All Forum Posts by: Brandon Hall

@Steve Nowak Thanks for the link.  I knew there was a state law about late fees, but I wasn't sure where to find it.  I want to make sure I'm fair in charging them.

Ok so my tenant actually called me today and asked how much she owed in late fees before I even sent out a late notice. That was awesome.  She paid both rent and late fees and is caught up.  What are the guidelines for late fees?  I used the same rate that a friend uses, but we are in different markets and I'm thinking my late fees are way too high compared to my rent.  My lease says $10/day, but i'm thinking about switching to a percentage of rent.  Any thoughts?

We just bought our first rental property.  It's a 4 plex made up of three 2 bed/1 bath units and a studio that we plan on turning into a real 1 bed/1bath.  Two of the units have been rented to the same people for 5+ years and the other two are empty and we are renovating them.  We are cash flowing positively with just the two units, but one of the tenants has been late the first two months.  She told me the first month that she would be late and I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  Now this month she is also going to be late.  Do charge a late fee?  Do I just take the rent when I can get it as long as she pays?  The other issue is that both tenants are related.  The tenants that pay on time are her parents and I would hate to lose them.  

It's only been two months, but I don't want it to become an ongoing thing.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.  

Jamal I'm not sure.  I'm just starting out as well.  I just closed on my first investment property a week ago.  It's a 4 plex and 2 of the units are rented already with good tenants.  I'm trying to get section 8 tenants in the other 2.  My guess is that they should provide you with a list of previous landlords and you can verify that way.

What type of lease do you prefer to use with Section 8 tenants?  Does the Section 8 office prefer/require a certain type?

I have an investor who is putting up the cash to flip some houses. We have an accepted offer with a bank right now and we would like to purchase the home through an LLC. Is it possible to have my partner with the money as a guarantor for the LLC allowing myself to handle all of the paper work without putting the property in my name?

@Alex Silang Manny Koshbin is close.  Started from nothing in the early 90s and now has a net worth north of 70 million.  He did it through real estate but says you've got to make the switch to commercial to get figures like that.  Here are the links to his book and personal site.

http://www.amazon.com/Manny-Khoshbins-Contrarian-P...

http://khoshbin.com/

Another thing I didn't mention is that the bank with the ARM will only allow you to have one rental financed with them at a time. That being said, my thought was to save that lower rate for a more expensive property where the difference in rates would equal more dollars per month.

@Jon Klaus I don't have a set amount of time I'd like to hold it for in mind.  As long as it cash flows and isn't a pain to manage I'll hold on to it.  If It makes sense to let it go and trade up at any point I could go that route too.

I'm working with two banks right now to try and finance a four-plex.  Both are 20% down and amortized on a 30 year schedule. One is a fixed 30 year mortgage at 4.625% and the other is variable at 3.25% for the first 5 years.  After that it can only go up or down by 2% every five years maxing out at 11.25% in 20 years worst case scenario.  We are purchasing for 43k and I'd like to see it paid off within the first 5 years.  We are talking $28 a month difference and over 5 years thats $1680.  What are the pros and cons of either and which should I go with?

I may not be using them correctly.  I will have to look into those sites a little more.  Trulia's crime rating says lowest and has two drug related crimes reported near that area but that's it.