All Forum Posts by: Bill S.

@Devon R Perry Equity Title of Colorado - Cindey Hawk. That is their business.

@Michael Quarles so sad to hear about your wife. That will definitely cause you to stop and ponder. I remember hearing your podcast episode and had my mind opened. Not much content on here or the pod cast now about anything like that much less wholesaling. I am sad to see that go. All that free content and a wonderful bull run in real estate has caused me to 10x my net worth in the 10 years I have been doing this full time. I know my 10x is paltry compared with what some here have been able to do with the information and relationship from this site. I still think it has a lot to offer and I try and give back when I can. 

@Jerry W. Never heard your back story about BP. Good to hear from you. Hope all is going well for you.  

@Brian Flanagan wow that is quite and impressive resume. With your skills and background I would guess you would be best utilized with a larger organization that has the deal volume to afford to pay you full time.

@Ashley Gamble not sure how I didn't see this before but I hope you have made progress on this issue by now. Assuming the property is in the Denver area, the issue is likely drainage and ground water. I am not a lawyer, but the fact that that concessions were give for the issues I would think would weaken your case. Personally, I would look to their agent for some responsibility. Especially if they knew the sellers. Agents must also disclose known issues in Colorado. My thought is that your first task is to figure out exactly what must be done to correct the situation and then get a price tag. I realize you are a ways away but if you get an attorney involved you are looking at more time and in my experience, most people are never are happy with the out come. Lots of money to attorneys, lots of time lost and you still have a house that needs fixing.

One word of caution, be careful of who you take advise from concerning the HVAC and drainage issues. There are often cost effective solutions (ie a few thousand dollars) vs 10s of thousands when you consult the correct advisors. Remember, this is a rental property and most companies are accustomed to dealing with home owners. There are some HVAC companies that unless they design the system and it's newer than 5 years, they recommend a whole new system. They are more sales than solutions IMO.

Also be careful regarding the "structural engineer". I had a old house (1940s construction) that the buyer brought in a friend who was "a structural engineer". That structural engineer told the buyer to "run from it". I looked up the engineer's resume and their "experience" was less than five years of designing new commercial steel office buildings for the suburbs. The next buyer brought in an engineer who had over 20 years experience with older residential homes in Denver and said, "yeah, it's not perfect and certainly not to current code but it will likely continue to function as it has for the past 80 years." They bought the home and have had no complaints to my knowledge.

With regards to wet basements and crawl spaces, many times the simple solution is to correct drainage around the exterior. Extensions on downspouts 10 ft away from the building, grade the surface to slope away from the foundation at least 6 inches in 4 feet, provide positive surface drainage around the structure, and finally stop irrigating landscaping within 10 ft of the structure. There are only few areas where the ground water is high enough to significantly impact a structure. In a lot of cases, there was a drainage system installed but it was not properly maintained and therefore doesn't work. 

I hope you get this worked out.

@Alex Short so you need to leave the good hands and find an agent that is an "insurance broker" meaning they can write policies for multiple companies not just the brand they work for. Rates are better and they should be investor friendly. I know a broker that retired from the same company you currently have and then after the mandatory waiting period contacted all his clients and saved them all 30%. At least that is what he told me. 

Many of the brands with captive agents don't want rentals so they jack up the premiums and offer it as a "service" for those that don't shop around. That said, technically rates should be lower for a rental property as they are not insuring the contents like they are when it's your primary residence. 

Ask the agent your about insurance on a property that you are living in and renting out.

I also agree with @Rene Hosman's statement that finding a property to make into a multi-unit property (assuming zoning allows it) is probably the most cost effective approach in our current market. 

@Bob Foglia no fun and very expensive. I have been through this. Colorado has very low limits (near the detection limit) for meth so it's a real challenge. They also have very rigorous requirements (again test results near or just below the detection levels) for getting a "clean" house. You definitely want to do lots of learning. Beware of websites offering to do it all for you. At one point (it's been a few years since I delt with this) there was a nationwide advertiser (high ranking on Google search) that had contracted with the low cost provider in Denver and had a non-compete clause. If you went to the Google guy first the low cost guy couldn't/wouldn't work for you. Not sure of how things are now. I don't have time to post more. You can DM or call me if you would like to discuss. As I said, it's been a few years so I don't want to name names here as things might have changed.

@Brian Flanagan welcome. Tell us a little bit more about yourself. What skills and experience you have that you think might be useful in the jobs you are considering.

@Clare Cui - I don't ask the prospective tenants questions aside from a preliminary qualification check and our rental application. The saying in the business is (it's a bit jaded I admit) "see the tenant's lips moving, see the tenant lying." We do have a general section on our application and ask the following questions.

Have you been served a late rent notice in the last 7yr?

Do any of the people who would be living in the apartment smoke?

How long do you think you would be renting from us?

Have you ever filed for bankruptcy? if so, when?

When would you be able to move in? have you been convicted of a felony in the last 5yrs?

Have you ever been served and eviction notice? if so when?

How many animals do you have? (list type, breed approx weight & age)

Have you ever had reoccurring problems with your current landlord? if yes, please explain:

Why are you moving from your current address?

List any verifiable sources and amounts of income you wish to have considered (optional):

If you were to run into financial difficulty in the future and couldn't come up with the money to pay rent, do you know someone that would loan you the money? if so, provide the person's name, address, & phone number so that we can use them as a reference for you.

Have you been party to a lawsuit in the past? If yes, please explain why:

We may run a credit check and a criminal background check. is there anything negative we will find that you want to comment on?

How did you hear about this apartment?

Do you know of anybody else looking for an apartment? please provide their name and number. if you refer a friend and you each end up renting separate apartments from us then we will pay you a referral award.

Again we hold these answers loosely and use them to guide our questions to their references. 

We also check their social media postings. Most know to make those private but not all do and you would be surprised what shows up on those.

The bottom line is dig, dig, dig. I tell prospects that are moving in with the SO that I probably know more about their partner then they do from a financial standpoint.

@Clare Cui my questioning starts with a couple easy short answer questions (a sort of "yes" set"). Things that verify data the applicant provided like when they lived or worked there, how much was rent or their pay. Then I move to something like, how did you find them as a tenant/worker (meaning how did the lead come to them)? I ask them any late payments, or no show no call for work. I ask if they would rent to them again or hire them again. If I don't find people talking freely and glowingly, it's a pass. I get three of each job and tenancy. So current job, and prior job and then the one before that. Out of those 6, If I can't get at least 2 people to talk to me or I get any negative feedback from anyone, it's a pass.

Finally, no matter how good/bad the credit any collections related to housing (except cable company). 

Also to @John Steffen's comments about stories. I pretty much go deaf when people start with a story. I literally don't care what their story is. If they say that their landlord treated them poorly or any talking bad about a landlord it's a no go. While I know there are bad landlords, it is typically the case that good tenants know how to avoid bad landlords. At best these folks lack good judgement which to me makes them a bad tenant.

Remember, a vacancy is a blessing compared to a bad tenant. Keep looking.

@Emily Gowen so as you pointed out you would not have to do a 1031 exchange on your current home to avoid the capital gains tax and coupled with what Dave Foster pointed out I think, speaking from experience you would have a high likelihood of success. 

I think you should seriously consider your financial goals and strategies. It's doesn't really sound like you are much into being landlords so doing a 1031 might just change from "annoying when things come up" to full fledged head aches when you buy more and or larger properties in your current market. I would suggest you do some soul searching before you make and decisions to sell. Figure out how you want to handle you investing and what role real estate plays in that.