All Forum Posts by: Holly Baldwin

Welcome Alex!

Boy I wish I would have found this site soon after I graduated high school like you did! How lucky you are at such a young age!

I know how you feel in your head right now.....so many questions....so much to learn....overwhelming for sure!

I think you should read over the entire introduction before you try to get all the info in chapter one learned and digested. With time it will come. Keep reading, keep listening to the pod casts, etc. and it will all start to make sense.

With that being said, I can help a little with your "buy and hold with property management" question. I have some experience under my belt with one single family home that I rent out in the Phoenix area. The state of Arizona requires one like myself to hire a property management company to manage my rental because I don't live in Arizona. I live out of state in Utah. I prefer to have a property management company anyway because of that very issue. Property management companies vary in how they do business, however, it generally works like this: You pay a fee up front for them to advertise your property for rent.....they screen tenants for you....and once a tenant is chosen and move in, the company then charges the owner (like me) and the tenant a monthly fee. I get charged 8% of the monthly rent collected. The tenant also pays a small fee on top of their rent. There are other fees too, like maintenance fees, trip charges, administration fees....all for them to manage all the day to day dealings with your rental.

The buy and hold part just means that you buy the property and hold for the long term before you sell it or some other exit strategy. Over time, you will hold this property and eventually pay this property off and hope to keep taking in all the rent money, minus fees and expenses, a.k.a. cash flow, and you have what is called "passive income." And/or you buy and hold for appreciation and rake in all that equity when you sell.

Hope that helps! Slow down a little and learn one thing at a time, then move on to the next topic. You will just confuse yourself, get overwhelmed and give up if you try to move too fast! ;)

Welcome to BP Dustin! I, too, am from Utah....not too far from you in Layton. I am fairly new myself, but I do know you happened upon a treasure chest of knowledge and helpful people so consider yourself lucky!

I have learned that the more you interact with others on the site, the better experience it is. So keep interactions going by setting keywords like "Utah" to get in on forums related to our area and to meet others that are nearby.

I do know there is an investment group, the SLREIA or Salt Lake Real Estate Investors Assoc., that meets the 2nd wednesday of every month in Sandy. They also have lunches in Davis and Weber counties too. I haven't joined yet, but plan on joining soon.

I am also interested in buy and hold properties and already have one in the Phoenix area. Someone suggested me to read the book entitled BUY AND HOLD by David Schumacher. Sounds like it is a good one.

Good luck and maybe we will cross paths sometime!

Bill-

I will have to go by that address and see it. I will run by after work tomorrow and then let you know what I think.

That Pruitt company is one I didn't come across in my original research. Sounds like their fees are lower than MBA. I wonder if they would let you look at their management contract so you can read it in detail. That is what we did with MBA. We read the entire management contract so that we knew exactly what fees and such we were getting into beforehand.

As for MBA - I have been absolutely pleased with them and would recommend them for sure. I love their online owner portal which makes it so I can go online and check my statements, account, etc. I double check my statements to the tee every month and they have never messed up in the 8 months I have done business with them. I haven't had any major issues at all and I feel they are established and professional.

On the flip side, I do think MBA's fees are on the high end and there are some annoying fees that I am wondering if other places charge. For example, in November we have to pay a $75 admin fee for accounting documents prep (showing our balance sheet, etc.) and another $75 fee in December for something similar....just slips my mind as to the specifics. They also have a $40 trip charge that I hate. Every time they go out for anything, they charge that dang trip charge. I am also considering finding my own maintenance man, as I think the one MBA contracts with charge a bit much.

We will have to keep each other posted and maybe between both of us, we can find a great, less expensive company to go through for our Phoenix properties!

Hey Bill!

Wow that is quite a coincidence! Hill Air Force Base is one of the largest employers here.....my husband works there and is a Air Force Reservist. Rents are high here...everything is expensive.

Now is that deal for a condo or a town home or a twin home? My single family home in a middle class neighborhood is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom 1820 sq. ft and would rent for $1200 to $1400. I live 5 minutes from the base.

So, I am curious as to how much square feet these "condos" are? Are there any built yet, or is this a first phase of the development? A price of $150k sounds a little low to pull that much rent per month. The newer town homes and twin homes in my neighborhood are worth $185k to $195k (4b/2b), 2000sq ft, and definitely pull the $1200/mo rent.

A new thing here that I am noticing is that they are building what they call "condos" but they look just like tall, huge glorified apartment buildings to me. I am out of touch a little with that market, so I can't really give you a professional opinion. Sorry!

Let me know if I can give you any additional info though. If you have an address, I can go by and snap some photos and email them to you...or if some are already built, I can visit them to get more info for you.....

Welcome Cameron! The BP site is a great place for resources on real estate investing. I love the newsletter articles, Facebook posts, pod casts, etc. Like me, those things will keep you interested and focused on investing.

I grew up not too far from you in Idaho Falls, ID. Hopefully there are some local investor groups in your area that you can attend and do some networking.

Good luck!

Welcome Mike!

So good to see someone else in the Northern Utah on this site! I haven't seen too many from our area on here yet.....most I have seen are down south near Provo.

Do you attend any local meetings? I don't know of any here close to us, except for the SLREIA in Salt Lake and Sandy.

I would love to hear about your rehab project and where it was and how it turned out for you.

Good luck and hope to hear more!

Hi Michelle!

When I read your intro, our paths have been somewhat similar. My husband and I did some of Rich Dad coaching and we invested in the West Valley of Phoenix a while back. We used to live in the area and loved it! We still consider ourselves newbies too, but this BP site is really helping a ton.

It sounds like you are preparing yourself well to be a real estate investor! Keep up the good work! Welcome to the BP family! :)

Hi Bill,

There are several that I looked at in the Phoenix area when I needed a property manager for my SFR in the West Valley of Phoenix area. I decided to go with MBA Real Estate. (here is the website:

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

So far we have been pleased with their work. The gal we work with is very professional, yet down to earth and always willing to answer our questions. It has given us some peace of mind since we do not live in Arizona, but out of state in Utah.

Look into several companies, get the nitty gritties about their fees, and decide on one that best fits you and your goals.

Good luck! :)

Welcome Nate! I am from Layton, UT and have seen just a handful of others from Northern Utah on this Bigger Pockets site. I am fairly new too with just one SFR in Arizona so far. Good luck to you and definitely listen to the podcasts...they are great!

Thank you so much everyone! I love how all your answers give me a new perspective and a new way of thinking that I haven't done before.

I appreciate all of you for taking time to answer my questions and give me things to think about! I can apply a few of them right away and I hope to see a difference soon!

Thanks again!