All Forum Posts by: Elijah White

@Brianne Leichliter I have been saving 10% of the month's rent for repairs and 10% vacancy. I am planning on increasing that after this month; I haven't calculated the exact amount I will be trying to save, but will base the numbers off of Brandon Turner's article here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/... 

I have owned one of the rentals for 5 years, but only been renting it out for one year. The other rental I have had for 6 months. I have had both properties inspected prior to purchase BUUUUT I did not have the sewer scoped on either property which I will definitely due going forward. 

Thank you @Marc Winter for your response. The pipes run under the house in the crawl space. I did not explicitly tell him to leave the water dripping in both faucets, which I will be sure to make clear for future tenants. Is there any way to help prevent the pipes from bursting other than thawing them out? Should I have the tenant not run the hot water any more so it isn't increasing the pressure in the pipes? Sorry if these are dumb questions, still learning!

@Jay Hinrichs

Thank you for that advice! Both of our rentals are in Wichita, but our home is in Texas. If we end up getting properties down here though I will be sure to keep the foundation maintenance on my list of preventative measures. 

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to this post, it helps to know that almost everyone has experienced something similar in their investment journeys. I realize that I need to be setting aside more for capex and savings for repairs. Thankfully I am not reliant upon the cashflow from these properties and any money made is just more money that I invest. Unfortunately, I just had ANOTHER frozen pipe this morning so I will add that to the growing list of expenses this winter storm has cost me. If I could take one lesson away from this whole experience, it is this: preventative measures are well worth the time, effort and expense if they can save you from scrambling to fix a problem when something does go wrong. In the future I will ensure that all my properties have insulated pipes! You live and you learn! 

Also, with regards to home warranties: both of my properties have home warranties on them, and they have been useless in saving me any money this month. I have had a main sewer line clogged with tree roots, two frozen pipes, one 220V outlet that needed to be replaced and a refrigerator that went out. The warranty covered the refrigerator but that ended up being a simple fix that would've cost me less than the "trade call fee" if I had just found the contractor myself. At this point I feel like the warranties are a waste of money, but then again my HVAC might go out in a week and if that is covered then I will be thankful I have the warranties! 

My tenant called me this morning to tell me that the hot water is not coming out of the faucet and he thinks that the line might be frozen. He left the cold water dripping overnight so that is still working but he didn't leave the hot water dripping. I contacted my plumber but they are so busy with frozen pipe calls that they won't be able to get out to the property for 3 days. My tenant is able to use his partner's place to shower for the next couple days so that's good, but is there anything I should be doing in the meantime until the plumber comes out to the property? I live 4.5 hours away or else I would try to thaw the pipe myself. Additionally, the hardware stores in the area are sold out of pipe insulation and heating tape so I'm not sure what else I would even do if I were close by aside from trying to thaw it with a blow dryer. 

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Hello all, 

I have two rental properties in Wichita, KS; both are single family homes that should cash flow around $250 per month but the repairs and fixes that I have had to do over the past six months (and especially the last month) have just been destroying my cash flow. A few months ago I had to have a tree cut down at one property, which cost $1050, then this month I have had a frozen pipe at one house, a clogged main sewer line at the other, a broken refrigerator and an electrical issue. In total, I am looking at ~$750 in repairs this month alone!! Is this just part of the growing pains and part of the learning process to become a real estate investor or am I doing something wrong? Should I never buy houses that are built before 1970 again? Both of these houses were built in the 1950's and I wonder if maybe that is part of the issue.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Thank you all for your help! I realize I should have had more of our qualification standards in the post. I ended up just doing a copy and paste response with our basic qualification standards; we will see how much that helps. 

I posted our first property for rent on Facebook marketplace and have received over 35 Facebook messages inquiring about availability and showings. I used Rentometer and Zillow’s rent estimate to determine my rent, but now I’m thinking it is way too low. So, should I remove the listing and repost at a higher price, or is it normal to have this many inquiries normal and the majority will flake out? 

I found a property manager with good reviews and references. They sent me a contract with the fees outlined and they are as follows:

1) One time start up fee of $299

2) Leasing fee of 50% of first month rent for the first tenant placed

3) Leasing fee/renewal fee of $175 per lease signed or renewed 

4) Management fee of 10% of gross rent collected or minimum of $75 each month. AND 100% of late and additional fees. 

Additionally under their maintenance portion:

Owner is to pay Manager’s maintenance division $50/hr and $80/hr for HVAC plus 110% of purchased items or 110% of independent contractors fees for these services, repairs, and improvement from OWNER’S funds.

I was mainly taken aback by the hourly rate of the maintenance division, the management company keeping all the late and additional fees, and the “110% of purchased items” portions of the contract. This is our first property and I feel like these fees are a bit excessive. However, there are no property management companies with as good of reviews.

Are these fees to be expected for working with a property management company?  

Thank you @Chris Dawson!