All Forum Posts by: Craig Janet

I'm busting my butt for 10% return on my rentals. It's very tempting to sell and get 5% for doing absolutely nothing. I just know I'll probably regret it after 5-10 years. 

I hate the all the cold calls from wholesalers especially when they act like potential tenants for a vacate property. Then at the very end of the call they ask if I want to sell. Very annoying. 

I have no problem with them making money if they were at least upfront about the transaction. If they said I'm going to offer half of what your house is worth because your desperate and or ignorant but I have no intention of actually going through with sale. Then I'm going sell it for what it's actually worth but if I can't I'll just walk. That would be a tough sale.   

I've bought plenty of off market deals. I will contact the seller, view the property, and then make a offer. If its accepted, I call an attorney to draw up a purchase agreement. Then we close on the property. If there is any problems the attorney will contact the person needed. I don't see what value an agent would have given either party.

The only value I see with an agent is to show the property. Because people will always want to look at it at the worst times. Many won't even show up. Many others can't afford the house or they are just kicking the tires. No way that's worth 6% which could be tens of thousands of dollars.

 Maybe it's different over here in Louisiana but you certainly can just walk away without any explanation. I do my own inspections so there is no official report. I've told sellers thanks but no thanks, and walked. 

I hate to say this but your realtors and lawyers may not be looking out for your best interest. They are trying to persuade you to continue the deal because that's how they will get paid. The contract has an inspection period, you inspected it and it failed. It's that simple you can walk or renegotiate, you don't even have to explain. If you haven't paid any deposit, it makes it a lot easier for you.

I'm just curious how did you not notice $27K? Do you get monthly statements? How was the PM hiding this from you?

I have a line of credit that is backed by the equity in my rentals. The rates have increased from 3.75 to 8.75. This adds hundreds of dollars of expense to any potential deal. Housing cost have not decreased nearly enough to offset this, making deals impossible for the math to work. So I'm just waiting. 

Just let them deposit the money at your bank. I offer all online payments or apps but some still want to pay cash. So I just give them my account number and they deposit it directly into my account. Give them a choice, either pay electronically or physically drive to the bank every month. Some of the older folks actually enjoy the interaction with the teller. 

Your CPA is worried about an audit because you are expensing things that should be deprecated. There are some grey areas in the tax reporting AFTER its in service in regards to whether an expense is a repair or improvement. 

To answer your question there is no magic number that will trigger an audit. How lucky do you feel?

 This is great advice. Unless the house is completely wrecked or severely dated for the area  "major upgrades" rarely payoff. Fresh paint, new floors, make sure everything works as should and get as much rent as possible. Do the math, if you spend $20-$50K in improvements to get a couple hundred dollars more in rent, it doesn't make sense.