All Forum Posts by: Aron Rogerson

Dave makes a great pt about meeting local real estate agents, afterall they could be your future agents.

Another Tip: Talk to Prop mgmt companies, they might be able to give you greater info about tenant stats in an area (if you want to hold and rent).

Your life sounds like a nice dream, you and your wife must have enjoyed the RV days, I hope I can do that some day :). Nothing like seeing the great land we live in.

What is great about south florida (resident speaking) is that it is heavily populated, i.e. fort lauderdale to miami. Your projection is surely on target, growth fuels cost of living, and for investors that means rental stability (to an extent i would say, area dependent).

but with that comes competition as an investor. I have purchased one investment property last year at a great price, it is currently being rented out with comfortable returns. The neighborhood is not the best, but there are far worse.

Your best bet (Which you are already doing) is to continue talking to locals in that area, maybe other BP'ers or at investor meet ups etc..

When I bought my property last year there are several others in the surrounding area within the same price point, now I am having a hard time finding the sweet spot of cost to value ratio. But that just means the deals are a bit harder to find, not impossible.

If I were in your shoes, I would be conservative. With an already established cash basis you can do so much with that. Take your time and strategize your approach, is it better to:

A. move down and rent then invest

B. move down buy a primary (to live in) then invest

C. move down live out of your RV for a while then invest

I prefer A or C, it leaves more cash in my hands. I would rather take baby steps (especially with your mobile home, makes it easier), then have a sound investment, make that investment ''steady state'' then move on to the next target (could be your primary residence or another investment).

Good luck!

I Concur with Brian,

usually you can sense (quickly) who those folks are.

Great info above but just to add,

Know your absolute floor and ceiling prices.

I had a property advertised at $1700, about 1.5-2 months into the app process i got tenants from a wide array but not biters.

I dropped to $1650...1600... and when I was about to drop to 1575 someone bit it at 1600 and loved the property.

Its a waiting game but note, waiting can cost you allot. If your mortgage (or operating+loan cost) is approx $800, every month you are losing $800, thats approx 67/mo. Lets say you wait 2 mo, thats approx $134/mo you just lost by carrying the mortgage for 2mo.

Sometimes its just best to reduce at the start and find great tenants who will stay longer.

My lowest priced rental property is my most profitable because of the tenant who knows they cant find another rental in this price range. She has been on for about 2.5 years but she is beyond reliable and high quality.

Only thing that helps is research, research and research.

Not sure if this was already posted but got it from my mother who is a real estate agent.

Seems things are in the favor of the Landlord, I remember I faced one tenant who did not know the system well but sadly the laws played into her favor with the waiting game.

In the end it was easier to wait it out than to pay a lawyer, win and then try to collect on that court win. As the lawyers say, winning is half the battle, good luck collecting.

I read somewhere....Tenant screening is where you can stop 90% of your problems. This is true beyond anything, also dont be cheap :) if another agent brings a qualified tenant, its surely worth the commission you pay.

Enjoy the article, for not FL folks, its always good to compare and contrast Tenant laws.

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http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-08-25/business/fl-landlord-tenant-law-20130823_1_landlords-tenants-security-deposit

Thanks for the help everyone,

1. My properties are not under LLC's

2. I utilize bank financing to buy them.

Glad to hear about this, I can see how owning multiple properties can hurt you if you have a loan for each etc. But in my view (When I was buying the 3rd one) the banks appreciated a good track record and earnings, especially positive rental earnings reported on my Tax Returns.

I have my targets set for another rental property.

Section 8 can be hit or miss,

but they can sometimes pay a higher rate than the average non-section 8 tenant.

But like life, every scenario is different, I have heard stories of someone owning a huge Multi Family building filled with section 8 tenants, they make great revenues but at the same time there comes a risk.

Its all about research, understanding and qualifying the tenant.

Good luck!

Hi All,

I am on the verge of taking the next step towards growing my portfolio thanks to my wonderful and stable tenants, real estate agents and others in the community.

I have (By a divine grace) 3 rental properties, I heard that I am allowed up to 5 single family homes as investment properties.

Anyone know where I can read up on this further? I searched and searched but can not find any data.

Thank you,

Hopefully your situation works out ok, but just a tip, Make sure you read your state statutes on landlord tenant laws. Also you will have to do a claim against deposit before officially ''taking it'' from her.

Good luck, I have seen my fare of tenant's leaving early :(

Edit: Here you go, even has a section about breaking the lease.

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/landlords.htm

Thanks for stopping by to read and advise further regarding my investment strategy/ next steps :).

My Current situation:

I currently own three Single Family rental properties:

a.Property A: Owe $45K, valued at $150-160K, great condition, cash flow is beyond great for this property. Current cash flow is very positive.

b.Property B: Owe $90K, valued at $135-145k, great condition as well, Current cash flow is ok.

c.Property C: Owe $67k, valued at $145-155K, recently acquired, installed a new kitchen and made other repairs. Current cash flow is very positive.

Tenants are great, I truly try to work with them when needed and (knock on wood) they appreciate my services as well. Overall cash flows are approx $1700-1900/mo after expenses/fees/mortgages/taxes/insurances etc.

My long term Financial Goals:

To leave my current job and manage the investments or at least work part time while managing the investments. My goal is to have $4-5,000 net income per month (Taking a 2K loss now and then is ok), if I had 6-7 extra property A’s or C’s (As listed above) I can surely meet this goal, but I would rather concentrate on larger consolidated returns and calculate a pathway to long term support.

If anyone has any counter suggestions, please let me know. I was thinking of taking my equity (from A & C) and purchasing more single family homes as this seems to be my area of expertise. But the stress of finding, funding & repairing more properties is a little crazy as I rely on bank financing for 70-80% of the home value. Also is there a rule (In Florida) that caps you at 5 income properties as an individual investor?

Would I have to get a commercial real estate license after owning 4-5 rental properties?

My future plans:

For my next step in the real estate world, I truly wish to jump to the next playing field by either going towards multifamily (Route A) or NNN Leases (Route B). I know the latter will require a great deal of funds but its not ruled out from my side. My timeline is set for 1 year or so, it all depends on how I approach the investors. So far its me and my father, he can provide approx 200-250K cash as well. We would need another investor which should not be hard to find if the deal is good.

General Questions about taking the next step:

1.Funding my next investment: I sit on some equity, especially with House A and C, but I do not want to sell the properties, a full equity extract would be great but I do not want to be 1:1 for mortgage payment vs. rental income as I want to leave room for issues/repairs. I was thinking of extracting some of the equity as a down payment on my next venture (With some of my cash), but are there any possibilities to forgo extracting equity and selling i.e. Equity Lines of credit? I can surely place a lean on the properties.

What would be the smartest move for someone like me in terms of taking the next step? I know its hard to advise, but what would you do in my shoes? As mentioned above, my father can join me with 200-250K and we can surely secure an investor as well.

I look at it as two avenues:

1. As a single investor, continue down the path of 2-3 more single family rentals, hold them, gain more equity, then jump to MF or NNN leases? The team of repair men/women who help me do a good job of effectively updating/repairing the properties for ''rent ready'' state, also I have a great grasp on what it takes to enter and operate with positive cash flows. My only hurdle is constantly securing an investor loan from the banks. I barely got the loan for House C, but I am sure I can do it again. I appreciate the process and especially the people who help me, I like single family homes as the deals move faster and costs/risks can be calculated allot easier.

2. Extract Equity, team up with other investors (i.e. my father and another person) and tackle a MF or NNN leased building. My only gripe is that we would be able to place 20% down, so if we go after a $3M MF, we would only be able to put down $600K initially as we do not want to tie up our funds.

I have specific questions for Multifamily and NNN leased buildings, I will post these in the commercial side of the forum.