All Forum Posts by: Devang Patel

I just closed on a new home and am looking to rent out the home.  A possible tenant called me and said he is interested.  He brought up the issue that his daughter has been in a coma for four years and there is a lot of hospital equipment they would need to keep in the home.  He is asking for the bottom unit rather than the top.  My question is, what are the type of things i need to be aware of from a landlord's perspective on this unfortunate situation?  I do not want to discriminate, but need to be aware of all of the risks associated and what steps I would need to take.    

What is the general consensus on rents throughout the country?  They seem historically high.  Is there a bubble forming here?  What generally causes rents to go up and down?  What would cause rents to come down on a macro level?  

I got you.  Just a tough choice b/c my Realtor is a friend who has also helped me out in a lot of ways with learning the business.  I will talk to him.  Any other tips?

no i do not have that setup yet.  he may have it setup for himself.  i will ask.

Hello fellow bigger pockets bloggers.  I bought my first cash flow investment property in october of 2014 and it has been performing well.  I have been looking to close more homes since.  I have been going through an agent that is a friend and have a lender willing to provide 15% down.  Unfortunately, since the first home i have not been able to close any more.  Seems like the homes are not on the market for more than a week or two.  I have been in contract on a short sale and i am on month 5 as it is still moving very slowly.  I am looking in the plainfield, nj or linden, nj area.  Any advice?  My aim was to purchase 5 properties by the end of this year.  

So it turns out that section 8 has different policies on a town per town basis.  Luckily, the city I purchased the home in does not require a CO.  Section 8 does their own inspection and this is all they require.  I renovated all the work the city inspector asked me to fix on the temporary CO, but I did not close the permits.  The permit office was a disaster as I got a different story on every visit without ever actually finding out what work was completed prior to me for which they wanted to open and close a permit for.  Then the plumbing inspector came by just to tell me he was not going to actually look at the plumbing b/c I needed to open a permit for A/C unit and HVAC.  This was after the office told me I should have the plumber come into close the plumbing permit while I work on the other permits.  And, of course, the level of rudeness was on a level I have never experienced even at the most depressed government offices.  I am a bit worried on if I will ever be able to close these permits now.  

They have already approved the amount of rent.  The case manager is out for training all week, so that has complicated matters.  

I closed on a home a few weeks ago for which the town inspector gave a list of items I needed to fix within the house and some outstanding permit.  All the fixes are done but the permit applications are stuck with the town in a logjam.  I have a great section 8 tenant who is ready to sign the lease and move in on November 1st.  Both our background checks passed section 8 criteria.  The only remaining item is the town inspection.  I currently have just the Conditional C/O for the home.  The town inspector is telling me tenants can live in the home with outstanding permits.  However, would section 8 be OK with this?  And would they be OK with a tenant living in the home prior to final C/O being provided if just the permits are outstanding and all work has been completed?

Thanks for the advice!  I am going to be investing in more low income communities and most likely will be renting out to Section 8 tenants.  Low income housing provides me the entry price which I can afford.  In these areas, the job market is normally underwhelming.  Should I still be looking at the same factors given my strategy when looking into future rent rates?

I just closed on my first cash flow property a few weeks back and I am very excited.  My question is in regards to the future of rental prices.  As a cash flow investor, current rental rates are very appealing.  However, what is the expected future of rent?  It almost seems eventually these rent prices have to go down since they are so high historically.  I am worried I invest in 6-7 properties only for my monthly cash flow to be cut due to a dramatic drop in rent prices.