All Forum Posts by: Dan Brainard

I have a SFH with a converted 2 br cottage unit in the back yard. I've tried to have an additional electric meter installed but power company won't install one unless I have a second address (911 address) assigned to it, which the city won't let me do. I'm thinking of just installing a private meter and prorating the electric bill but I'm not keen on dropping by each month to read it.

Anyone have experience with a similar situation or have any recommendations for meters?  I'm seeing that there are some that can be monitored remotely now.

ok this makes sense now. thank you both

thanks @Christopher Phillips and I actually did read that article prior to posting my question. if I understood correctly, it's suggesting to reduce the sales price by the amount of the seller credit and just not record the seller credit?

Just trying to record a closing statement and wondering how to treat seller-paid closing credit. Specifically, which type of ledger account to credit? 

Does anyone have advice on how to get long term financing at a reasonable rate for 5+unit properties? I prefer getting 30 yr fixed rate conforming loans but it's increasingly difficult to find decent 1-4 unit cash flow assets not in war zones, yet it seems no commercial lenders wanna mess with anything that's not $500k minimum ( most have $1mil min ) . I've seen many properties that would otherwise work very nicely, but there seems to be a void in funding for 5-10 unit financing options.

I just started using showmojo. Very pleased so far. Scheduled a demo with them, which was basically scheduled through the same platform your prospects would be using to schedule showings, which is great to get a sense of the user experience. Anyway, after my scheduled demo, which was about 20-30 min, I decided to sign up. I elected to do the yearly plan as I was pretty confident in the product after the demo, but they have monthly plans too so you can choose to cancel if it's not for you. Next, they provided a very thorough onboarding sesh for me, and even followed up a few days later to see how the system was working and  if I had any questions- which I was impressed with since they already had my money. Anyway. I think I only spoke with one or two prospects by phone the entire week (since I've been set up), and have had more showings than I typically do when trying to respond to, pre-screen, follow up with ,and confirm showings manually my own. Needless to say, I'm a fan at this point. 

I did also request a demo with Tenant Turner on the same Saturday that I requested showmojo, but by the time they called to schedule ( I feel like it was the following Tuesday) I had already started with showmojo. Their website basically shows they have all the same features as showmojo, so I'd guess I'd have been happy going with them as well.

I'll also be trying out the self-show codeboxes that integrate with either platform - I know many PMs don't care for the idea of using these self show boxes, but I'm a sucker for technology and if they might provide a potential for shorter vacancies, and increased prospect and personal convenience, I'm willing to test them out. Worst case, I'll have the fanciest vendor lock boxes on the market. 

Originally posted by @Dan Mackin:

Well see what quality of tenant potential you get tomorrow and post up what you find.

OK so I'm reporting back- took a lot longer than I thought to get rented but we got it leased for $1800/mo to two students with parent co-signors (strong credit). We had a lot of student interest being located fairly close to two universities. It was shown approximately 20 times by other agents on the "for sale" listing side but no offers. We had it staged and professionally photographed for marketing purposes but we immediately de-staged once the photos were taken, so it was empty during showings. I believe this explains the huge buyer interest without any offers to purchase. Ultimately, renting is what we preferred so we are happy with the potential return we are expecting. Thanks for the input.

Originally posted by @Dan Mackin:

Those numbers seem pretty friendly as a rental. What level of tenant does the area demand?

The property has a 3/1 block main house with a 1 car carport and a 2/1 block cottage house in the back yard with it's own carport and potential separate alley entrance. The house was severely under priced by the prior seller, to say the least. That said, It's not rented yet so it could prove to be too high but based on the amount of inquiries, I think it will be leased soon. I'm supposed to meet a handful of potential tenants tomorrow. 

Just closed on our first investment property last week. It's a SFH in a gentrifying area (is that a word?)+. Did a bit of landscaping but otherwise it was move in ready. I had it staged and professionally photographed. The original intent was to rent it. The photos came out so well I decided to put it for sale as well at a price I didn't really expect to get. Both the for sale and the rental listings went live (MLS) late last night and I've had unexpectedly high interest for both. To the point where I now may have a real decision to make. Here are the facts:

Purchase price -$105,000

Cash outlay- $29,671.87 (includes 25% down, closing costs, staging, and a few odds and ends)

PI payment $417/mo (4.875% 30yr fixed)

Insurance $1200/yr

taxes approx $1500/yr

 Expecting approximately $2,000/mo rent

It's listed for sale @ $164,900

Also Note: I'm a Realtor I only would pay 3% to another buyer's agent if I sell

 If I were to get close to $165K would I be a fool to pass on that in lieu of the rental income? Now I'm trying to decide if I should hold off leasing it to see if I can get that price or if I should just see which opportunity happens first and jump on it. Thanks for the feedback. 

Thanks all, I'll contact my electrician first thing tomorrow to discuss options. The city knows about the 2nd house as it's reflected in the tax record. Does this bode well for getting correct permitting in place to bill electric separately? Does city even have to be involved or is this something I can work out directly between me, the electric company, and my electrician?