All Forum Posts by: Brent Sweet

Quote from @Kollin Ruiz:

Hi! I am currently a college student transferring to UWM and I am enthralled by the idea of financial freedom. I spend all my spare time reading books and listening to podcasts about economics, money, and especially real estate! My current goal is to purchase my first investment property in Milwaukee by the end of the year and begin house-hacking. However, my long-term goal is to establish and continue growing a real estate business for the rest of my life. I am very excited to grow my network with other investors in the area and I can't wait to continue learning!

 Welcome!  I wish I knew about house hacking at your age!

Quote from @Justyn Keane:

Hello my name is Justyn I am new to real estate and very interesting and motivated to get involved , I have about 100k in cash looking for ideas on how to get started to find and fund a deal ! 

Join Facebook groups in your area.  Get on every buying list you can.  Cone up with your purchase criteria, find an investor friendly agent.  Take action don't fall for courses.  Spend time reading real books, listen to podcasts when driving.  Make offers.  Save money.  In some markets 100k is nearly a cash buyer, Just need some remodel money.  In my Markey 160-180 in cash probably could make you a decent profit.

Quote from @Justin Sumulong:

Hi STR investors,

  I'm genuinely curious/interested to know if it's typical to charge your guests a cleaning fee AND also ask them to do a list of things as "checkout procedure" like stripping beds of sheets, washing dishes/starting dishwasher, taking out garbage, etc.

Thanks,

Justin

 I don't.   It's funny I just argued with a cleaning service over this.  They had bid on my jobs before reading my checklist.  Then she contacted me and said before they go in the guest needs to have stripped the beds and started a load of laundry.   I said no you bid on the job and the checklist literally states you strip beds and wash bedding.   She responded I can't do that can I be removed from the job?  Yes, you sure can...  bye.  I think is asinine as a traveler that I pay a cleaning fee and then I have to take out the trash, replace the liner, strip the beds, start the laundry.   INSANE.  Only thing I require is dishes be done.

When starting out you're likely going to get more traditional financing.  Today if your FICO score is below 750 you're not getting the best rate which means you are leaving money on the table.

In 30 days you can increase your credit score if you have outstanding credit card balances.  Here is what you should do:

1.  Find the credit limit on all of your credit cards individually 

2. Take that number time .05

3. At least 5 days before your statement is put out pay each of your cards down to the number found in #2

This is perfect utilization.  It shows you use credit, but responsibility.

It does not matter one bit how much you put on that card in a single month as long as you follow these rules.

I'll post more tips soon!

Quote from @Patricia Steiner:

You shouldn't have to hound them - and you shouldn't be the least bit concerned with telling them that you're not happy with the progress in renting the unit thus far.  Before a property is even rented, you should know what their strategy to attract quality renters will be.  Any idiot can list a property online...that's not marketing.  Not only should it be listed but there should be signs to attract driveby and pedistrian traffic, alert tenants in the building and surrounding ones that a unit is available, and more.  And, how many showings have they have so far and what has the feedback been?  How often will you be updated on the activity?  Why wait a month to find out it isn't getting a lot of interest or the feedback is so-so?  

Bottom line:  You've hired a professional and you should expect professional results.  If you don't manage them (aka hound), they'll focus on the other client who does.  

Call them. Share your disappointment on having to give away a month of rental income when you don't have a good idea as to why it hasn't rented so far.  Dropping the price and making concessions are last resorts and/or market requirements.  There's a lot more to renting properties than throwing it online and waiting for someone to respond.  Get your PM to give you an overview of the number of showings, feedback, and market strategy to date.  Ask for weekly updates.  

It's not hounding...it's effectively managing your resource partners.  Hope this helps...

Truly appreciate the feedback.  I’ll be on them next week seeking quantity of showings, feedback during showings and if there is any other marketing tactics they should/could employ.  It’s not like a crappy management company that I randomly hired.  My agent knows the owner and they come highly recommended.  I just get the feeling they have much bigger fish they aim to please.

How often would you hound your property management company?  I just put one of my properties under a property management company so that I didn't have to self manage it.  I want to keep it that way.  Long story, but I want to be able to say to people my properties are managed by X so you have to go through them to apply and get approved to rent because I have some family that basically thinks I should just rent to them and they'd all be horrible tenants.

Anyway beyond my personal issues.  My property management company has been real good about some repairs I needed.  They got them done, were decently priced, didn't hassle me and took care of everything.  Right up until the property went on market they seemed really on top of it.  The listing is solid and they post it all over the internet.  I, however, have  been waiting and waiting for a tenant.  I emailed the other day and just asked how it was going, have they had any showings, etc.?  They said they had some showings but no bites and asked if I'd consider a move in special.  I was like yes waive the first month rent (I already made the payment this month anyway).  My issue is I'm not sure how often I should chase them without being a pain in the *** just to make sure my property is getting the attention I want it to.  I'm a little disappointed that they don't use yard signs (though I am not the professional so I don't know how effective that is I assume most people probably search online and they list everywhere there).  I don't want to be like the client everybody rolls their eyes when the number comes up on caller ID, but I also don't want to be put to the back of the line because I don't have 35 properties under their management.  Any ideas? 

I'd vote Austin, Texas but that is just an opinion not backed by any solid research.  It's just an area I see continuing to bring in good jobs that I think will be growing for a long time to come.

One other thing I didn't see mentioned here.  A 401K loan is called immediately due if you lose your job whether you quit, get fired or get laid off.  That can be an issue.  If you can't repay then it is a disbursement which is taxed likely at a higher rate than a rate of return you will get on an investment property.  It's something you can leverage, but I personally just throw mine around to get more credit.  My last loan, for instance, wanted me to have 6 months of the mortgage in capital somewhere.  I showed them my 401K statement and they were like ok sign here.  Not that I'd ever let them go at my retirement for a mortgage payment, we'd figure something else out first, but it was all I needed to get them to hand over a few hundred grand.

Congrats!  For sure on the challenges.  I think we all share that.  Finding the good ones is quite a process especially if you aren't doing enough business to keep them busy for you full time.  Even some of my better ones have jumped ship on me before, which really sucks for them because I was going to do my best to keep them working.  I've struggled to find good help to stick around, and right now if people aren't booked out 3-4 months there is probably a reason which makes it even harder!

Hey All,

Just wondered if someone had any tips about reaching out to people who you haven't talked to in a very long time.  Sometimes years without an agenda just to rebuild and put them back into your network.  What are some things you say?  

I started testing Mogul Networking and I like it so far.

In one episode of the podcast it was mentioned to make a layoff list.  Who are the 15 people you would call if you got laid off from your job.  A lot of that list I haven't kept real close contact with.  It's not like we have talked in the last 30-60 days maybe even years.  Or starting at the bottom of your text message list.

What things would you say to reconnect besides just like a random text that says "Hey how have things been?"

Also and I suppose this would be similar things - once reconnected and you start reaching out on say a 2 week, 30 day, 60 day cycle whatever it may be.  What are some things to say then?  Obviously you can follow up on anything from the last time you talked and I have been putting that in my notes for Mogul Networking, but like a few of my in person interactions that I had last week I don't really have anything to be like "Hey how did X turn out?" which would be ideal.