All Forum Posts by: David Cook

@David Cohen If you aren't doing so already I would suggest running your future purchases through a good SFR spreadsheet like the one J Scott has available in the resources section of BP. That is going to give you a far more realistic idea of what your numbers are going to look like over time than following x% rule.

I would never concede $200 a month and my market is not nearly as rent-able as Houston, Texas.  Occasionally I will have someone ask for a significant reduction, utilities included, etc... I typically don't respond to these inquiries because in my experience this a red flag of a high-maintenance tenant.  Understand I'm not accusing you personally of this behavior but in my experience the tenants I have given the best deals to are the ones that ask me to change the light bulbs and batteries in their units or ask for expensive improvements to a property right before it's time to sign a lease.  With that being said I will concede 2-5% of monthly rent to avoid vacancy or for a highly desirable tenant.   

I'm not an expert on this by any means but I asked an accountant friend this same question a couple of weeks ago. I was currious if the tax ramifications of buying or selling an LLC were different than just buying or selling the properties. He told me that in his opinion the tax implications would be the same for the seller and that it was generally not advisable to buy an LLC but instead to buy its assets, aka the property owned by the LLC. The reason for this is to protect oneself from unknown liability. For instance if you purchase the LLC you can be sued the next day by a tenant for an event that occured prior to your ownership of the LLC and property. Hope that helps.

@Jarrod English be sure you check how different companies or individuals are calculating their numbers.  I've seen people assume really optimistic figures for things like maintenance, legal, and insurance.  Sometimes, but not always, individuals and organizations that promise lower returns are simply being more honest or realistic.  I would recommend you go over these numbers with at least one other non-partisan investor familiar with that market.  There are loads of people out there trying to sell the RE equivalent of magic beans, fortunately most of them know better than to be too vocal on BP.  Finally, while your goal may be cash flow, keep in mind that sometimes properties that can produce higher returns require more competent and active management.  You should feel good about your returns, you should feel great about your management.

@Brandon Turner , maybe they are having a tougher time making ends meet since their product was legalized. He/she should consider moving to less progressive state.

@Clint Dorris There is no need for secrecy as far as I'm concerned. I manage the properies for my family. My father got involved in some real estate development just before the housing crash. we were able to trade some of our more upscale homes for a larger number of townhouses off of Old Humboldt road. You may be familiar with it since you are from the area, the development is called Whisper Creek. It's proven to be a good move from a cashflow perspective although it certainly wasn't the outcome we had in mind.

@Mehran K. Thank you for the welcome! It's definately been a crash course in some regards. I've learned a few lessons the hard way but all in all I've discovered I have something of a passion for real estate investing.

Hey Sheri,

I'm also In Jackson and new to BP, welcome!

Hello BP community,

My name is David Cook and I'm a part-time property manager in Jackson, TN. In the future I hope to build up my own portfolio of buy and hold properties to help produce relatively passive income. In the meantime I hope learn from and interact with folks on BP.