All Forum Posts by: Dumisani Thomsen

We use REI Hub to manage 12 units. Does anyone have any recommendations for a quality bookkeeper that can categorize transactions and generate reports on a monthly basis? Most of the bookkeepers we've seen use QuickBooks and Buildium, but we've personally been using REIHub for a year or so now. Overall we are happy with the software, just want to outsource those tasks.

Thanks in advance!

Scale up! 

We'd like to double the number of units from 8 to 16 units (at a minimum...more if possible). Shooting for 2 quadraplexes. 

 Yes, the $101k is about 30% equity and the $186k is about 39% equity.

@Scott Crowley well said, I agree!

The point about kids and family is spot on. My son moved 3 times before he was 2.5 years old. At the younger ages (baby to toddler) the moves aren't that bad, but once they get settled in school/ daycare, community, etc. it gets way more difficult to handle the logistics of a move so I think getting started in REI with a few hacks is great especially if you don't have the flexibility of not having a spouse/ partner or kids.

 I'm in Plymouth. Down to connect whenever!

All of our deals where on market from the MLS. We've mainly purchased towards the end of the "season" in late fall/ early winter and offered 20% down, quick closes, waived inspections, etc.

Columbia Park upper level is $1,635, lower level is $1,650. Both are ~1,100 to ~1,200 SF

If you do house hack, you're going to be a landlord AND a neighbor so the dynamic is a bit different than being just a landlord.

In my opinion you need to develop a good, polite/ respectful relationship with the tenant, but also establish clear boundaries. My wife and I lived with our young son in 3 different properties so having a safe environment for our family, being good neighbors and balancing the business side was important to us. 

Our management philosophy is "firm, but fair". By that I mean that I mean:

1) We have strict tenant qualification requirements that we don't deviate from (income must be 3x rent, 1 month security deposit, solid employment, credit score, no felonies, etc.)

2) We lay solid ground rules upfront so everyone is on the same page, like no drugs, late night partying, loud music, locking up common areas, security, etc. 

3) At the same time we like to be friendly, personable and be flexible on things that we can accommodate. Check in on things, develop the relationships, over communicate stuff like maintenance requests, rehab projects, etc.

4) Finally some small nice gestures go a long way like sending a small gift card to your tenant to thank them for shoveling the side walk, buying them a coffee, etc. One of the guests on a recent BP podcast episodes talked about this concept and I agree wholeheartedly in the phrase she used that "tenant turn over kills cashflow". If I can spend $20 on a gift card once in a while and check in to see  if a tenant needs anything or offer to swap out a hard to reach light bulb  to keep them happy and satisfied I'm more than happy to invest in that.

I appreciate the feedback. We're hoping to capitalize on some of that panic soon!

Thanks!

We have a townhome in Maple Grove that was our original primary residence, 1 up/down duplex in NE Minneapolis by Columbia Park built in the 1920s, 1 up/down duplex in SE Minneapolis by Lake Nokomis built in the 1960s, 1 triplex in Plymouth near Parker's Lake originally a SFH built in the 1960s, converted to a multi-family in the 1980s.

We've had a lot of success doing house hacking. We joke that our target seller is an older guy with a Nokia flip phone. Each property we've purchased has been owned by an older guy with terrible listing photos taken on an old Nokia phone and has been in need of a few minor cosmetic updates like painting, flooring, fixtures and maybe a small bathroom or kitchen remodel here or there. The rents have been low so with making a few small small changes and getting new tenants in place we've been able to increase revenues.

I'm a big fan of house hacking. We've done it 3 times.

With a hack you can get into a multi-family property with little money down, reduce your cost of living, gain equity and experience doing small projects on your own property. After a year or two of saving and tapping into your equity you can do it again.

You mentioned student debt above...Just a side note, I had around $40k in student debt and paid it off in about 2 years. My personal preference is to buckle down and pay off the student loan debt ASAP, then use the money that went towards the student debt to save for an emergency fund and down payment so you start investing in real estate. For me personally it's been very freeing to be done with student debt and once I was done paying my debts it's like I got an immediate raise overnight. Just something to think about.