All Forum Posts by: Drew Rees

Thanks Nathan!

I think great to give people a book to read to answer their questions.

The truth is if you REALLY want to get involved in something get ready to LEARN.

If you can't be bothered to read a book for a week, you're not ready to invest.

100% agree on all statements.

Also when writing up the contract be sure your agent has included the option of WALKING AWAY if the seller will not meet your terms.

Yup that's right. You always have the option of walking away.

My recommended course of action is that you extend the contract so that you get YOUR OWN hvac guy can get out to take a look.

Your hvac guy won't mind the quick and easy job of diagnosis, give him an hour or two of work, have him write up a lightly padded repair estimate and hand that over to the seller and ask for that amount to be credited. I tell my hvac guy to pad the quote by 10-15% to cover anything he might not have thought of.

Don't a have an hvac guy or two? GET ONE. Your inspector is a generalist, your hvac guy is an expert. He will know if the heater is even installed correctly, safely, and to code.

I'd like to say...

1- in your particular case get another opinion! Just like with medical issues got cancer, got a weird bump? get a second opinion! As others have mentioned you need to know what didn't pass and why.

2 - never ever buy a house without an inspection. In fact get several. Inspectors are not experts they are generalists. Get a HVAC guy to inspect hvac, plumber to inspect plumbing, roofer to inspect roofing etc.

AND IF YOURE A GUY - GET YOUR WIFE"S OPINION! and vice versa of course.
Women are amazingly intuitive if they say "eh... I don't like it" see if they can put their finger on it as to why.

If they can't ohhh boy... You might wanna walk... (Run!)

3 - as time goes on you will learn who's good, who's bad, who to trust etc. A PM with lots of experience will save you money! They have a network of people they use, who they know do good work, exploit the heck out of that!

 Quote for truth!!!

My take:

Situation 1 - they have a shower head they love and THEY OWN IT want to use it. - they pay for installation $25 - they can take it when they leave and you reinstall the old one charge them $25 again.

Situation 2 - they do not have a shower head but they know what they want and YOU OWN IT - buy it for them and charge $25 for installation - shower head STAYS when they leave you now have a spare shower head.

Situation 3 - similar to #1 they purchased a shower head and it is gifted to you - install it for free - shower head stays with apartment when they leave, you now have a spare showerhead

Other than that, its just customer service. What makes your customer happy and makes them want to stay? If they stay you're making money. If they leave you gotta find a new tenant and that costs you money.

State of the land is important!

This is farm land, how do you connect to water/sewer?

What is your water table depth?

Quads on a septic system is going to be a major expense and you should expect to pump it out every 2 years or so, so it needs a man hole cover.

If it is going to be septic be SURE you have sufficient soil quality for your drain field, you will want lots of sand. I would start there for your permits etc.

I'd say everyone above is right on the money!

I ran into an issue with insurance on one of my properties.

House built in 1880, 5 units with another in a semi-detached house that has its own address.

Insurance before purchase was a bear but I finally got Auto-owners to cover it.

A year later they reviewed it and oops your electrical is not up to code and now I have to spend another $30k to fix it or they drop me.

If it was only 4 units then it was likely that Foremost would have covered it with a rider. (Foremost will only cover up to 4 units and this is 6.)

I've learned my lesson DO NOT buy properties that still use screw in fuses unless the deal is good enough to cover the cost to replace!

Hi Logan,

To give a bit more background...

Right now I'm trying to stay away from student rentals, though being in Mt Pleasant and Big Rapids that might be hard to do. I'm focusing on multiple family buildings and I own two duplexes and a sexta-plex in Mt. Pleasant for a total of 10 units.

As for expanding, I'm 50 next year and I'd love to be able to retire in the next 5 years.

I signed up for Tax-sale.info to see if I can find any bargains in single family homes etc.

I prefer to buy and hold/rent rather than flip. If I do decide to flip, the focus would be to pay off mortgages to have more money coming in monthly.

I have a single family house that I own in Stanwood which is being rented and that pays the mortgage for my home in Big Rapids. I've been hoping to sell it to the current tenants. If that works then I'll have cash on hand otherwise I'll have to use the equity instead.

My previous buyer's agent and friend I worked with in Mt. Pleasant committed suicide about a year ago and I've been looking for a replacement agent and mentor ever since.

Hi everyone,

I'm north of GR, and in Mt Pleasant.

I'm new to investing but already have three properties in Mt. Pleasant. I look to double or triple my holdings in either location. I've been relatively lucky so far considering I jumped in without completely knowing what I'm doing.

Sincerely,

Drew R.