All Forum Posts by: Emmett Bond

Thanks for the “name dropping” @Yonah Weiss!  Like you, I studied and was fascinated by history. From a young age, I was reading entire encyclopedias on world history.

I may not have known it at the time but I was fascinated by learning about the succeses and failures of others before me. It felt like "cheating" because I didn't have to learn all the same lessons the hard way, from the school of hard knocks.

If history has taught me anything, it is that an individual person from even the most humble and unfortunate circumstances can forge their own path and accomplish incredible things that defy the odds - whether that is wealth generation, empire building or just making people enjoy their lives more.

Little secret? I actually never finished ANY formal college, nor did I even graduate high school, but I never stopped learning and often have my "higher educated" friends and acquaintances with formal degrees coming to me with their tough life questions and everything from business advice, relationship advice, tax advice and investment advice. Go figure 🤷‍♂️ 

My thirst for knowledge and "a better way" was how I found real estate! Knowing the rules of HOW a game is played and won is the most fundamental step to winning at that game, yet it is so often overlooked. Achieving financial freedom is no different. If you know how the country’s tax laws work, investing in real estate is a no brainer to anyone who has any foresight! 

Hi @Paul Doty, been going well. All rents have been paid on time so far except by 1 tenant. Just went and checked on the property over the weekend and spoke with each of the tenants. All is well, so far. 

Hey man, you can ask me anything, but agreed that it would be better not to do on a public forum like this. 

I am hunting my next deal still but will be interesting closing on it because traveling or even visiting properties locally are going to be severely hindered over the next 2 months or so. 

If one comes along in an area I know well and has good fundamentals in place, I would buy it, even without personally seeing the property. Right now, while there is the most uncertainty and worry about this slipping into a full-on recession or depression is when most of the competitors for deals will be sitting on the sidelines. So if any motivated seller raises his hand, I will be interested in a jiffy! 

Don’t get me wrong - by cash flow positive, that assumes the same generous financing terms I was able to get with motivated owner financing and assumes me not hiring a property management company or having to pay them a portion of rents. 

Because it is such a small property and close by, I don’t mind managing it or dealing with the occasional call from a tenant complaining of loud electric humming throughout the building, only to find out it was a side effect of new blood pressure meds! (True story from this week) 

I also had to go into a bit more rural small town area than most investors are comfortable with. 

So it may not quite be as attractive as many of the out of state markets YET. But still worth keeping an eye out. Hoping some mom and pop folks reaching retirement age will want to offload some properties before real estate goes through a correction- may find some more motivated sellers that way. 

So far all of my tenants have paid this months rent except for 1 tenant that was laid off prior to Coronavirus nuisance, who pre-paid for 4 months using his tax return so is still covered... for now. 

Did have one tenant text me saying “I heard on the news that we don’t have to pay rent.” Thanks to mainstream media for heavily diving in and covering groups of tenants in Seattle and other countries who are all deciding they won’t pay their rents at the same time in an attempt to prevent any one of them from being evicted. 

Always count on them media folks to sensationalize and skew the story in a way that further polarizes people, instead of encouraging a positive message that we are all in this together and each of us have our own bills to pay. 

It was down the 5 freeway a ways - just South of Skagit County, in the Northern end of Snohomish County. 

I replaced out the C02 detectors by myself, but hired a local handyman to patch the holes in the roof, replace some of the rusty Roof screws that had lost their insulation washers and to swap out the water heaters. I went to Home Depot and picked up the eater heaters and a few of the parts, then the handyman did the rest. Charged $250 per water heater, which is less than half of what a plumber would have charged. 

And as a result of these upgrades, I was already able to raise rents for all 4 units by $100/mo. Rents had not been raised in over 2 years and were well below the market average there, so it is still a great deal for the tenants to stay, all of whom want to stay. The one who lost his job (before Coronavirus shutdowns) got his yearly tax return and Immediately paid for 4 months rent upfront and is actively working on finding a new job. So far the tenants have all been very easy to deal with. 

Hi @Paul Doty,

No problem. Attending a virtual meeting with locals would be nice. 

Yes! The 4plex went through! I own it and it has been going well. Some inital upgrades were needed (2 new water heaters, fixing a few small holes in the metal roof and replacing all CO2 detectors), but nothing out of the ordinary. 

Was able to get Owner financing, amortized  over 30 years at 3.25% interest! Needless to say... Property has been cash-flow positive  since Day 1, despite one of the tenants losing his job during the sale/transition. 

@Quentin Collins, the main pro to having the hot water outside is that you don’t have to use up space inside, which is especially important with smaller properties. The cons are that you would have to build or buy a shed or attachment to the house to hold it in. And, depending on how cold winters get where the properties are, you may have to spend extra on thick insulation so that you’re not paying a fortune for electricity by trying to keep a “hot tee cup” (water heater) hot when it’s sitting outdoors in below freezing weather. 

As for tankless vs regular with a tank, I also would opt for regular. Even the cheapest 40 gallon water heaters that Home Depot and Lowes carry are going to be higher quality than some bulk contractor grade water heater. Someone above mentioned Lowes has one for $330. So does Home Depot - plus they have a deal where if you buy 3, they are only $300 apiece. 

I bought a Fourplex where 3 of the water heaters were almost 20 years old and showing signs of imminent failure. So I opted for the 3 cheapest Home Depot ones. 

Unless your property is going to be rented out to a large family that all takes their showers back to back like a football team, there’s not really any benefit to having a tankless water heater installed. 

My advice would be go with a regular 40 gal tank and if tenants ever complain that they are running out of hot water before they finish their World’s Record longest showers, use the option of upgrading to a tankless unit as a reason to raise their rents or get them to sign a longer lease. That’s about the only way it would be a wise investment IMO. 

Hi Paul, wish I could come but that is the morning my wife is scheduled to get induced if our baby isn’t born by then. 

No chance of moving the venue to the hospital cafeteria? If not, please send me an invite next time one comes up as I genuinely want to attend. 

Thanks man! Been hunting for a deal like this for a long time so was ready for it to fall apart with some sort of deal breaker but... finally it all just fit into my criteria!