All Forum Posts by: Brandon Penn

 So I have just started with the company and don't have any clients yet, however the other manager has a little over 100 doors and I personally have 116 doors that I self manage. I should have about 60 units under management at the start of the year as I'm currently in talks with a few different clients that are purchasing portfolios. I used to manage a 750 door portfolio as a W2 employee.

If it is a single family house, end their lease and move them out before listing. If it is a multi-unit or you are wishing to sell as an investment opportunity then sell with them living in it. If you do sell with them living in the unit make sure you put a lockbox on it and have the conversation with them that they will get a 24hr notice before a showing, but do not have the ability to decline the showing. I personally take it a step further and post a notice on their door whenever there is a showing set up so they can't say they never received a call. Hope this helps.

Our company charges between 10-15% depending on the property with a minimum of $100 per door. We charge one month of rent to get a unit leased out and that covers oversight of the turnover, advertising, tenant screening, and lease signing. We have a 1 time fee of $250 to input all of the owners properties in our system. I do not charge for eviction process as I feel if I have to evict a tenant it is on me for putting them in there. If they are an existing tenant I do charge $100 to oversee eviction. We are on the higher end of property management in my area, however they are getting professional licensed Realtors managing their portfolio with monthly updates. We take care of everything and the owner just has to take the reports to his/her tax professional. 

Hey Brandon, Erie Pennsylvania is a great place to find decent homes in blue collar areas for 50k. Send me a message if you would like to know more.

Hey Joe, my hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania is great for getting around the 2% rule. We are in the snowbelt so there are some certain challenges that come with that, but it is a great city to invest in for cashflowing property. We don't really have much appreciation though so If you buy a 50k property it will probably still only be about 50k in 5-10 years. The city itself is going through a renaissance and I really believe we are on the brink of some great things happening. We have a population of about 100k in the city, with many townships outside of the city making up the greater Erie County. I am a local Realtor and property manager so if you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer them. Just shoot me a DM.

Hey Jaden, it really depends on how much longer you have. If you are only a semister or two into college and really don't like your degree and want to invest in real estate, I would say drop out. If you only have a couple years to finish it out, I would say finish up school and get a job in architecture while you build up an investment portfolio. It is much easier to buy properties with a W2 and from my understanding architects make quite a bit of money. You definitely don't need a degree though to enter real estate, especially if you just started going to school you would be better off droping out. I dropped out after a semester of college and started working a job that paid $8.00 per hour. Now I own over 100 rental units. Experience definitely pays off more than college in my oppinion.

Well the simple answer is if it is a good deal then it is a good deal and I will buy it if I have the means. But the longer answer is more about if it truly is a deal. For instance if the numbers are great but the foundation is bad, needs a roof, that could cause the profit to go way down. If after accounting for all the renovations being done it cashflows well then I would consider it a good deal. The other factor is neighborhood. In my town there are great cashflowing properties in low income areas, but they are a lot more work and headache than something in a nicer area that doesn't cashflow as well. No matter what the area is though, the number one question has to be are there people who would pay rent to live in the area. If you don't have a healthy group of consumers the property is not a deal no matter how you look at it.

Hey Oleg, yes all 117 are in Erie, Pennsylvania. There is honestly a lot happening in Erie and we are definitely on the rise. There were a lot of misleading articles in the paper about how the population of the city was declining. What they didn't explain is that the people moving from the inner city were moving into the different townships of Erie. Erie county is made up of a bunch of different townships and borrows such as Millcreek, Edinboro, Harborcreek, Fairview, etc. People were moving from the inner city to these areas which are still a part of Erie County. We have lost a lot of manufacturing jobs but the city is starting to move into the future. Places like Erie Insurance, the hospitals, and the colleges are adding a lot of jobs to replace the ones lost from GE and others. The city is also seeing a lot of expanision in the way of hospitallity and tourism. If you are ever in Erie again let me know and I'll show you around. There is a lot of opportunity in this city, and I think it is going to continue to grow.

Just wanted to give a little advice to anyone starting out in their real estate investing career if looking to use the BRRRR method. First off BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance. One of the major pitfalls that I personally ran into was with the refinance. I had bought these really junk properties, and made them absolutely beautiful. We redid everything from electrical, plumbing, kitchens, baths, and the list goes on and on. I was able to get rents that are an average of $100 higher than anywhere else in the immediate area, and they always rent out within a couple of weeks of being vacant. Everything is perfect for the refinance right? Well the major mistake I had made was thinking that the appraisal would go off of the income. While appraisers are supposed to take income into consideration, with any property with less than 5 units they will stick mainly to the comparable approach meaning they go strictly off of what other places with similar unit counts have sold for in the area. This means instead of my properties being worth easily over 100k with the income approach (basing value off of net operating income) they are only worth around 70k in the appraiser's eyes.

So moral of the story if you are looking to buy and refinance a property, make sure you are using the same method that the appraiser is. Less than 5 units, look at comparables, more than 5 units look at income approach. While this was a big hit to me in the begining of my career however, I didn't give up. 4 years later and I now have 117 doors and growing. I hope this helps a lot of people avoid the mistake that I had made, and if you have any questions feel free to send me a direct message.

Welcome Brandon! You definitely made the right choice by coming here. There is a wealth of information to help you on your journey. It's too bad I just saw this. Rod Khleif had an amazing event right in Baltimore last weekend. Phenomenal information for newbies and great networking for more experienced investors