All Forum Posts by: David DuCille

 This has me wondering as well.  in the state of real estate today, it seems that buying is definately advantageous to renting but that isn't the case everywhere.  My advice to you.  Put them on a 6 months lease starting out.  Then renew them for 1 year.  This is a harder time of year to find tenants.  The fact that you have had so many showings and no applications has me far more concerned than anything else about your situation.

it is doable but I don't know if I advise it.  Fees vary state by state but just the cost of getting licensed and then the cost of joining the National Assoc of Realtors as well as you rlocal association and then fees to your brokerage makes the price of things start going up quickly.  Now with that said, if you simply do 1-2 transactions per year, you may recoup all of that.  And if you have a large network of friends, family, etc where you live, you probably have a LOT of potential transactions at your disposal.   

It varies state by state, I am licensed in Florida, my older brother got licensed in Massachusetts back in the day.  He no longer has his license at a brokerage but MA has a "referral" type of status that allows him to maintain his license and still earn a percentage of commissions for anyone he refers out to an active agent.

I recently represented buyers purchasing a flip that was listed before it was completed.  It was probably 97% completed to be honest.  It got a bit messy because once we were under contract it seemed as if the seller forgot that he still had that 5% of work left to do!!!!!  And one of the things that was left to be done was get the AC system up and running.  they ended up needed to install a brand new condensor and air handler vs simply repairing what was there.  The seller could have gotten more money for this house if he waited and finished off ALL of the details.  instead, we had a brutal experience that resulted in delays and buyers coming very close to walking away from the deal.  

I can understand wanting to get it to market in advance and certainly this is the norm for new construction, but just make sure you do dot your i's and cross your t's.  I don't think the issue of days on market applies to you as a flipper because you are much more inclined to understand "pricing it right" and far less emotionally attached than a regular home seller so you will probably have it priced to sell right from the get go unlike so many homeowners with jaundiced opinions of what their homes are worth that arent based in any factual comp data.

agreed on all accounts, if you are in the ghetto do not put signs up unless you want stuff stolen!  Heck, i know plenty of handymen that essentially LIVE in some of the properties during the renovations just to help prevent theft.  but in good neighborhoods it can certainly provide some level of advertising but I think it's probably more of a benefit to the contractors than it is the flipper/investor.

I agree with others that you really can put this on the tenant if there is nothing in the lease regarding it.  I can imagine many tenants not even knowing a house had septic until they had a failure.  This is one of those "catch more flies with sugar" situations.  It's easy to be pissed off that a tenant is damaging "your house" and they better do what "you say" but in reality, they don't have a huge reason to give a damn so simply nicely informing them of a few things to do different to avoid the problem in the future is probably the way to go.  And of course advising them to call you ANYTIME there is an emergency situation like that so that you can handle it with the people of your choice.

 If he is in Brooklyn, he can't think of buying anything at all for under $500k

more than likely, once you pass the test, yes, you will have to "hang your license" at some agency as well as joing your local board of Realtors and the National Assoc or Realtors.  Is it a good thing to have?  yes and no.  There are a lot of fees upfront to get started.  Even if you do online course work which can be found for pretty cheap, the cost of joining the various boards and the fees you will pay to  your brokerage can start adding up so if you don't close a few deals in that first year, you are going to lay out a lot of money without brining any in.  I don't think saving 3% on whatever couple of deals your family buys per year will be enough to justify it but if you end up helping a couple of friends buy and sell in addition to your own families deals, then yeah, it can be a good thing.  

I'm new to real estate having gotten licensed in April.  I hung my license at Keller Williams here in Tampa because the agent who sold us our house here was excellent and was with them.  They have arguably the best and most organized training programs to help get you up and running and productive but ultimately, Real Estate is simply a sales job.  You need to lead generate, lead generate and lead generate.  But hey, I am new to Tampa and didn't know a SINGLE PERSON that lived here and I already have 6 deals closed or under contract and that includes a 3 month period of june-August where I pretty much stopped all real estate agent type work to do a gut renovation on an investment property we bought.  If you are getting your license in a community where you have lived for years and know people, you will do fine because you will leverage all those friends and family members as your database and you will be amazed at how many transactions can come from that alone.   IF you have any questions about what Keller Williams has to offer I'd be more than happy to tell you about them.  I truly think it's a great place to start.  I may not stay with them long term because ultimately I don't know if it makes the most $$$$ sense but certainly to get me up and running they have been great and very supportive.  Feel free to drop me a line anytime.

first th ing that jumps out to me because I'm a skeptic of all things govt is that this is an error by the utility.  There was a case down here in florida recently where a woman incorrectly got a $3000 water bill for a single family house!!!!  There could be something faulty going on with the meter.  good luck figuring it out, maybe it's time to drill a well!   Thank god the govt doesn't charge us for AIR at least!

regarding inspections, it was suggested by my local housing authority that i inspect my property twice a month.  And how did htey suggest we do this?  real simple.  1st of the month, go collect the rent, 15th of the month, change the AC filters.  After 3-4 months of that, your tenant will know to expect you to pop in every 2 weeks or so and you will condition them to be on top of things.  In a perfect world, they will have the place tidy, in an unperfect world, you will catch any problems before they become too major.

I don't understand what HUD lease you are referencing? There is a HUD addendum that is required but that is in addition to your lease. You are supposed to find the tenant and sign them to whatever lease terms you choose. Only requirement from the housing authroity is that the initial lease be a full year term. You will know your own market best. Here in tampa in some of the worse neighborhoods a lot of landlords are reducing the security deposit which just seems a bit crazy to me but I could tell that many tenants were scared off by the thought of paying a full months security deposit....which is fine by me, I don't want those tenants.