All Forum Posts by: Brent Benoit

I understand I need to inform the tenants in writing of a rent increase. I appreciate the template provided above!

Is that generally all that’s needed?

I wouldn’t need to sign a new lease with the new amount?

I also have great tenants I don’t want to leave, and also forgot to increase rent last time, I moved them in March of 2021, didn’t increase this year, so was going to do 4% this coming March 2023.

Any thoughts or advice??

Thank you!

Hello all!!

We are having an investor meeting in Butler county Pa. It is at one of the members house. So I won’t post the address here. 
if anyone is interested in this area and wants to come out, please DM me and I’ll let you know where! 
starts at 830am Saturday morning. We have them monthly. 

I look forward to seeing and meeting anyone there! 

Brent Benoit

Hello all! 
I have been vacationing in Stock Island/ Key West for 10 years or so. Now I am older and looking to buy an actual house to stay in, and not a tent. But of course, when I am not there, I would like to rent it out so it will pay for itself. 
My plan is to do a cash out refinance on a rental property I own in Butler, pa. Take out 100,000 from that. Use $50,000 or less as a 10% down payment, the other $50,000 would be used for closing costs, refurnishing, outfitting it for a STR, and paying the mortgage and bills for a couple months to get it up and running.
I feel this is more of an appreciation investment, than cashflow. Which is fine. As long as it pays for itself and I have a place to stay. 
My question is, do y’all think this is a wise use of a cash-out-refinance? 
What do y’all know about STR’s in the lower Florida Keys? Are the municipalities friendly to it? 

Any thoughts or suggestions are helpful! 
please let me know if you need any more info from me! 

Brent Benoit 

Hello Ade, I live 15 minutes from Butler and have some single family home that I self manage. I also am the rehab/repairman as well. I’ve been working construction my whole life. Is your property in the city of Butler? I could be interested in the job. I am a ‘Boots-on-the-ground’ in Butler. 

I also have a friend/ investor who has more property management experience than I. I will see if he is interested. 

I do not know a professional and established property management in this area. It’s not something I’ve looked into yet. 

Brent

Hello Rachel! And welcome!!

I would lean towards seller financing. Usually seller financing would mean that the seller owns the unit outright, no loan. If they have a loan to pay off, then having them seller finance would leave them still on the hook for the remaining balance of that mortgage. That’s on them. You could do ‘subject to’ where you take over payments on their loan. I do not have experience on how to structure that, but its been done many times by other people. The information is out there. 

I currently have one single family home I rent that is seller financed. It is a simple and straight forward process. You only need a lawyer to handle the entire process. If this is your first property just put it in your own name. Good insurance will insulate you well against any lawsuit. An llc or business of some kind isn’t necessary at this point. 

A few other Butler, pa investors and myself have been having a monthly meet up. Collectively we have about 9 units. So newbies ourselves. We are getting together tomorrow morning at 830am. We would be delighted to have you along. DM me if you’re interested in attending! 

Hello all!

I am a new investor and landlord. I bought two SFH this spring and a duplex this fall all in Butler, pa. I am an electrician, self employed one man band. I have been working on houses in all areas since I was ten. Just to give some background.

There is a laundromat with 8 apartments attached in a nearby town listed for $300,000. It is bigger than I can chew right now, my savings and bank account couldn’t cover the closing costs. So I mentioned it to another investor and he is talking to the realtor, we should go look at it soon. He doesn’t know that area or live nearby. So he suggested a partnership where my ‘investment’ is the time spent managing, updating, collecting the coins from the laundromat.

What sort of equity/profit percentage should I ask/negotiate for?

What other questions should I ask?

Thank you for any help!

Brent

@Nicholas L

I Net about $300/mo in cash flow. It was bought with seller financing, for $85,000, 3% interest, 7 year term.

So a friend of mine who is much further ahead in the investing game than I put the idea in my head to cash out of the first rental I bought in April and take that money, put it into other SFHs like HUD and make more on my investment dollar.

So the details: 

Id be selling a 4 bedroom 2 bath 2 stall detached garage. Currently rented at $1,535/mo. I owe $80,000 on the mortgage. Without an appraisal yet, we think it’s be worth $200,000. So with realtors fees and taxes I figure I’d walk away with $100,000.

What would you all recommend?

What would be a wise investment for that $100,000?

Should I just stay where I’m at?

Should I buy, outright, 2 other units, in a C class neighborhood, HUD, and get $1,000/mo from them?

Thank you all for any thoughts and insight!

I’ll throw my hat in this ring as well! I am not terribly tech savvy, but I’ll muddle my through setting up a zoom meeting. I would prefer an in person meetup in Butler. Please reach out if anyone is interested!

Brent 

Hello all!

After two years of dragging my feet, my first property is about to close and I have begun showing to potential tenants!

This single family home has been a different way to get started. A good friend bought it at a tax sale 11 years ago and did all the hard work. Roof, siding, insulation, paint. But then started to lose interest and then started his own welding business and lost time. So I step in with interest and after a handshake at a bar one night we agreed on a sale price and terms.

6 months after this I decided to start my own business and also didn’t have any free time. Fast forward 2 years to present day and we are finally about to close, I have it listed on Zillow, and have 8 showings and 6 application in the first week!

I couldn’t have done it without the information and stories of others from this community.

Thank you for listening. Any help or suggestions on proper screening of the potential tenants is welcome and appreciated! This is my first time.

Brent