All Forum Posts by: Elenis Camargo

@Jasanna Czellar As a cat owner myself, cat urine is one of the WORST smells to have in your home!! So sorry to hear you can’t get rid of it. I’m not an expert in this but I can’t imagine how urine could seep into concrete? Have you tried replacing the dry wall? At least the part that the paint is cracking off, that’s probably the affected area. Maybe the baseboards too if there are any. I’m not even sure who you’d call to help with this. I assume a contractor would know what to do...

@James Brunetto, jr For rental properties cash flow is #1 for me but also making sure it’s in a good area. If the crime rate is high where it’s not safe to walk around at night, then I don’t want to have a rental there. I’ve only invested in one city so far but I did consider growth of that city, making sure it’s a city where new jobs are coming into and people are moving there. I didn’t want a small town because then you have a smaller pool of tenants and companies usually don’t open new jobs in those smaller towns. If you haven’t chosen an area yet, I’d say find the city/area first based on growth and safety, then go looking for properties. I think if you’re looking for properties without being focused on a particular area then it makes it much harder. I invest in Jacksonville and the city is so huge land wise that I’ve only really researched a handful of neighborhoods in the past year. And that’s looking at properties almost on a daily basis.

@David Medina I know how hard it is to want so badly to get started but not being able to. Reading through the thread, you’ve gotten a lot of great advice. I agree with many on that you should work first on paying down your debt. A hard money lender is an option but they require at least 10% down or more, depending on your experience. You can use your rental as experience but it won’t go too far. They also require good credit to offer that 10%. Not sure how your credit is. There is not really a “no money down” option unless you partner with someone or you work hard to find a seller finance deal who is willing to do $0 down. Wholesaling is an option but I heard it takes a lot of work, I think it might be one of the only true “no money down” options for REI. When we started we spent a year paying down debt and saving. Yes it sucked sitting on the sidelines for a year but that’s what it took and now we have two rental properties that we purchased 8 months apart. In your shoes I would create a plan to pay down my debt and save in order to purchase properties. Also narrow down what strategies you want to follow. Do you want rentals or do you want to do flips or both? If you want rentals, do you want to rehab or do you want turnkey? There are a ton of things you can work on while you pay down debt and save so you can be ready. Best of luck!

@Carly M. If they estimated $800 to $1,000 for house cleaning and yard work, I don’t think they can send a bill for 3x that amount. That’s crazy! Did they send an itemized bill? Does your contract with them state that you have to approve any expenses above a certain amount before they can proceed? I’ve read a lot about PM’s because I eventually wanted to start my own (I’m self managing now) and read how they all make a % on top of the work they contract out. This is understandable since they are coordinating everything, but still, many do take advantage of this. You might want to consider self managing. I do it from out of state and it’s not so hard. You hired a PM to make your life easier and they just made it more complicated.

Hey BP! Any wholesalers in the Jacksonville, Florida area? I’ll be looking for a flip in the next few months and wanted to start receiving deals. I am on a few lists now but the more the merrier. Thanks!

@Alina Vengerov I see! If you’re from this area and your careers and families are here then of course you won’t want to leave. I hope you can find it! I’m sure there has to be something out there, even if it needs a major renovation it could be worth doing. I don’t see NY prices doing down any time soon or ever. They just seem to keep going up and up. I found a property manager to list the property which included pictures, listing, showings, tenant application and walk through. I manage it now that it’s been rented out again. It’s not too hard. I have connections now that I built over the past 8 months that help me when there’s an issue and if there’s a new issue (like now I need a bug guy) I just ask for referrals or I google companies that can help. I accept the rent payments on Cozy.co, which is free for me and for my tenants.

@Glenn Cheshire I would try contacting other lawyers that can help. I know a great one in Florida that I can recommend, but I'm not sure which state you're in. Definitely getting your name taken off the property is the best for this scenario. 

@Jeff Mills I'm pretty sure section 8 tenants have strict guidelines about not being late on rent and that they have to pay their rent or else section 8 will stop helping them. As @James Wachob said, call MHA and talk to them about this tenant if you're wanting to keep it as a section 8 property. The other option is let them know you'll be renovating the property and give them time to move out, then sign an annual lease with the next tenant. I don't like the idea of month to month leases. They can leave you at any time and you have to pick up the pieces. I'd personally go with option 1: move them out, renovate and raise the rent. But just make sure that there are other properties with the same standards in your area before doing this. For example, you don't want to put the $10k in and then find out all other properties around you are outdated and rent for less. 

@Alan Pederson Love it!! People will always call others crazy who they don't understand or who are taking risks. If they want to play it "safe" and work at a job and not invest in their futures, then that's their problem. Love how you tune them out and keep on going!

@Deepak Bhadauria How long does the PM have to rent the property before you can cancel? Or is it a one year contract whether or not they rent out the property? I would ask them for hard feedback. Ask how many times they have shown the property each week for the past 3 months. Ask what are the potential tenants telling the PM as to why they are not applying. Ask where they are marketing the property. You are entitled to some answers here. My PM took 3 weeks to get my property rented out. He gave me updates on a weekly basis. Just when I was about to ask for an update, I had one in my inbox. I thought 3 weeks was a long time but 3 months is pretty ridiculous assuming your property is in good condition and at a reasonable price. Best of luck!