All Forum Posts by: Dillon Loomis

@Jon S. sure thing my friend! Best of luck :)

@Jon S. try this link and let me know if it shows up for you...it should. 

Of course, you can add/remove a few questions depending on your area and style of investing/ideal tenant, but I hope this is a good starting point for you. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FDBKTRY

@Adam Paxton if it's a major renovation you plan to do I'd probably wait until a tenant moves out. I don't know if I'd evict someone just to raise the rents (unless they were grossly under rented) and bring an unnecessary vacancy upon myself. As always, it depends on the situation. 

If the rent has not been raised in years and the current lease does not disallow it, you could explain the need to raise the rents due to inflation and other factors and wait to do the remodeling when someone moves out, and still increase the rent in the interim. This could potentially cause them to look elsewhere and move out, and if so then you have your chance for updates. If not, you get a higher rent and can hold off on the updates/tenant turnover.

If it is quick, surface level type of work - talk to the tenants and see if they have any weekend/week trips planned. Maybe you or whoever performs the work could go in (with their permission) and do some updating, with the understanding that the rates and agreement are subject to change. 

@Curtis Gravitt Welcome my friend! This site has literally changed my life. It has taught me an incredible amount of information and keeps me motivated each and every day to be the best RE investor I can be. You have absolutely come to the right place. Be sure to take advantage of everything the site has to offer. Podcasts, webinars, forums, blogs, books to read, and of course other members! Best of luck. 

@Jon S. You could have a standard email with a survey (using Survery Monkey) to email to potential applicants, a type of "pre" screen. Often times, this can disqualify certain candidates and save you the time of showing your units to tenants who may not qualify anyhow. 

If they check out on the survey, you can then schedule a phone appointment to further evaluate the candidate. Also, you can have "open houses" where you set 2-4 hours aside for tours and schedule all potential tenants in that window in 15-30 minute increments. Showing your units with other folks coming before/after portrays higher demand and saves you the hassle of driving back and forth multiple times. If they are serious about the unit, they will come during that window of time as long as it is outside typical work hours (weekends may work best).

@Kiran Alisam Hey! I'm from Erie, PA as well and will be looking to buy my first MFH in the spring of 2017. I believe there are most certainly deals to be found in Erie, PA. I know a few local investors who do very, very well. I know others who do OK. A lot of people start in the city of Erie (cheaper prices) and branch out from there. You should consider joining the Apartment Association of Northwest PA!

@Ryan Bardo What's up man? Did you/do you work out at FitnessU? We have two Ryan Bardo's in our database lol. Anyway, figured I'd introduce myself. We are both in the same area and you seem to share my passion about RE. I have learned an incredible amount on this site. One of my reviews actually made it on one of the podcasts...needless to say that was a great day :).

Moises Vasquez Welcome to BP man. Best site I've ever been a part of. As a PRO member, you can playback all of the past webinars, which have some excellent information for beginners. If you're serious and committed to RE (real estate), you should join as a PRO. They have some excellent tools for analyzing property deals which can be exported into PDF's to take to lenders. Awesome stuff.

@Bill Gulley 

Thank you for the input! On point per the usual, appreciate you getting back to me. 

@Jack Staley 

Hey man! For starters, I would try to determine what your investing niche will be. For example: flipping, wholesaling, buy and hold, single family homes, multi family homes, etc. As with anything else, picking one (maybe 2) and specializing in that arena will allow you to focus your research/education/expertise rather than information overload and not really getting any closer to ready for the real world of investing. 

Focus on what you are good at, and what type of work you want to do. For me, I'm NOT a handy man by any means, so buying and flipping wouldn't be ideal for me. I don't want to wholesale, as I'm in RE for cash flow investing (buy and hold). I'm very organized, great with numbers and people. I want to own cash flowing properties and have my tenants pay my mortgages down over time. Knowing this, all of my research and education is geared towards this niche. In a few short months I've learned an incredible amount of information on this website alone via the forums, blogs, podcasts and webinars. Best of luck!

@Ramon Huerta

I have not, but backing up...what are your reasons to establish an LLC in the first place?

Reason I ask - I had planned on setting one up (per advice from my CPA) but upon further review and trolling the forums here, I learned that I really don't need it and it doesn't really offer me benefits in my current situation. So it's best for me to save the money!