All Forum Posts by: Clinton Holmes

I'm curious to know, what were some of the indicators that you discovered and what did you find they were correlated with?

@James E.

 I own a property in Salem, MA and it seems like you got a pretty good deal. Congrats!

@Mike Hurney

Let me know if you ever want to part ways with the triple deck on Bentley and I'll happily make you an offer :)

@Account Closed Wow... From what I've seen in the northeast, properties sell for 3-4x what you paid and rent for 20-30% more... Thanks for putting KC on my radar :)

@Account Closed Seems like you got a great deal. Would you say your rent is above, below, or in-line with the average for the area? Also how many bed and baths? Just curious how rents there compare to my market. 

For what it's worth, I bought my first property back in April, and it came with existing tenants. It is true that you have to honor the lease, but in my case, the risk was reduced because it was tenant at will. 

I may also be naive, but I like to give people a chance. And I'm glad I did, because they have turned out to be great residents. 

Three things I did right away upon buying the property:

1) Meet with them.  They have lived there longer than I have, so they were questioning me just as much as I was them. Meeting them puts a face to the name and forms a human connection... you're not just after there money. 

2) Provided them with a rental application. I gave it to them so that I would know how to contact them and to get emergency contact information. Again, it's about establishing a connection. 

3) We did a property walk-through. I had them show me all the problems they currently had with their apartment, then we identified the top 3, and got those fixed within a week. Again, you're building an image, it shows you care and your quick to act while allowing you to learn more about them. 

Hope that helps!

Clinton

Appreciate the responses everyone, this has been a huge help. Couple follow up questions:

@Thai Foo Thanks for sharing the link on tenant screening; it was a big help.

@Deborah Burian How have working families been as renters over the years? What is it about your properties that draws working families in better than others in the neighborhood?

@Roy N. What made you decide to focus on students and young professionals? How has that been working for you? Also, like the question I asked Deborah, what do you do differently to draw more students and young professionals to your properties?

@Lynn McGeein Thanks for sharing your knowledge on large dogs. The area I invest and live in is very fond of their pooches and I might start trying to differentiate myself by allowing pets.

@Marcia Maynard Great mission statement. I think I will come up with one for my rentals.

P.S. keep the insights coming! I'll upvote anyone who answers the questions as I think this has been a huge help for me and everyone else who has participated.

@Thai Foo

Thanks for taking the time to respond. The large dog policy is an interesting advantage. Do you focus on acquiring properties that will be well suited to a large dog? Any problems managing insurance companies?

@Thai Foo @Lynn McGeein

I noticed you both said 3X rental income. Why would someone with 3X rental income rent, shouldn't they be in a position to buy at that point? Also, how do you typically verify income?

Thanks in advance for the help!

P.S. BPs any unique insight will surely get at least 1 vote from me! :)

@Joe Fairless

Thanks for that follow-up.

@Dawn Anastasi

I think the price point depends on if I'm going to partner with someone or not. If it is just me, then probably 250-400k. I plan on asking some folks at the next REI but thought this was probably a common problem across BP and thought I'd see what ideas the best and the brightest folks from around the nation might share.

@Stephen S.

That makes sense. Thanks for the follow-up.

@James Wise

Thanks for colleague connect. How do you know if they are going to be a pain or not?

@J. Martin

Thanks for taking the time to respond guys. Very helpful to see how other landlords think.

@Joe Fairless

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely check out Homepath. Did you use debt to finance your first property? How does Homepath analyze your ability to pay the properties mortgage?

@Stephen S.

Appreciate the advice. I totally understand why you avoid using banks. They certainly do not make it easy these days. With a rehab flip won't you need to deal with a hard money lender? They can be just as difficult no?