All Forum Posts by: Bogdan Cirlig

I tried a good amount of PM software.

I settled for 123Landlord.com. The thing that I found clunky with the rest of them was: You need Work orders and track what gets paid for what property and what tenant, expenses bills and so on. Open work orders, in-progress orders, advances made to contractors. yes this last one is BIG, you always pay 50% down say and the rest on delivery. I couldn't find a system that was handling all this stuff so nice. Plus the price to start with few units is two Starbucks per month :)

I had my tenant offer to pick up from Lowes the new paid-for Dishwasher AND install it themselves. At no cost to me lol. I took their offer and credited $30 to their rent bill. Love these tenants. Appliance is not a huge deal. Don't allow them to touch electric or piping or gas appliances.

The famous garage door sensors that nee replaced all of a sudden is simply a 2 min re-align the sensor deal. :)

Have them send pics of the receipts. Understand that you're getting out cheap vs paying $85 service call + labor for a "licensed" guy. I saw guys asking for $220 to change a pilot light rod at the Water heater lol... the part is $20 at Home depot and takes less than 15 min to change it. While you save money pick careful, it may break again if not done properly or if it's a complex issue ti handle that is "butchered".

You should be rock solid. Judge ordered them out, Sheriff was there when their personal items were out, so if there's nothing else to the story don't fret.

I had a neighbor stole the copper to one of my rentals in Cook County lol, and then he complained that the water flood that followed the stolen pipes event damaged his house. I told him to stop stealing the copper so he doesn't get flooded. :-)

In my experience, you need to understand 1000% the remote market you're buying in. Investors assume local knowledge by the fact they're local and you never question how come you know so much about your market, but stepping outside of your local area feels like the little birdie who fell from the nest.

My advice is to identify great property management companies/ re agents. You should hire one anyway to manage them remotely for you. Ask and check for references from other Landlords. I've had a bad share of stories with some PM companies so I ended up hiring RE Agents who also have their own investments and local connection with contractors to handle repairs.The 8-10% you pay them is nothing compared to the local knowledge and presence you get.

If you want to manage it yourself, yeah, 1 hr drive sounds like max. Tenants may call you for what nots and you will have to drive. at 2 hr round trip, times $$/hr your time, you understand how much you lose by visiting the property too often.

Great post, thanks for sharing!

If you are doing deals in your name and technically have no "product" or service to sell, then your LinkedIn profile should be more than enough. Or about.me or similar. However, I prefer linked for the professional aspect and use of the network.

If your REI activity is not full time, then probably it doesn't matter if you have a REI site. If you trying to compete with other investors on same deals and you think that who's $$ is matters to the seller, then you can have a website to show off your "prowess".

If you think of co-investing with others and want to show off that you are capable then put up a website and a summary of your numbers for each deal and pass that along to your "sought-after" partners.

Definitely applied to the group since the group will be jointly responsible. However, I prefer to see a balanced income split between at least 2 of the tenants on the lease. Reason is, if one loses the job, and it was the only or main income earner, they won't be able to make rent payments. Add to that their previous tenure, credit history and you will get a sense of the risk you're taking. If they're higher risk, offer them to pre-pay first and last month of the lease (if your state law allows), in addition to a higher security deposit. That way you have 2 mo runway if things go bad.

Also as Robert put it, apply the criteria equally to all applicants.

Look to the bright side:

If you have a GREAT tenant who's never been a problem, always paid and didn't call the PM to change a light bulb, then pass onto the $30 and keep the great tenant. Annual increases are not really the bible and must be done. 

If tenant moves out while you prep the property and advertise it, 1 mo vacancy will wipe your $30/mo rent increase for next 26 months. Is it worth it?

IF you think you can rent the unit for significantly higher market rent even before tenant moves out (meaning you have a signed new app before current tenant's last day) then go for it. You can prep the property in 1 weekend after vacated and new tenant moves in.

I have done a LOT of sect 8 and have seen the good and the ugly of all. Generally the S8 tenants won't qualify on the income, that's why they qualify for S8, however, I listed below few things you should consider:

- a lot will live on disability+child support and allow a BF to live with them (not showing on lease), but that BF brings in the money and has a legit job. You won't know, and will be hard to catch that BF who lives there.

- a lot won't have security deposits. most have pretty dented credit history. you will factor that loss right off the bat when you advertise your lease. They are uncollectable. Any damages to your property, you will pretty much hold the bag for, yes you can report them to S8 for that but you will still be unable to collect :). Make sure you cashflow.

- a lot (not all) will not care for the home properly, hence they leave deposits behind (hence why they never have deposits to move in a new place)

- if S8 has them pay a portion (because they have some minimal income) you will generally have a hard time getting it, though they can lose the S8 voucher for many things they do to your property, however enforcing that is futile

- if you do a great screening and verify past addresses (from utility bills) and check previous REAL landlord (not friend who's picking up the phone pretenting they're the landlord, then you might find some good tenants. I had great tenants who stayed 5+ years and left my property in great shape. But that's rather the exception.

- S8 tend to stay if you care for the property. Yearly S8 inspections are a PITA but not unbearable to meet.