All Forum Posts by: Blair Poelman

@Jonathan West 

Start by writing out the basic steps it takes to do a deal - here's a 10,000 foot view:

1. Find and buy a property
2. Make said property rentable
3. Get a "For Rent" sign and put it in the yard
4. When a person calls, make them your renter (if they qualify)
5. Collect a security deposit and 1st & last month rent.
6.  Set very clear expectations of when rent is due, when it is considered late, what the late fees are, etc....
7.  Collect the rent each month, and learn from your experiences 
8.  Start over at step 1 with another property and do things better on the next one.

and that's it folks.  Success in Real Estate in 8 super generic steps (obviously there's a few details in the middle there)

@Account Closed has a pretty good point there.

You could always tell the tenant that they caused the damage, and they need to fix it using one of your approved service providers.  That's a pricey repair, and your tenant probably isn't going to love hearing that - so if you are generally happy with your tenant you tread lightly on this one otherwise they could turn from good tenants to bad very quickly.  700 bones is a lot of $$.

I've seen complete AC systems last a lot longer than I could have ever imagined, but seldom do they go without some kind of maintenance or a recharge every couple years.  I've also seen expensive new units blow up in 6 years.

There's a lot of good info on the forums and in the articles on this site.  hHowever you can read all the books and do all the research in the world, but for me, making offers was daunting until I started making a lot of them, and then got used to a lot of them being rejected.

You really' just go out and do it - but once you've got accepted offers, that's where you need to start using all the intel you gathered from your edu.

Welcome to BP

I've got a fairly large portfolio of SFR's in Clark County that I'll be selling off over the next year. Given the size of the Real Estate world, I'll be really surprised if we don't run into eachother!

Cheers. 

6,617 Sq Ft.
10 Beds / 5 Baths
1.07 Acres.
Was previously used as a school, but can be residential or commercial

Bank owned.  Ask is $68,000. 

DM me for more details.

@Russ Swan

   You could try a different mouse trap, like a simple call to action that sends your prospect to a very simple web form.

Or you could outsource your inbound calls to a call center. Search google for Outsource Call Center.

Or you could find a local agent in the areas you're mailing and have him/her take the inbounds.

Just remember to get a service contract set up before you start funneling leads to some unknown person, otherwise you've got a pretty good chance of hearing "sorry, nobody ever calls off your ads".

@Vanessa Garcia

 sounds like you guys need a MI real estate attorney who has experience with notes and foreclosures.  DM me and I can give you a referral.

3 months early sucks but isn't the end of the world.  If the place is in good shape just re-rent and move on.  

If you have a security deposit you should check with your RE attorney and see what you are entitled to keep.

Consider the value of your time - if you go after the guy in small claims chances are you're going to spend more time than it's worth, and then if you end up getting a judgement you have to find a way to collect, which is going to cost more.

You win some, you lose some.

It sucks and it's not fair or right, but pursuing it might cost you a lot more than what you would net from those 3 months.

Take it as an expensive lesson on tenant screening.

I did a low income 26 unit complex in Birmingham a few years ago. Bought at $340k, put in another $320k, and netted about $3800 / month and finally sold for what I put in. Not totally horrible, but not really good. I shed some tears during my ownership. Live and learn.

I can't say I've had success with large low income multis in your area.  I can say I've struggled with a couple 4-6 unit multi's in Dtown, but have done well with singles.

There's a guy that is local here in Ut that claims to do a lot in Detroit.  Says he's flipping some of those large multis to California buyers, and is quick to tell us how he's killing it (so he says).  He's a huge BS'er, so who really knows, but when I ask to see a hud he's not so eager to show one.

15k / door for a $500 /month rent multi in the D sounds high to me, but I would actually like to see what the numbers really look like on a 50 unit building there.  

This is why I don't like this deal:

"The manager is a guy on his own, works out of his car, and just hits the streets. He knows everything about everybody in the area and the tenants know and like him"   

That sounds a lot like a slumlord.  Not saying he is, but sure sounds like it.  And yes, we do have some slums here in the great state of Utah.

When a serious investor wants to buy this place and get an upside on the sell, he's going to fire the guy that works out of his car and put a professional manager in place.  I've found in my experience often times lower end tenants stick with this kind of manager and will do just that -stick with him.  So when you fire that manager, you're running a HUGE risk of losing your tenants, or having the place fall apart.  I've seen this happen countless times, literally countless.  Slumlording is a relationship business - not healthy relationships , but a relationships nonetheless.

Regardless what the market value is of the property, I'd cut my offer down significantly and plan on evicting everybody and starting fresh.