All Forum Posts by: Corby Goade

If he's lying to his boss, what makes you think he'll be honest with you? 

Hard pass. 

Contrary to popular belief on these forums, a GOOD PM will save you money and headaches, not the other way around. 

I could go in to all kinds of details with the horror stories I've seen, but I'll let BP do the work for me. I'd challenge you to scroll through the forums here to see all of the self managers who are dealing with nightmare tenants and situations in order to save a few bucks per month on PM. Although it's possible, most new investors don't have the skills, resources or network to effectively self manage. 

As a matter of fact, I just posted on another thread by a self manager who is being constantly harrassed by their tenant in retailition for a very minor rent increase. That's a small problem, but what about tenants who are professionals and know the laws better than their landlords? They can smell an opportunity from a mile away. 

Look at PM like homeowner's insurance- it seems like you are wasting money until your house burns down, they you'll be happy you "wasted" money on those premiums for years. 

Your time is the most valueable asset you have- use it to find deals and make more money, not negotiating with your tenant over lightbulb installations. 

Tell him you are sorry the unit doesn't work for him and that you'll let him out of the lease penalty free immediately. 

You'll never convince a tenant that they are getting a good deal, especially as a self manager, no point in even engaging in those conversations. 

Typically setting up the LLC is the easy part. In my state, you can fill out a form on the SOS website in about 3 minutes and pay a one time fee of $100 and you are done.

The LLC isn't the important part, it's the operating agreement- you should defintiely hire an excellent and local attorney to do that for you. I'd venture to say that an experienced attorney propbably wouldn't charge much, if anything at all, to set up your LLC if you are working with them on an operating agreement.

Best of luck!

Yep- location is important. Best if the people you work with are in your area and know your market. 

Also- pro tip: The people in your market who are killing it won't ask you for compensation. Generally, when people "make it" they want to share their good fortune with others and they understand that whatever they give freely comes back to them tenfold. I've found the people who want to charge for their time and "mentorship" typically need the money because they are struggling- maybe not the best person to take financial advice from. 

Best of luck!

Congrats on your new property!

I think the most important thing in investing is screening and management. If those things don't go well, it doesn't matter how great your deal is. If you are house hacking, screening is 10x more impoartant. 

I wrote a BP blog about the processes we use, you can read it here. 

Best of luck!

I think buying points right now is probably a bad idea. It's super expensive and within the next few years you'll very likely have an opportunity to refi in to a rate in the 5% range. If you plan to hold longer than 5 years, I'd reccomend you wait it out. The refi will be WAY cheaper than buying points and you'll likely end up with a lower rate than you can buy down to now. 

 You have material information that effects the desirability and value of the property. My opinion doesn't change, this could be a very expensive ommission.  

 No thank you. What makes your situation any different? Surely there's at least one other applicant in your town who meets your criteria and doesn't have any evictions. I'd wait, no hesiatation. Evictions are an excellent way to take a decent investment and make it a nightmare. 

Absolutely. The rule of thumb is to over disclose, not the other way around. You certainly don't want to be on the other end of that lawsuit. Why wouldn't you disclose?