All Forum Posts by: Chris M.

1. Catch up on deferred maintenance items from the PO on the latest 4plex.

2. Do at least one 1031 exchange from one of my remaining condos to another MF.

3. On a personal note, eliminate any cc debt. I was cc debt free a couple years back and loved it. Need to get back there so I can concentrate on picking up properties faster.

4. Move to a bigger house. We have another kid due in May and our 2/2.5 townhouse is already feeling the strain. Current place will become another rental.

Realistically, I think I can tackle 3 out of these 4.

That's a pretty good idea. I always like the idea of having those touches that make my rentals stand apart from everyone else.

I was going to put a few of these in the bedrooms of my house but keep forgetting to get to it. Do you mind sharing where you got them from on sale? I checked Amazon but the price seems pretty high per outlet.

This sounds similar to what I was facing at the beginning of 2013. I had two condos bought for 33k and 38k in 2010 which were renting for 900 and 1k respectively. HOA was 327 and taxes/insurance came to 81/mth. Both were bought vacant so I tenant proofed things before moving anyone in so I never had any issues.

I sold one earlier this year for 80k and took the proceeds and put down on a quadplex in a busy area in SFL. I was doing a 1031 but ran into a time wasting seller when their property didn't appraise and that ended up failing. The quad was a purchase after the holding period of funds had expired.

My motivation for moving on from the condos were the volatility of the association and deferred maintenance during the recession gave me the feeling that I was in for assessments pretty soon. Also, the lenders that would give me a cash out refi on a condo in SFL were few and far between so the terms were not as favorable as I would have wanted.

The quad is renting under market now, but the cash flow is over what I got with a single unit. I'm planning to speak with my CPA and put the other unit for sale (realtor has said it could sell for 90k due to a water view) and get into another quad in 2014. The increased cash flow will aid in my goal of investing in more properties quicker while paying down some non RE debt.

I have a few drywall/paint and light plumbing/electrical jobs at a quad I recently purchased in Hollywood, FL.

I am playing the Craiglist roulette game now but would appreciate any reliable handyman recommendations that any other members are willing to share.

On signing a new lease I usually provide a years worth (usually 4) filters that are pre-labelled with the month they are supposed to be installed. I also provide a move-in sheet with my contact info, handy numbers, rent payment options and care/troubleshooting steps for the unit. That in itself has saved me countless time as every tenant who has gotten the move-in sheet has commented on how they have avoided calling me by following the basics on there.

Originally posted by Phillip Dwyer:
This is bad practice. The wrong tenant can use your bank info to do bad things. I'm in the middle of cleaning up a mess from a property I took over where the owner had done as the previous two posts and yourself.

@Phillip Dwyer are you at liberty to expand a bit on that situation? I am curious as to what risk I would be exposing myself to with this approach

My banker did mention the possibility of giving out deposit only slips or ATM cards to tenants, but those come at a cost and he didn't have that info handy.

I also do this but I only have a few tenants so it makes it easy to identify who paid and when. One of my tenants uses the same bank so they have a standing transfer on the 1st of every month that I approve via emailed link.

I also set up email/text alerts for deposits on that account so I get instant notification. That way, if someone pays late without the late, I can immediately fwd the text to them and let them know the next payment must include it.

I tried going the craigs route early on in the rental game, showed the unit a lot when it was freshly renovated with no real luck. It was also a pain to drive 30-45 mins in traffic to show the place as well.

I called an agent that specialized in rentals and she has kept that place and all my others rented. I use her till this day and she's been invaluable with her advice and references. She's moved up to high end condo sales but still works with me on my rentals and target properties even though I'm not in her target area anymore. She does background checks and advises me based on anything that would seem 'off' from dealing with potential tenants. I meet the new tenants when we are doing the walkthrough.

If you can find a good realtor, then hold on to them and use their services/expertise to grow your business.

I am dealing with them now. Got the pre-approval for a quadplex and will be doing the walkthrough when I get back from a business trip this week. They have been more than excellent and supposedly have a 100% record of closing loans that they take through underwriting.

My realtor of 5 years swears by them. I'll update this thread as the loan goes through process.

They come highly recommended (at least the SFL branch) from my realtor. I just reached out today and spoke to the manager of the regional branch, came away impressed.

Am filling out an app with them and will see how it goes. I'm trying to secure funding on top of a 1031 I'm working on currently.