All Forum Posts by: Lelith Walker

You make friends with your neighbors in particular an old retired one that likes to talk and sit on the porch.  Don't laugh these people will call you in the middle of the night if they see your tenant sneaking out or doing anything suspicious.  Or buy buildings near property where people whom you trust live nearby.  They will normally let you know what is going on and you can have your tenants contact them for small things.  You do not pay these people a salary just give them a gift card every now and then to let them know you appreciate them.

Go to the local reia and ask neighbors about handymen in the area.  One person I know goes to openhouses in the area. If the house is nice, she asks which contractor do they use.  From there you create a contact list and give to your tenants.  When something serious goes awry either they or you will contact the contractor, plumber, electrician, locksmith to have the problem resolved.  They can email or mail you receipts for the work that was done.  In some states like GA the tenant is responsible for the lawn care, garbage etc.  In other states like NY you can hire someone for $200 a month to take care of the garbage, lawn, and shovel snow.  If you sell the home to lease option buyers they are responsible for the place anyway. 

An experienced realtor (relocation specialists) that your neighbors or the local reia recommends can show your place to prospects. You set up a bank account and have the tenants deposit rent checks in there.   Some hospitals and companies (law firms, brokerages) pay you the rent directly for their new hires.  You can also post ads on hospital and military websites to indicate you have an apartment available for rent.

There may be times when you will have to travel to see the place and for upkeep. If you have under an LLC or DBA you should be able to deduct the traveling expense.

Its helpful, but it is better to get it from other homes nearby. 

 What amenities does the apartment building have that the house does or does not have?  Washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, security system, pool, central air, shuttle?  What services do they offer? You may have to subtract or add on to the rent.  Also the location of the home can change the rent to.  For example my homes are in walking distance to hospitals and transportation so I get to charge more than those that are 4 blocks away.

http://www.realtytrac.com

http://realestate.foreclosure.com

http://www.hud.gov

http://www.newyorklawjournal.com

In NY I get it for free online. In VA I had to pay $10. You have to ask the people in your county.

Some REIAs offer discounts on coaching programs so if you want to go that route check them out and ask a board member who gives discounts to the club.  Also you need to specify what type of investor are you looking to be?  Ex: 

buy and hold, fix and flip, wholesale, notes, lease option, single family, multifamily, apartment building, developing, tax liens, hml, short sale, subject to, self storage, parking lots, reits/syndicate, senior housing, land contract, mobile homes, special needs housing, etc.

There is a guru for each strategy very rare will you find someone that will do all of the above. 

It depends on the market, price, and amenities. 

It normally does but to have a better idea you should ask the previous owner or the neighbor how much insurance, taxes, water bill etc will costs.  If its a multi gas will depend on how many boilers are in the property and if you are going to offer to pay and apply it to the rent or just have the tenant pay.    If the multi has a common hallway you probably will only pay for the light in that area -like I do in my NY property, however my Atlanta and Florida properties do not have hallways so I do not worry about that. 

Join or attend your local REIA or real estate group from http://www.meetup.com even if you do not want to invest in your area.  They normally keep you abreast of the changing laws that effect real estate, market trends, businesses to be cautions of, and offer discounts.  If you have an hpd or nhs office in your area you can get a wealth of free information.  Go the real estate section of your library.  Watch youtube videos from biggerpockets, thesheashow, 100 percent financed, tax lien lady, reiclub, wendy patton, heather coley, commercial real estate show, scott Meyers, the note queen.  Listen to podcasts from Biggerpockets, Joe Fairless, and Jason Hartman.

Its cheaper if you can buy under the LLC because if you put it in your name and then transfer to he LLC you will be charged a fee. Buying my properties under the LLC did not prolong the closing process at all. Then again I bought all cash. Maybe if I had gotten a loan from the bank it would have took longer. Some people I know get a hard money lender and then refinance after like 6 mos in order to pay a lower rate. In my state though they told me that my LLC would only get a commercial loan for properties 5 units and up anything under that is residential. You might want to recheck that.

Each city and state is different. You can call both. 

Did you check this site out? http://www.deeds.com/recorder/south-carolina/richl...