All Forum Posts by: Chris B.

Hello BP team,

I have a family member who will be passing away in a nursing home momentarily who happens to have property in a trust.  The house is in Highland Heights, OH; not far east of Cleveland.  Its not perfect, but its in good condition and is in move-in ready condition.  The property is a little over 1/3 acre of land.  Zillow estimate is around $245k.  I'm looking for an agent who would be willing to list the house on the market for 2% seller and up to 2% buyer fees.  It should be fairly straight forward once the trust paperwork is in order as this property will sell.  I'm not looking for a short sale or a pre-market offer.  I'm looking for fair market bids.

I understand less than 3% is not for everyone.  I appreciate you reading this post.  If this offer is of interest to you, please let me know either in this thread or feel free to message me directly.  Please also include a link to your website.  Thanks!

I'd open a brokerage account and make money there.  There are risky, but high return options like QQQ which grew 27% over the last year or on the other side / safe end, there are super secure short term US government bonds like SGOV which pays out about 4.5% in dividends.  Thousands of other options also.  Deposit rent into checking account, transfer excess funds into brokerage account, make money.  When you need the money, sell assets, transfer funds back into checking account 2 days later.  I love how this is near liquid.  Cash in 2 days is good enough for me.

I'm not a big fan of owning actual bonds bought from the US government.  They aren't particularly liquid and its easy to loose a lot of interest with a cash-in before maturity.

Lack of startup funding is common.  We had to save up the 5% to get our first place with an 80/15 first and second mortgage.  I don't have your answer, but I do want to let you know my concern.  I don't think wholesaling is easy at all.  Its hard to find deals unless you are connected, advertise a lot, cold call a lot, knock a lot, and/or work very hard at it.  Low cost, possibly yes, but also possibly very time consuming and that has a cost.  Second, its complicated and you should get a mentor to make sure you don't accidentally screw it up and possibly get sued.  Without solid knowledge on this subject, you can easily end up in hot water.  I do like your eagerness though so best wishes.

Lets be honest. You won't find any reasonable ROI in the Phoenix area with $150k to $200k down. I live in the area and just gave up looking for now. Yes you can find properties which you will be able to purchase, but ROI will be near zero or negative. If you want ROI, look to other parts of the country. People investing in Phoenix are seeking appreciation.

I haven't passed this past legal review so for what its worth: Part of my standard requirements for everyone include income is at least 3X rent, minimum credit score, say 640, Clean record and no evictions as well as deposit is paid in full at signing of lease and 1st month rent is paid in full prior to handing over the keys. This criteria happens to pretty much exclude all S8 applicants.  Those on other sources of government cash such as disability often may qualify due to overall household income.  Let your criteria do the filtering for you.

Regarding retention and renewals, the only time I have asked people to leave is when they have had rent payment issues and/or damaged the property.  If I had a good tenant and they continue to be a good tenant, I don't care where they legally get their money from.

Some real-estate agents will list your properties also.

My experience with S8: There is a reasonably strong correlation between S8 tenants and tenants that do not take care of a rental property.  This has pluses and minuses.

If your property is bulletproof such as no framing - cinder block construction, cement floors, gloss white paint slapped on the walls and a cheap window mount AC, then you are in a prime position to make money with S8.  Your property is fairly destruction proof, costs near nothing to maintain, yet you can charge above market rents.

If your property is nicer (class B) where the carpet alone might be $6k or more to replace when the tenant spills hair dye everywhere, you won't be as happy as in the situation above.  Walls are drywall and don't hold up well to jump kicks.  Appliances look nice until the pet hair destroys the fan on your nice stainless steel fridge and you are out another $1k+ to replace it...  On top of that, maybe market rent is at or above what S8 is willing to accept.  In this case S8 is probably not a good option.

If you are convinced you can find a great family that will take care of your property, then either option is fine for you.  There is a very high demand for S8 properties so filling it with someone is not a problem.  I wouldn't do it unless I had the first type of property.

 I'll share via IM.

Verify and double verify with the applicant that the information they have provided is correct and that all income is verified and all adults will have a background check.  Many will provided exaggerated numbers or omit information up front.  Ask direct questions.  Politely and clearly, make it extra clear that all information will be verified including income prior to the signing of any lease.  Get your answers.  More often than not they fess up and kind of confirm they don't meet requirements if that is the case.  If they are poorly qualified, let them know now that they don't meet requirements.  Continue with a viewing, additional questions, get applications, run ALL checks, and then make a decision.

By being very clear about requirements, you will catch most early in the process and can let them know.

Thanks for the thoughts!