All Forum Posts by: Jeff T.

@Kristian Lind

Make sure you are getting market rents.

My guess is that rents are going up there recently.

I switched property managers a couple years ago and they got properties up to market and it made a huge cash flow difference.

Refinance if you can. You should be able to get around 3.5% on rentals .

Those are essentially no cost ways of increasing cash flow.

@Morgana yep, the potential for damage is pretty large and it’s hard to tell who is a responsible pet owner.

@Linda Thomas

It depends on your market and property I guess, but the way I look at it, if I can get a good qualified tenant without a pet , that is much better than one with a pet.

Pets can easily do more damage than the entire deposit.

@Jayden Hamilton

A property manager is 10% of the rental income max and well worth it so you can reduce the stress.

Don’t make a rash and permanent decision on selling because you are stressed.

Once you have someone to deal with some of those issues you will be able to step back and make reasonable decisions.

Hiring a property manager is not something you will regret because it’s not permanent; you can always take back the Management yourself.

Good luck

@Jessica N Sites

I think that rate is high, I’m refinancing 2 rentals now at 3.625% or less with similar numbers.

Try bankrate.com to find a lender (careful they will spam you with stuff if you fill all the info out, just contact the lenders listed directly) or call around, call mortgage brokers. I think you can do better.

Good luck.

@David Smith

I own condos and I haven't had problems with them and they have fewer maintenance issues since it's only interior. Other people have had issues with condos. My buildings are 100+ units. Just depends on the HOA. Make sure you can rent it.

So condos can be fine, especially in densely populated areas where it’s harder to buy SFRs. You will most likely need 25% down and rates are mid to high 3s % right now.

Good luck

@Heather De La Cruz

Please consider a property manager.

That will take the hassle out of it and you get to keep most of the cash flow.

It would be hard to replicate that purchase now and you won’t be able to do it 5x like that guy said.

All County Polk property management is solid, if they service that area.

Florida prices will continue to grow or be stable with the influx of new residents.

@Geoff Pettis

My feeling as an owner is that if the rental market is strong and I can get quality tenants in quickly that don’t have pets then I will choose that over accepting pets.

I personally don’t want the extra issues that come with pets if I can avoid them.

@Surendra Chawla

Texas is different from most markets for insurance. I have relatives that have lived there and hailstorms are common and the specifics of insurance are very local.

I would look for advice from locals as it seems you are doing. Even well intentioned people from out of state may give advice that would not be appropriate there.

Good luck.

Figure out what you want out of this.  I would hate for you do spend all this money trying to get more cashflow only to lose money buying expensive properties and paying lots of fees.

You have some good cashflow now with only 5 properties to deal with. It sounds like they are under market rent. Do the math on increasing rents. That seems like the easiest way to increase cashflow. You may lose a tenant but you will be able to rent it at market quickly due to demand.  I have done that recently and turned losers into winners