All Forum Posts by: Chris Kendrick

@Chris Kendrick Nolo.com has some great books on all kinds of legal subjects including being a new landlord. That would be a good start.

If you have a local real estate investors association, that would be another good source of relevant information.

Finding a good landlord tenant attorney is also a great idea.

I've been a landlord for almost 6 years now and am finally getting confidence and a good idea how to self manage. Im working on scaling now so I can outsource to a PM. Hope that helps!!

@Chris Kendrick,

Check out the state/city laws and what is required. In VA, it doesn't need to be signed by a lawyer or notarized, or filed anywhere, but some states are more particular. I'd say find a local landlord in that area who self-manages to confirm what the process is, as certain states (ex: MA,NY) can be very, very particular.

Chris, with all due respect it sounds like you need to really educate yourself about investing in real estate and being a landlord before you even consider buying any property. This is a tough market and it’s very easy for beginners to lose money. All the best.

Section 8 can be a great government program to work with if you do it right!

In the past, the Department of HUD targeted S8 rents to be at the lower end of a rental market. In 2022, rising rental rates have forced HUD to significantly increase maximum rents as too many S8 voucher holders can't find rental homes at previous rates.

Positives

1. Rent comes directly to landlord, every month!
2. Landlord can require tenants to be responsible for separately metered utilities, so can avoid waste.
3. Landlord can get annual small increases in rent.

Negatives

Most of us don’t treat something we get for free the same way we treat something we’ve worked hard to obtain.

1. S8 applicants claim “broke” and don’t like to pay application fees
2. Same goes for security deposits
3. S8 tenants, in our experience, tend to cause more property damage than non-S8 tenants.
   - Make sure you get a security deposit and perhaps do a surprise inspection of their current home.
4. S8 requires an inspection (mostly health & safety) before approving a lease and then annually thereafter.
   - Not something most landlords taking care of their properties have to worry about.
5. There are limits to clauses they allow in your lease. This isn’t really a big deal though.
6. Rent payments can be abated over unresolved maintenance issues and tenants failing to abide by S8 requirements.
7. Many S8 housing commissions will not hold tenants accountable for damages they cause (tenant is supposed to repair or lose their voucher). Instead S8 requires landlords to repair damages to keep S8 payments. Landlord’s only option to collect funds for damages is to take tenants to court.
8. More and more tenants are only having a portion of their rent covered by S8, so landlords need to still screen S8 applicants for portion they must pay.
9. Landlord cannot charge S8 tenants a portion of shared utilities – which can lead to the infamous tales of tenant retaliation against landlord by blasting heat on high with open windows during winter.
10. S8 caseworker response times can be very slow, as they are usually overworked & underpaid.

Again, overall it’s a pretty good deal for a decent landlord that does some decent screening.

@Chris Kendrick

Where are you investing?  Lets face it, lots of places investors are "going" re seeing increases in insurance rates.  Also, at least in my market a 1930 property is pretty old..  So, that's not helping you...

Quote from @Chris Kendrick:

Quote from @V.G Jason:

Quote from @Chris Kendrick:

Quote from @V.G Jason:

Don't buy a property with a HELOC. You're basically using leverage against leverage. Move more carefully.

Well if your doing BRRR method, your going to get back that money anyway so don't matter, i used heloc to buy rental property but it was only a down payment for it , 

No, it does matter cause you're still leveraging against leverage. The risk is still all intact.

Risk is involved with anything you do, driving your car to work , there is risk, i guess your saying that your risking your house if something goes bad

That's taking things out of context. But there is calculated risk, leveraging against leverage is stupid risk. The way you played from 2008-2022 isn't the same 23 forward, you'll likely get burned. Read and react, don't be foolish.