All Forum Posts by: Raquel L.

Sorry all, for the delay!! Thank you, Steve, for waking me up in this forum!! :)

@Naveen Desai I am not experienced in rent-to-own, and it's a landmine in terms of legal issues to do it--I wouldn't attempt that with these dinky little properties because my time is more valuable than the small additional cash I'd make on the sale. I'd rather cut losses and move on to a better area.

@Steve Babiak The update is this: All of the houses are rented now, except for one. The one that isn't rented has underground plumbing issues, which were fixed once, and happened again, costing me $6000 the first time-- so I am selling the house, as is, at bargain bin prices. For a buyer, it's at a 3% ratio because it rents for $600-$700, and we have it up for $27k. With the other 3 properties, one of them was never an issue, because it's in a better area. The other 2 needed price drops to get them moving, plus, the inspections process kept dragging on. BUT--finally rented, and a few months in now, with cash flow. I'm keeping them at this point, because if the tenants turn out to be good, there's really no hassle factor. Let's see what happens...

@Walt Payne 3 of my properties are in the heart of the ghetto--they're nice properties (I rehabbed them) but they're in pretty bad areas. I do have boots on the ground in PA, but they can't force people to rent, you just have to lower prices until the deal is so sweet for them rent-wise, that good tenants can't resist. You also have to add things like washer/dryers, etc. That's what I've learned thus far, at least. We shall see if the current tenants stay long-term. I will certainly be doing everything in my power to incentivize the tenants to stay, and pay on time.

In the meantime, I've learned my lessons on market research-- when I bought those properties, I'd never heard of market research (I don't remember Rich Dad, Poor Dad saying anything about that, lol!). Now that I know, I'm very careful, and I follow the growth. I'm still building my portfolio, but this time, the eggs I'm putting in my basket are B Class.

Hello all!

I'm looking for a landlord who is open to allowing me to rent a unit and sublet it via AirBnB when I am not in town. Specifics:

Benefits to YOU:
-A tenant who is a landlord, responsible, clean, and pays on time, but usually early. ;)

-Insurance in case of any accidental issues (AirBnB guarantees $1,000,000 in insurance for your unit, so if an AirBnBer destroys something, it will be taken care of).

-I screen all of my guests, require positive reviews, and ID showing that they are who they say they are. I've had zero issues with a guest thus far.

-If one unit works out, I may be interested in renting more units-- I have excellent credit, am responsible, and have the utmost respect for your property--I am a landlord myself!

What I'm seeking:

-A 2 bedroom in any of the following cities: Brentwood, Century City, Beverly HIlls, Hollywood Hills, or West Hollywood.

-Washer/Dryer in unit.

-2 parking spaces.

-Modern, clean unit.

If you or anyone you know may be interested, please let me know. :) Thank you!!

@Evan R.

Thanks for the link-- I read through it. :) There IS a petition that's begun to hopefully make it legal.

https://campaigns.peers.org/petitions/legalize-airbnb-in-west-hollywood is where you can sign and pass on the info to your friends, if anyone is interested. I'll be looking for more of those, so if you find one, post it here, please!! :)

I've been doing the AirBNB now for the entire month of April and have managed to cover P&I on my mortgage while vacationing!! This is an awesome way to make money, but there are definitely risks involved, and I don't look at it as long-term in the city of Los Angeles.

I'm curious to meet others that are doing this/have done this for an extended period of time. :)

Hi Evan!!

Wow, you're incredibly with the data!! I've posted the listing:

http://airbnb.com/rooms/2686329

I put it on @ $99 to start, and I'll see how that goes, since I don't have any reviews, etc yet-- have to offer at bargain price to entice. :)

I have tons of questions-- how did you find out the vacancy/occupancy rates? Where is that data? Also, how did you find the average rates, etc-- ? I've been trying to search AirBnB for data, and it's pretty unfriendly for it. I also wanted to search for apartments by sex of the owner (a female might be more likely to stay in a female owned listing I would think), etc-- but also, no way to search for that. Something I'd like to be able to see is the highest rated WeHo listings, but they don't have a priority listing system.

Thank you so much for the spreadsheet-- I will check it out when I can get to a computer. ;)

R.

Thank you, Evan! Wow--3% on SuperHost seems fantastic, compared to 25% on the other one. Yowch.

My property is a 1/1 in a quiet building in West Hollywood--a few blocks from Runyon Canyon, Whole Foods, any kind of food you can dream of, Ralph's, etc. Heart of WeHo. No view, really-- but it's a rear facing unit, no noise. Pool, hot tub, exercise room, and one parking space.

I signed up for AirBNB-- my place is extremely minimally furnished, so I'm not sure if I'd try to start as is at a lower rate, then use the profits to update little by little until it's... well, swanky enough to command a higher rate. ;)

Hello all, I'm interested to find someone that is currently working the AirBNB market in Los Angeles. I'm interested in renting out my place while I'm traveling to make a bit of additional cash flow/offset my mortgage and expenses.

I'd like to find a good cleaning service, info on smooth management/key exchange, etc.. as well as any and all experience in this market and using AirBNB.

I'd love to hear from someone local!! Thank you!! :)

@Duncan Taylor 6 more months of the good fight, and I'll be there. College of hard knocks first.

@Brian G. Sorry-- I missed yours when I replied! No, I wouldn't purchase them today-- so the real estate guys would say I should dump them, but I like a challenge, and I've already paid my tuition to this school, so why not get the most out of it by seeing it through? That's my thought here. Also, when I bought these, I had no idea that there was such a thing as an exit strategy besides refinancing out the cash-- now I know I'm supposed to have 3 of those coming into a deal-- which is how I run my business now. BUT... at this point, the exit strategies that are available aren't looking that great, so I'm going to instead strive to do my absolute best in whipping these little guys into shape.

@William Donaldson Not harsh at all-- I put these up here for scrutiny for a reason, and as the title says--young, dumb choices in real estate. ;) I appreciate the advice, and in a way, you're right-- but I've decided to give myself six months to turn these bad boys around. I've already begun a very constructive dialogue with my current PM, but am also interviewing others in that I've been referred to in case of emergency-- it never hurts to be prepared. I realize that I've not given my PM enough incentive.

I'm going to change my contracts with her to state that she will receive 120% of the first month's rent if she has the property rent-ready and inspected 4 weeks following vacancy, 100% if it's 8 weeks, 75% if it's 12---etc... that way I'm leading her with a carrot on the stick, rather than just a typical stick. I think this is pretty unusual for this area and these types of properties, but I think it's the perfect remedy for her to give my properties priority over the droves. I also took note that I haven't inspired her to do better-- I think something I've forgotten is that a PM sometimes needs guidance, kindness, and inspiration. They too, are human, and get overwhelmed. I'm going to take this fine opportunity to train myself to be a more inspirational landlord.

@Chris Catt Yes, I was actually in Pottstown when I wrote the post-- I spent 10 days there. I grew up in that area, so I've seen it through it's many stages, and compared to where it once was, it is only a shell of it's former "glory" if ever there was glory to be had there. :P Many of the companies surrounding the border of town have moved out-- Gudebrod (which made the majority of dental floss in the US for a while), Mrs. T's, etc-- also, some of the main shopping centers have extremely high vacancy--flagship stores have left, supermarkets, etc. So while I did note that there are some new businesses, and some very old established ones that were there since I was a kid, I also see that there is emptiness where there was once vitality. They were working on a revitalization program for a while, but of the contacts in both real estate and other industries relating to it in Pottstown, they tell me that attempts are failing. Just sayin'.

@Robert Leonard Funny you should mention this-- I actually asked a friend of mine, fellow landlord who owns 15 units in Ptown, if he was interested in managing and he said he's trickling his properties into another landlord's care for management--I got the number to that guy, and will be making that call this week. :)

@Kenneth Shelley What a wonderful thing to offer--greatly appreciated!! :) Let me know if you end up connecting with any other landlords in the area-- I'd love to hear what they have to say. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you in getting started over there. I have a few great people on my team (none of them PM's, so far though, so you're out of luck in that realm) :P

@Jerry Kisasonak The sub-par tenant choice has faced me twice. One year, I gave in and took the sub-par tenant, and shockingly had a 15% COC that year... but also had an 8 month eviction that followed, along with full turnover. So, this time, it's careful screening all the way. I do agree with those being the lay of the land, but, when I'm here, I somehow manage to get these places turned over in less than a month-- so there's something wrong with management if they can't do the same.

@Steve Babiak Hey -- thanks for joining in. I was hoping you'd pop up in here. :) If those are the two guys I'm thinking of, you'd be referring to my one that is occupied, but non-cash flow... that was my big 5k plumbing issue place. I actually succeeded in getting the taxes lowered on that one because the board didn't like those guys and felt like I'd gotten such a sour deal (it's not actually a sour deal, but hey--my taxes went down on that one, which is a miracle, so I kept my mouth shut!).

As for Section 8, the PM (you know who she is) has them listed as Section 8 as well-- and her strategy is to accept a 3 bedroom voucher for my 4 and 5 bedroom properties in order to lure in a "nicer" tenant. So far, it hasn't panned out. The big issue here is actually not that tenants aren't biting-- it's that she hasn't turned the rental property over-- the one has been vacant since August, and just finished the repairs for inspection yesterday--now she has to schedule the final rental inspection. She is *NOT* on the ball here. The other one has been vacant since September, and when I popped over for a visit, there was junk in the yard and on the side of the house (which quickly results in a hefty fine around here), etc-- which is as simple as calling my contractor and paying him $50 to put everything in his trailer and haul it away. Simple stuff.

I wrote the PM an email earlier today stating my displeasure, and she chose to ignore it--answering other emails in reference to other things we are wrapping up. That's not a good sign other. Sure, give her a call! ;)