All Forum Posts by: Billy Linn

@Latimer Luis what he is suggesting is a safe option and there is nothing wrong with it. Real estate using loans is more risky. Unless you communicate to him that you are ok with more risk and the specific goals you want to reach, I understand why he would suggest the option he did.

As another mentioned, he might have some potential personal gain if you invest in the products he suggests. Hopefully he would disclose that with you.

@Sam Boynton it would be good to see what is in their current lease about their options at the end of the lease.

@Jeremy Bartlett these kinds of things can really test you, especially when they seem to all hit at once. You’ll come out the other side being tougher and smarter.

We had a boiler that flooded a unit twice and we just didn’t want to deal with it so we converted it to electric heat. Might not be a good solution for your property but sometimes changing the type of heating system can be a good move.

I’d say your on the right path, have water detection, educate tenants on what to look out for, and have some one available to rapidly respond to the situation. Maybe even the tenants can respond to a leak if they know how to do so.

@Anthony Smoke noice!

@Tyrell D Bradshaw if you have the time and ability I would suggest self managing at first. You will more motivated to rent and manage the property than a PM will be. You’ll learn a lot about the business, housing, and yourself.

People on here can help you when you need it.

When it makes sense for you to use a PM you should do that, knowing how to leverage other people’s time is a valuable skill to have.

@Dustin Reynolds think from their point of view and offer a solution accordingly. Your main competition is motels. They aren’t locked in to anything so they have an easy out once their job is over. They don’t have to worry about putting anything in their name. They commonly work a lot of hours so the more you can do for them the better.

Motels here are expensive for workers. We furnish ours and include utilities and internet. We try try to get them to commit to as long a lease as possible and offer better rates for doing so.

Most of these workers treat the property well, they go to work and come home tired. It’s nice to be able to provide them with a nice place to rest and relax.

I love all the people on here that are honest. People won’t take advantage of you because they know you own the property. They might however take advantage of you because you let them. That can happen even if you’re pretending to just be the property manager.

You can tell a tenant that you need time to think about something, you can tell them that you need to talk it over with your spouse or partner. You can simply say no, but if you’re honest and have a good reason/explanation for the answer the the tenant is going to be happier about the outcome.

Be clear upfront about expectations and that you will hold them to their agreements, this solves so many problems before they even happen.

@Camille Johnson the problem with family is they commonly expect special treatment or some exception from your rules because of the relationship. If/when you don’t meet their expectations they can have negative feelings that spill over to your personal relationship with them.

I think you can do business with family but you have to communicate very well and make sure expectations are managed so things don’t get out of control. Same thing with renting to family. I try to avoid it if possible but it can be done. It’s usually just not worth risking the relationship though.

@Tzook Bar Noy I’ve been a software developer and real estate investor for over 10 years. I love programming and on my non working hours I juggle developing my own project with working on rentals.

I now work remotely, I love not having to commute! Time is valuable!

Finding out who owns a property can be tricky. The records can be out of date, the owner could be listed as a LLC or trust. The owner could be deceased and is now controlled by their heirs. I use county records to look up the property, state website to look up LLCs, and a lot of googling to find people. Sometimes you have to call multiple numbers to track down the owner. I doubt any app is going to have access to data you can't get for free and I suspect it wouldn't be very useful half of the time.

As far as app/vs websites, some have the same functionality on both the web and mobile (but not many). Some apps are nice if they are able to operate without internet. I like using the desktop to enter data and do things, then also have things available on mobile for when you need access away from your home/office.