All Forum Posts by: David Light

Good question. I just had turnover in a property for the first time since investing. I currently live in London and the house is in Abilene, TX so it was remote and challenging. The only way I was able to do it was with some boots on the ground from other people. 

Leading up to the lease ending I published ads for the house through postlet's talked to potential tenants, along with my brother n law who lives in Texas and fielded some calls, and when I was happy lined up an appointment with the existing tenant for the applicant to view the property with a family member that is in town and had a key to the house. Luckily I was able to arrange viewings at similar times so in one visit 3 people would see the house making it easy for everyone. The applicants had no idea where I lived as I use a google voice number. 

When we found a tenant my brother n law worked with them to obtain the application, learn more about them and get their background check run. He is not in Abilene but atleast in the right time zone so this was very helpful. 

Leading up to the move out and move in I dealt with the existing tenant remotely on when they would be out and lining up a time to get keys. My brother n law worked with the new tenant lining up their move in date, cleaners, carpet cleaners and minor repairs performed by the family member that lives in Abilene. 

The key was communication between all of us and having help in Abilene. In the end the new tenant was very eager to move in and we managed to have the old tenant start moving out a before the lease ended on Nov. 30 as it worked for their new house as well and they needed awhile to move. They had the house empty and just stuff in the garage which allowed us to clean and repair everything prior to Nov. 30. 

On Nov. 30 the family member in Abilene collected keys from the old tenant and on Dec. 1 changed the locks and gave the new key to the new tenant leaving us with no down time and no pro-rated rent!

There's no way to do it without someone in town that has a key to help show the unit and let cleaners etc. in and out. If you have that. It's totally doable.

Welcome Mike, bigger pockets is a great place to learn and network!

congrats!

David Renner is a great inspector there. Used him do four houses so far. We just put a roof on a house there but not sure who did it as my partner organised it. I can find out and let you know.

welcome to bigger pockets! I invest in Abilene as well. Great city.

Welcome to BP Cooper! It's a great resource. I have some properties in Abilene and have really enjoyed the market there. What's going to be your first step? Wholesaling, SFR, duplex?

$800 of unplanned tree trimming and removal later, I learned to not forget the trees. The first house we acquired was in a new development with no trees so I never thought about the cost of maintaining them. However, the next two houses we bought have trees, BIG trees. They're in a well established neighbourhood and the trees make it nice but we overlooked the cost of trimming them when buying the houses. We recently visited the homes and it was glaringly obvious they needed trimming in a bad way and one of them was actually dead and at risk of falling on the house. A quick phone call and it was all taken care of as an unplanned expense. Not a huge deal but we could have taken care of it when buying the house and planned for the expense, potentially at a lower cost. So I wanted to share my lesson with everyone else. Don't forget the trees!

Daniel, Your ability to finance largely depends on your personal income and ratio of debt to income. Most lenders will not include rental income in that ratio until you have tax returns for at least two years showing the income. After taking a look at what that means for you it's a matter of how fast you want to grow. Leveraging with debt can help you grow faster but brings more risk and you have to be comfortable with the level of risk you take on. Personally, I'm leveraging properties to grow faster but paying down the mortgages on a 15 yr time scale versus 30 to reduce the debt quickly. This impacts my current cash flow but works for me. Hope this helps, David

We've got quite an Abilene crew here! I stay out of the flood areas as well Jessica. I believe the flood insurance rates are controlled by FEMA so they won't change from one provider to another but I could be wrong.

Everyone has their own strategy resulting in different rents etc. We just closed on our fourth house which was a foreclosure. You're doing good to get educated and hunting for deals based on your criteria. The Abilene market is small enough we may be bidding against each other!

On a side note, I've seen some new bandit signs around town. Is that someone here on the forums?

Howdy, great intro. You can put me on your list! Although I don't currently have investments in College Station I've been looking for the right opportunity.