All Forum Posts by: Sean Dezoysa

Great info guys. I wanted to ask about repair estimates. Do you pay an agent, appraiser, or partner wholesaler to walk every property and build your estimates, or do you ballpark them? 

Aaron Mazzrillo (who has done a BP podcast) ballparks all of his at $20/sf estimated repairs. He said in So Cal it's done very well for him despite being so rudimentary.

I've also heard you can just ask the seller for what needs fixing and ballpark the rehab as light/medium/heavy. Paint and sweep is around $3,000 to 5,000 in repairs, a moderate rehab is 10 to 15k, and a big one is 25-$40k. Personally I like this less than Aarons because some rehabs are way more than even 40k.

Curious what everyone else is doing when they don't or can't walk the homes themselves.

Hi, I did a quick rent estimate of a 3bd property in zip code 44142 and found it rents for about $800/month: https://www.rentometer.com/ana...

But it seems every zip code in Cleveland, including this lower priced one, has a "payment standard" of around 1,300 or a little more for a 3bd property: https://www.cmha.net/hcvp/rent...

Obviously they wouldn't pay a $500/month premium for no reason. So I would like to ask how this translates to amount the landlord would actually receive? 

Thanks for any clarification

The Cleveland REIA member directory looks like a quality buyer's list: https://www.greaterclevelandre...

I haven't joined yet but will shortly.

I just wanted to ask how you guys would approach this list when you have a house under contract. 

Ideally I would have shaken hands with every person on that list. In reality I'll get to know maybe 10% of them as I'll be flying in from NYC to attend a meeting. So it'll be a bit slow going at first. 

Therefore I think my email message would be something like:

Thanks for your input James. To follow up, I thought only a small percent of superstar agents had their schedules filled with home sales related work. And 95% of the office could happily use small tasks like these to supplement their income. Is this wrong?

As you guys know good PMs are rare and can go bad over time. I wanted to ask what added value that finding and maintaining one, might have over incrementally breaking down their functions to others:

1. Showings and lockbox changes, lease signings, "For Rent" sign placements ---> Handled by agent

2. Tenant screenings, online marketing ---> Handled personally

3. Repair request fulfillment ---> Sent directly to contractor

4. Non-emergency repair requests or other phone business ---> IVR phone menu, leading to voicemails or secretary

I think the agent is the key player, and the rest can be delegated or handled personally without much headache. Curious what others have found.

Does anyone wholesale for an equity split? I can contribute the deal and some cash. I need a local partner to do the rehab and property management.

If this arrangement is workable, I am curious:

1) What would be a fair cash contribution, and equity split, by each side? 50/50 or some other number?

2) Any other tips you guys have on choosing good managing partners are welcome, thanks

Hi, I live in New York City and can also move to New Jersey if needed. I am planning on investing out of state, most likely Ohio. 

1. Is there a way for all of my REI activities, which are mainly wholesaling and joint venture landlording/holds with a local partner, to be taxed in Ohio only? Or will everything be taxes under my NYC residency status no matter what entities are used?

2. Ron legrand mentioned optioning the property to myself for a low amount to get it into a tax protected IRA account. Anyone able to confirm if this works?

Thanks

Great information everyone. My model now is mainly cash flow. I want cheap rental houses to pay themselves off and then in the future, possibly roll the proceeds into higher tier neighborhoods with more appreciation potential. But for now, cash flow is king for me.

Hi everyone,

I believe upstate NY is still a flight away from NYC. So I wonder if there's much advantage to investing there vs a more LL friendly state. I've been thinking Cleveland, OH may be worth the extra time in the air.

Curious what others are doing and what led to your choice of market.

What ideas do you guys have for adding lumpiness to a mailpiece without too much cost or weight? I want to stay under 1 oz to get the first class letter rate. 

I have a couple ideas though they are at the rough stage:

- Small piece of cloth/rags from goodwill ("turn your beat up house from rags to cash")

- Styrofoam out of a big box store dumpster ("House sitting on a flimsy foundation?")

I'm lukewarm on both of these at the moment, I think there are better tie ins. Also, if you guys think this would upset people I'm open to hearing about that potential drawback as well. A friend has made other goofy items work in another industry although they weren't as cheap as what I propose. He said lumpiness really makes a difference by the way.