All Forum Posts by: Dan Jones

Thanks @Elliot Kelley.  I'll give her a try.  PM on the way.

I am looking for something slightly outside the box.  I have a condo that I need to rent out on a new august to august term in Iowa City as my current tenant did not decide to renew.  I self property-manage the property and plan to do my own advertising for the vacancy.  However, I live about 40 miles away, work full time and have a new born child, so its hard for me to do showings.

Does anyone know a real estate agent or maybe even a property management company that would be willing to do showings only for my vacancy?  I would pay per showing.  Additionally if the place doesn't rent and I decide to sell I'd give them first go with selling the property.  I'd run the background checks, and do my own lease signing - so this is really a showing only need.

Same as Ryan for Cedar Rapids or Iowa City.  Please let me know when/if you expand to these areas.

My word you all replied so quickly!  Thank you!

It sounds like the thing to do is a bit of education.  He got a better plunger after the first toilet incident and he talked to his daughter about proper female hygiene disposal after the 2nd.  So it seems like he has a willingness to learn.  I'll give him a call this evening about how to fix his disposal.

I do also like @Neal Little's suggestion - going to wrap up some kind of service call surcharge (after x visits) into new leases.

Thank you again for the replies.

I recently moved in a tenant to my 4-plex apartment building who seemed like he was going to be a great.  Income verification, background, credit check all were great.  He is a male in his 40's with a teenage daughter and a younger son.  However, he has been there a month and has already put in three service requests.  Two stuck toilet requests (same toilet), and a stuck garbage disposal request.  The solution has been very simple to all these requests - Plunging the toilet with a proper plunger and hitting the reset switch after using an Allen wrench on the disposal unit nut (to free the clog).

So the issue isn't that the problems are hard but they are quickly eating up time and handyman money.  As I live 30 minutes away, each 5 minute fix is an hour round trip - and my goal is to have these investments be as passive as possible.

So what do I do?

I don't want to be up there every week doing trivial fixes.  But, I don't know if I can just start calling a handyman and sending him the bill.  He pays his rent on time and isn't a problem to the neighbors so I don't want to start a problem.  I'm still a fairly new landlord so I'd like suggestions on how hard to be on this tenant that is being a sore thumb.

Hey Patrick,

I have a unit with a coin operated washer currently but I own the unit.  Are these leasing options you are talking about?

Welcome @Lynnette Wissink .  I'm also an investor in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor area.  Still building a portfolio but I'm closing on a 4-plex in marion this week so I'm in the game.  Good to see more wholesalers in the area - when I was looking for a deal a few months ago it was looking like slim pickings until I engaged this community.

@Mike Young - Neighborhood is definitely something I'm trying to keep in mind and the SE side especially around wellington heights has a bad reputation.  That said I would love to be in contact with someone who is selling owned rentals that have a good history.  Please if you have his contact info pass it on, much appreciated!

@Patrick McInerney - Hey Patrick, sure please send me the location information.  I'll PM you as follow up.

@Andrew D. - Buying a rehabbed and rented property from a current owner would be a perfect situation. I do my own property management currently, so full service turnkey is not quite ideal as I don't need the property management company. However, being new to REI and having a full time job means that I don't have the education, experience, and time to go whole hog buy distressed property, rehab, and rent.

"There are landlords such as myself that for some reason have decided to scale back or change directions in their investing and would be happy to sell a couple of properties with good tenants in place."

So that is EXACTLY what I am looking for and turnkey is just the closest term I could find to describe that situation.  So thank you for putting it simply and giving me an avenue to pursue!  I'll follow up in PM to talk specific people and properties.

@Ted Rave - Julie Freeman manages the local Cedar Rapids REI. PM me if you would like her contact information otherwise @Glenn McCrorey linked me to her and I'm sure could do the same for you.  There is also an Eastern Iowa Corridor REI group that works in Iowa City, North Liberty, Cedar Rapids area that has a meetup.  That meetup can be found here - http://www.meetup.com/Iowa-City-Area-Real-Estate-Investor-Meetup/

Hey Beau,  yeah it was great to meet all you guys.  I'm new enough I don't even have a business card so I imagine I left with not many people getting my contact info.

Its good to hear that they at least exist, and I imagine any good neighborhood turnkey in our area is going to be pricey. I actually talked to Greg at the CR REI meeting so I've got his contact info.

Continuing to look into investment options I've been learning about turnkey investing and it seems like it may be a good match for me in terms of my experience level, time, and investment strategy.  As in I have little experience, not a great deal of time, but would like to start slowly growing an expanded portfolio.

That said google has failed me *gasp*, so I'm turning to the good folks at the forum!  Are there any turnkey companies that deal in the Eastern Iowa Area (Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, North Liberty) that you know of?  Have you dealt with them in the past and if so how was the experience?

I suppose I should define my understanding of turnkey as a property that is bought, rehabbed, (perhaps) rented and is for sale.  Thanks in advance!  This forum and its local Iowa members have already been a huge help to me.