt that charges 7% of the monthly rent and their advertising fee is a little lower than MBA.

In my mind, you might get what you pay for with these companies. However, it is soooo important to read the entire management contract BEFORE you sign and seal the deal because it seems like there are fees in the nitty gritty details. We all just have to do our homework and find one that's the best fit for us!

I have a property in the West Valley of Phoenix and is managed by MBA Real Estate. see here:

http://www.mba-re.com/

We have used them for about 8 months now and haven't had any major issues. They are professional and established. They charge 8% of monthly rent collected, which might be on the higher end. Some of their fees are annoying, like the $40 trip charge fee and two $75 admin fees in November and December. Overall, they seem to be doing great for us.