All Forum Posts by: Brandon Penn

If she pays on time, every time, and keeps a clean apartment I would personally keep her rent the same if I was able to raise other rents and make the deal profitable. If she is already 85 years old chances are you won't have to keep her too much longer and you will come out feeling and looking a lot better. 

Hey Mike, once we open back up I would be happy to meet up. I'm a local investor and real estate agent in Erie.

Erie is a great place for buy and hold investing! I'm a local investor and Realtor and there are a lot of good deals to go around and interesting things happening. You really have to know, or work with someone who knows the market because you can have one block be a good area to have a property, and the next not so much. Happy to talk with anyone further about the current market.

Hey Nathan, I am a licensed Realtor and real estate investor in Erie, PA. I have 116 doors myslef and help other investors buy, sell, and manage their portfolios. For my fix and flip clients I do not have a minimum that I charge, as long as they list the property with me when they are done. For buy and hold investors I let them know the lowest I work for is $2,000.00. So if they are buying FSBO or the listing agent is offering less than that, then they will need to make up the difference. Many realtors in my area don't do this, but I provide a service for my clients that not many other Realtors in my area can match as I am a successful investor myself. Now this is always negotiable depending on the client. For instance if I know my client is going to buy at least 5 properties within the year, and be a long term client, I don't worry about minimum charges. Hope this gives you some insight.

I'm not sure of Georgia laws, but my lease has a 30 day notice clause in it. All I have to do to end a lease is give the tenant a 30 day notice to vacate. If they don't then I can file an eviction on the 31st day. If you have the ability that is what I would do if your buyer needs to be in by the end of Feb. The clock is definitely ticking as usually the eviction process takes about 30 days from start to finish.

1. You do not need a Realtor, especially if you have found a property already.

2. You should build a relationship with a Realtor that has experience with investing. Not all Realtors are the same. I am a Realtor that specializes with investors as I am an investor myself. I come across many residential Realtors that really don't know what they are doing when it comes to investments and can lead their clients into some sticky situations. Also in most areas the buyer agent is paid from the listing side commission (but can vary depending on your state). So essentially you don't have to pay anything to have a proffessional represent your interests and navigate through the process. Also this will give you access to leads both on and off the multi-list system that you may not have had access to.

3. In certain cases it can actually hinder the deal if you have a Realtor. For example if you sent out mailers, and found a property you want to purchase, it would be pointless to bring in a Realtor at that point. 

Hope this helps!

For real estate investing, a degree is fairly pointless. However, if you plan to get a degree that has good paying job prospects it could be very beneficial. It is much easier to get loans if you have a "day job". If you are not planning on working in your field then it is a waste of time and money.

In the future I would make it part of the sales agreement that the seller has to evict current tenants and pay for eviction so they are the bad guy rather than you. Now that you will own the properties it is best just to have the frank discussion with them. Show them what current rent rates are and if they would like to stay that is what they will need to start paying. If you are willing to help them find services like section 8 or agencies to help them move then that is a great idea as well. As much as we want to help people we are still running a business and have to run it as such. Again in the future I would make the seller do the dirty work since they caused the situation.

Congrats! How many doors total?

This isn't the deal for you if you are planning on refinancing. You really get your value when you buy a property that needs some rehab. Most people don't want to buy those so you can negotiate a better deal and be in a better position to refinance to pay off your private lender.