All Forum Posts by: Bob Okenwa

Depending on the demographics of the area, I've found that Home Depot/Lowes is fine for just about anything going in a regular rental.

One must consider return on investment and buying fancy custom cabinets won't yield much if any more rent that box store shaker cabinets, especially in a duplex.

Get some decent cabinets and a good countertop and you should be good to go.

Go to local meetups and meet people. Networking is key. There are also paid mentorship programs, but you should be able to find someone local and chat them up and go from there.

If you're that concerned about scaring the tenant, show her the comps and the market rent for the area and explain how you need to be at X number.

Or you could just raise the rent without consulting her. It seems like you want to be fair, but make sure you numbers are accurate for the condition of the property. I've seen landlords throw out crazy rents for not-so-great properties.

Not all S8 tenants are great and respect their voucher program and the home in which they reside. S8 does have pretty strict requirements for the property. Just rented one out in a duplex and had to do an additional $2500 in work (after already making it rent-ready) to satisfy the government to make it S8 ready.

Be aware that their inspection will always nitpick and find something wrong so be prepared to do some extra repairs here and there.

@Richard Chae

I've contacted listing agents (even though I have my own agent) just to get as much info as possible about the deal and the seller.

Even if I didn't have an agent, I wouldn't mind letting the listing agent "represent" me as I really only need them to push the paperwork and present my offer. 

There is extra incentive with dual representation, but it's not for everyone. I'd recommend that strategy for more experienced investors.

@Javier Parra Garcia

If you know what you're doing, it isn't hard to get comps. Probably takes about 10 minutes or so to do it yourself. 

If someone asked me to run comps for them, I'd expect to be compensated for my time of course. With the amount of data that's readily available to the public, just do it on your own so you can have the data in real time and not have to wait/rely on others.

A lot of the homes in the area are 2 bedrooms and many of them are less than 1000 sf.

Also, there is a stigma that all of Sun City is basically a retiree-only community.

NEVER make an investment with the basis of the investment being it'll be good once rates drop. If it doesn't cash flow today, not sure what you're in it for.

Banking on appreciation or lower rates is akin more to gambling than investing. Walking into negative cash flow is a bad idea IMO.

I'm not a pro with Atlanta zoning, so I'd suggest it'd be best to talk to the building department directly so you can get the info directly from the horse's mouth.

Put in the amount of days you feel comfortable with. Fools rush in. I understand your want/need to be competitive with your offer, but if you put 3 days and the inspector can't make it until day 5, you may end up with a very expensive teaching moment.