All Forum Posts by: Christopher Abele

@Candice T. That's not a great question for a number of reasons. . . 

-My strategy may be different from yours.

-Market characteristics exist. The characteristics for a market may not be suitable for your goals. Looking for the rapid appreciation you've seen in markets like Phoenix? You won't find it in Toledo. One SFH isn't going to make you a millionaire. It might not even make you a thousandaire.

-Where I think the market is headed is foundational to my strategies and is a vital part of interpreting any property. Hence, you're asking for gambling advice from someone on the internet. 

-My recommendation is always that, if you're thinking about investing in Toledo you should spend a couple grand on a trip to the area to see the market firsthand. You could easily get by for a week on $2k and save yourself a loss of $10k on a bad purchase.

-The wording of your question is such that I can't figure out what you're actually asking.

@Niv Nissim

Suggestion: Spend at minimum a week in market with your own boots on the ground. A realtor can help on the sell side but the incentive structure is not there for the buy side. I would pick one zip code and spend a week talking to as many people that live in the zip code as you can find. Comps are changing rapidly and its important to keep an eye on valid comps, not just "its within a mile." There are parts of town where property values can swing 20% just by crossing a street. 

Most out-of-state investors that get burned in Toledo do so (first) because property values are neighborhood-based, no zip code based and then (second) because they aren't setting foot on the properties and relying on contractor photos which often do not show the level of quality. 

There is currently a hedge fund that's been operating in market. They've masked themselves pretty well. They own a number of potential "flip" properties but bought wrong and are underwater on them, so they're trying to salvage those deals. To that end, be vigilant in your DD. They are hoping to find buyers who will make the same mistakes that they did. 

Good luck.

I’m in the Toledo market. I can tell you:

1.) Like everywhere else, there is a shortage of contractors in Toledo. Finding a good one is extremely difficult.

2.) Realtors are going to offer you properties on the MLS. At least in the pockets that I buy there hasn't been a solid Brrrr opportunity in over a year posted there.

3.) Toledo is neighborhood specific. Within the same zip code you can have million dollar houses and homes where you need a vest when collecting rent.

4.) Quality of work is important and photos do not show quality of work or shortcuts.That assumes that your contractor gets to the point of a finished product without abandoning the job.

If you want to invest in Toledo my recommendation is to spend a week out here. Plan your visit around one of our REIA meetings and attend so that you can network. Alternatively you could start with finding a PM, as they cater to OOS investors more.

Here are 4 PMs, but do your own diligence. This is just a starting point for research and not a personal recommendation.

LaPlante

Serenity

LPG

Buckeye Realty

 Aren't we all?

I have a SFH rental in Maumee that hit the market recently. I received just as many calls from people asking if I would be willing to sell as those asking about renting the home.

I can also tell you that we were bombarded with letters from realtors: "I can sell your home for up to xxxx." Anyone with a true distressed property has been told repeatedly for the past 6 months how much their home is "worth" via letters (and you're using the same channel to make an offer.) 

Are you posting here, on a REI forum, hoping that someone has a property they'll sell you for pennies on the dollar or are you looking for advice on what you might not be doing to find that hidden gem? Your post is slightly unclear.

If you don't have a ton of experience, how will you know if you have:

A good PM?

A good realtor?

A good contractor?

A good rehab? (Pictures are realllly easy to make it look good when the quality is terrible)

Apologies if it was unclear I was not directing this at you or  your company. 
Any property management company that is paid for tenant placement (more than the standard percentage of rent) has an incentive for turnover. Any property management company that marks up labor or materials on maintenance has an incentive to defer maintenance. Econ 101 says that there's a problem with the way that traditional property management contracts are constructed. 

A traditional property management company doesn't have an incentive to perform preventative maintenance or to keep tenants happy, while the self-managed property owner has both. 

If you're talking about a property management company operating 100 units then no, it doesn't scale effectively because the property management company doesn't benefit from maintaining the value of the home. In fact, an expensive turnover typically gets billed to the owner (including labor & material markup) and the PM is happy to collect the 10% placement fee. Conversely, damage beyond wear and tear caught early can be billed to the tenant after its fixed and communicates "take care of the home."

Most of the time its an hour visit or less, gets eyes on the property and prevents issues. My buy box is geographically tight so we're not wasting a lot of time driving around. Schedule an hour for each, once per month, and you can handle 24 / quarter with just 1 day per week. 

SFH, self managing. Basically trying to build a checklist of things to review for any kind of damage or needed repairs that tenants have not reported. Better to repair it while occupied than to wait, but I also don't want to be opening every drawer in the kitchen to be sure the tracks are all good.

We perform a quarterly property inspection currently during which we change air filters, check smoke / CO2 detectors and look for signs of water issues (toilets aren't running, nothing under sinks.)

I'm still learning as I go, so I feel like there are things that I should be looking for and adding to a checklist. The goal is eventually to have move this task over to a maintenance / handyman who would also take care of any pending maintenance requests at the same time. Since its still "learn as you go" I'm trying to develop a checklist for quarterly inspections. Does anyone have a list that they currently use or can add to the discussion of things that should be checked that they would be willing to share? (Maybe a google sheet or doc they might be willing to share?)

I only purchase properties within a few miles of each other. I drive by at least once every two weeks, but since I'm also always looking for more properties and trying to keep a pulse on the neighborhoods I also use this time to drive for dollars. 

We do a quarterly inspection. We let the tenants know ahead of time that it is both their responsibility AND our responsibility to take care of the house. During the inspection we check underneath sinks for leaks or signs of water damage, change out the air filters for the furnace and test all smoke detectors / CO2 detectors. We let the tenants know well in advance and ask if they have any outstanding maintenance items that need attention. Its as much for the tenant's benefit as it is our own; tenants don't want to live in a home where the ceiling caves in because they didn't know to report the water stain on the ceiling. 

This Fall I'm planning to update our quarterly inspections to be a bit more comprehensive as I'm finding that there are things that I probably want to pay closer attention to from a maintenance standpoint. (Example: gutter cleaning).