All Forum Posts by: David Lee Hall, III

Here is the problem with JUST focusing on SEO - 90+ % of clicks come from the top 3 results in Google. If there are 1000 folks just like you in your market, what are the odds you get to and stay in the top 3. Not very great. Yes it is important, but it is part of a puzzle of branding and advertising that is important but usually should not be relied upon alone. 

@Patricia Steiner isn't 100% correct (but hers is the most common). 

I have seen buyers (not you) provide proof of funds. This is usually when you have a relationship with one or more and you are bird dogging houses that meet their buy box.

I have seen hard money lenders provide proof of fund letters. 

Finally I have just seen people with a printout of an IRA or bank account statement as proof of funds.

The thing is you are working off market. This is not "my realtor meets your realtor" - it is you and the seller directly. In 3+ years I have been asked for proof of funds once. That is it. I used one from a HML then and it was perfectly fine for the seller.

@Joseph Beilke: Yeah, I am not sure how many scaled up PMs are going to share their profit margins but figured I could at least share my small experience as a reference.

I can say the professional firm I used to use was 10% plus first month and 50% of first month on renewal. There were no bonuses and I had lots of complaints from my tenants about responsiveness. I ended up replacing them once I started having similar issues with communications and they didn't raise rents for tenants for *years* despite my request to do so because "they couldn't get ahold of the tenants." When they told me their minimum fee for management was going from $65/unit to $90/unit I let them go. I am not perfect for sure, but at least have been able to have a cordial and communicative relationship with my tenants and even got one that was non-performing back in line without eviction. 

@Linda Robinson,

The issue is that a support animal is not a pet. It is a medical device and treating it as a pet legally puts you in line for a lawsuit. 

I spent about 20 minutes last night talking to our local HUD landlord liason about this topic as they just had a HUD education seminar on it last week. For Allegheny County, PA, here is the stance:

- You can't deny a emotional support animal based on it being a pet. It is not a pet. It is a medically necessary "device". It would be equivalent to denying someone for having an asthma inhaler. They have actually seen lizards brought into homes under ESA. (?!?!) Treating the ESA as a pet will potentially result in a lawsuit.
- You can require documentation (a prescription) from a licensed medical professional documenting the need for an ESA. DO NOT ASK THE REASON. 
- You can require ESA certification be provided. 
- GREY AREA: If the breed/size is an issue, you could make your insurance the bad guy and show documentation from your insurance provider that they do not allow the ESA, thus making them the bad guy. 
- GREY AREA: Using https://www.petscreening.com/ to approve/deny animals. 
- If you do not want pets, or you want to be sure to always get pet fees, even for an ESA (which you are not allowed to charge fees for), make sure the process is in your lease for identifying an ESA vs. pet and make it a pain in the back side to get an ESA approval. This way it is addressed up front, people that need it will take the steps, and people that are just trying to sneak one past you will give up most likely. 

 Out of everything @Jerryll Noorden wrote, this is all he needed to write. Motivation is everything. If there is no motivation, you won't buy a house at a discounted price. You may not be able to buy it above market price for that matter. If you don't know the motivation before getting making an offer, there is good chance you are going to get laughed at. Read up on the theory of black swans. Usually you want to uncover a person's black swan to determine why they need to sell to get the discount. It isn't a requirement, but often lets you know how you can offer (cash, terms, etc.) for a win-win.

Agree on the peephole, waste of time.

There was one place I was at that required deadbolts so you may want to check local ordinances prior to deciding. Additionally, you may be able to have her get HUD pay for it. (I have heard some crazy stories about HUD paying for thinks from ceiling fans to furnaces- evidently you/your tenant just need to know how to "use" the system properly)

Good luck on the dog. That is an excuse most people use to keep animals, occasionally it is needed. There is not enough case law on it. It comes up every other month at REIA here. Best choice of action I have heard is agree to it, but require a medical (psychologist) note for a support animal and support Animal training certificate (available to anyone in the internet which is why this is a joke excuse). Now, the big thing to tiptoe around is HIPPA/privacy/discrimination laws - you can't go asking what is wrong with them or risk lawsuits up there arse. So form the "Rx request" carefully. At the end of the day you can't have an unknowns animal, medical or not, on the premise in case you or officials (gas company etc) need to enter the unit without the tenant home. It could lead to injury or death to the person or animal.

@Bill B. I am just reporting what two National institutions reported. Additionally, you are only going to run comps agains similar style and size homes and adjust based off of those not the entire market.

You did not address the original concern of what to do for a turning market. All real estate is local and it is great that Vegas is doing great, but it also had some of the largest negative swings in the country 08-12, while PGH was flat with little if any decline. Perhaps you can address the original question of how you adjusted wholesale models in your market during that window?

Response on DMM is generally lower than 1%. You are going to get 5 calls tops out of 500 mailings over 6 months. You can’t have that little of a volume for any real business. 

I am in Pittsburgh which had a 13% drop in median Listing price recently as reported by Realtor and Redfin. What does this mean? When I do my ARV I BETTER look at listed comps too and likely drop my ARV 10-20% based off of sales to be able to stay ahead of the market. Additionally, if you are working with a limited buyer pool, you better make sure they are still buying o and are not spooked off. If you have 1,000+ folks on your buyer list, that shouldn't be an issue. "A" school districts recover faster and hold value better, so target them more on DMM. Those poor school districts? Make your offers even lower. People are going to hold onto their current mortgages at low APR like a loved one because with rates going up they likely aren't going to be able to afford as much house at the same monthly payment and in a recession there are going to be fewer move up buyers.

You can order one online for $10. If yours doesn’t comply with local code, any handyman or plumber should be able to update with your other punch list items