All Forum Posts by: Dan Shelhamer

I think a list of vetted contractors (with their specialties) that are willing to work with investors and give discounted rates would be an awesome tool to have.

I use Zelle or Venmo and if tenants don’t want to use that they can pay directly through the Buildium app which is only 1 business day. I also love that Buildium gives the tenants the ability to pay weekly, every other week, etc.

I am currently reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. It is an awesome book with great advice on how to better manage your day to day activities and free up the “mental weight” of all that you need to get done. Just wondering what apps people are using out there that coincides with the philosophies of this book? Thanks!

Some ideas & things I have used to scale:

• Cash flow Recycling - don't spend the money you make early on, reinvest it!
• Partner - find good deals and money will find you!
• Creative financing - house hacks, low down payments, getting credits from lenders or sellers, seller financing!
• BRRRR strategy - my favorite method currently, pull your initial capital back out and keep using it over and over!
• Creating systems to automate as much as you can!
• Networking - you never know who you will meet and what they can bring to the table for you!
• Refinancing & HELOC's!
• Luck & Timing!

I completely understand all of your points.  This is for a "C" property, duplex.  My normal qualifications are a 550 credit score but I tell people we are flexible on this with a co-signer/high security deposit.  It's a lower income area and most people I rent to don't have great credit scores, otherwise they would be buying and not renting. 

The bigger concern and question I have is do you ever look past someone's criminal background if it has been a very long time since an offense?  Unless you are renting 'A' properties, I think it's very hard to find a perfect tenant.

Revised for formatting issues:

So I am filling a vacancy right now, and a potential tenant reached out through Zillow to get more information. Well, it turns out I actually work with this person at my full time job. She is a customer service rep, very hard working, and has worked here for 12 years.

The situation

• She and her husband make plenty of money to cover the rent.They make about $100,000 combined ($47,700/annual would be 3x rental amount). She has 12 years with our company, and he works a Union job for the last 10 years.
• They have currently been renting the same house for 10 years at $1,500/month, but their landlord just gave them 60 day notice that he is selling the property. My rental would be $1,325/month so definitely more affordable for them.
• She has also offered to pay rent every pay period (every 2 weeks).
• Their credit isn't good but she said they have been working on it. She has a 502 and he has a 574.
• Her criminal record is clean. However, he has was found guilty of a felony, burglary (no possession of a weapon), in 2009. It looks like he served 6 months of periodic imprisonment.

I am all for 2nd chances, especially being that this was 9 years ago.  How would you all approach this?

So I am filling a vacancy right now, and a potential tenant reached out through Zillow to get more information. Well, it turns out I actually work with this person at my full time job. She is a customer service rep, very hard working, and has worked here for 12 years.

The situation:

• She and her husband make plenty of money to cover the rent.They make about $100,000 combined ($47,700/annual would be 3x rental amount). She has 12 years with our company, and he works a Union job for the last 10 years.
• They have currently been renting the same house for 10 years at $1,500/month, but their landlord just gave them 60 day notice that he is selling the property. My rental would be $1,325/month so definitely more affordable for them.
• She has also offered to pay rent every pay period (every 2 weeks).
• Their credit isn't good but she said they have been working on it. She has a 502 and he has a 574.
• Her criminal record is clean. However, he has was found guilty of a felony, burglary (no possession of a weapon), in 2009. It looks like he served 6 months of periodic imprisonment.

I am all for 2nd chances, especially being that this was 9 years ago.How would you all approach this?

I am going through the same question myself right now.  Most of my homes have come with a washer/dryer. 

However, I recently just added the hookups in one of my units on a duplex and I am going to leave it as just hookups and see if the tenant I choose has a washer/dryer themselves.  If I have a very qualified prospective tenant who insists they have to have a washer/dryer in order to rent the unit, then I will buy a washer/dryer to put in that one.

I think just having the hookups is a great way to separate yourself from the competition, and then see what kind of tenant pool you get.

Another question I have relating to this:

Do you buy used washer/dryer (cheaper but potentially more maintenance issues) or brand new (more expensive but less maintenance and possible warranty)?

@Will Coleman great job! Just finished the rehab part of a BRRRR myself! Looks like an awesome property. Did you do the whole purchase and rehab with hard money?

@Chris Pierog thank you!  I currently work a full time job in sales and I acquired my previous deals through just saving as much as possible.  Also, then using the cash flow from that deal to snowball into down payments for my next purchases.  You can really accelerate your savings when you apply that cash flow recycling mentality.

I started off house-hacking by accident, before I ever knew what it was.  I bought the house I live in currently when I was 24, and my friend and brother ended up moving in with me, and eventually my now wife who was my girlfriend at the time.  This was the catalyst for my interest into rental properties because I saw how quickly I could save money when my biggest expense (my mortgage) was covered and then some!  I HIGHLY recommend house hacking either like this or buying a duplex.  It's kind of like training wheels for being a landlord.

The best deals are probably off market through wholesalers, but I have only used the MLS up to this point so I can't knock that method either.

I purchased my house hack with FHA financing (3.5% down), and by luck I bought in 2012 which was a great time to buy, although I didn't know it at the time. Now my house has appreciated enough to have over 20% equity in it, so I refinanced into a conventional loan to drop the PMI and lower my payment down.