All Forum Posts by: Caitlin B.

@Amanda Brezina - as your first BRRRR how did you get the rehab done? If you used a GC how did you find them? We're positioned to BRRRR (nearing getting our first sfh rent ready) but had to cobble together the rehab due to surprise structural problems, family emergencies, etc, and lean heavily on family for helping get the work done, which is not what I want to do going forward. The house was actually purchased for a family member who then passed away, so it wasn't the best "deal" and not intended to be a normal transaction to begin with. Anyways, I foresee the biggest problem in our journey to be the "rehab" portion and finding the right people.

@Account Closed - We haven't explored relationship building yet, but the current house was supposed to be a cosmetic fixer upper (last tenants destroyed it with cigarette smoke, pet urine, and general filth). We found surprise structural issues and it was nearly impossible to get anyone out to take a look at it much less come back with a quote.

Long story short, this year we refinanced our primary and paid cash for a little 2 bedroom fixer-upper for a family member who then passed away. So, decided to hold and enter the rental market. Recognizing the economies of scale and being in a good position to pursue more property (can refi the rental plus additional capital) we'll be exploring that more in 2022. We're well positioned to BRRRR and we basically started already on the current rental, but the biggest obstacle is not having any sort of contractor connections. In this market/climate with people struggling to get work done even on their own homes, is it even a realistic option to come in fresh as a small fish, find a contractor, and get work done promptly? Or is it better to pay current market prices on a more turnkey property to avoid having to hire and coordinate fewer cooks in the kitchen?

Would appreciate any thoughts or local words of wisdom! We'd be looking at self-management, a smaller portfolio, and primarily in areas like Lasalle, Tonawandas, parts of Amherst and similar just due to our comfort level and familiarity.

We are spinning a negative into a positive. We bought a house for a family member in 2021, and rehabbed it with lots of help from family members. Unfortunately, we lost our loved one unexpectedly, but are using this house to launch our new real estate venture to provide housing security for our children down the road.

We are entering the game with our first rental (family member was supposed to move in but passed away, so we already are in possession of this property). It's a very small 850 sq ft, no basement SFH on a street of nearly identical houses in a decent neighborhood. Because it's so small, I feel like we're already disadvantaged when asking for good rent (rentometer implies $1200 would be on track, more would be a stretch). I'm wondering if we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to charge even more to include mowing and snow removal (we're in the great lakes area)? The 1400 sq ft single family home next to our primary has been a rental for the last 8 years or so and part of a large portfolio with a professional management company and their tactic is to professionally landscape once yearly and put grass and snow removal on the tenants, so I know it's done both ways locally. The tenants are not so great about keeping on top of the mowing.

Bonus question: What color paint (preferable behr) do you find your tenants like in the NE/Mid west?

Thank you from a newbie! 

Thank you all for the information and votes of confidence. We're entering this with naysayers who think we should just dump the property and wash our hands of it (it's been a nightmare house and the plan fell apart with the family member death), so it's nice to hear the opinions that we're on a solid track! 

@Kevin Sobilo Thank you and unknown plans at this point. We're definitely testing the waters with this house first. If we hate landlord-ing we can sell it, but scaling to more is not out of the question once we feel we're not in over our heads. We were able to pay cash for this one after refinancing our primary residence, so we could always treat this house as a BRRRR.

Long story short, we purchased a house this year for a family member to live in, but they passed away unexpectedly before they could move in. It required a lot of work, and we did not just go through all the time, stress, and expense (which we'd do gladly for family member) to just sell it and break even. It's not an ideal investment property as such. It's a very small <900 sqft 2 bedroom SFH with no basement, though it does have a large garage, in a very high property tax area. So we've decided we'll be putting it on the rental market. I've been trying to do my process home work and would appreciate any insight.

What I'm gathering a sound process should be:

1. Register for google voice number

2. List house on zillow/craigslist, etc. with google voice number.

3. Send interested parties a link to pre-screening via a created google form (sample found in another thread).

4. Schedule showings for qualifying pre-screeners.

5. Then have them complete the official application with background and credit check (through zillow? mysmartmove? something else?)

6. Have them sign rental contract (created through ??)

7. Collect rent via ACH transfer (using Zillow? Other?)

We were already prepared to keep up with the maintenance of the property when family member would have been living there, so that was already in our plans. Thank you!