All Forum Posts by: Jenny Drabant

I want to put in a full bath in the basement of my two flat for a place for my in laws to stay while visiting and also possibly to AIRBNB. I was told I cannot pull a permit to put a full bath in a basent unless I do a duplex down permit. I have a nut neighnor who calls the city when I clean my ducts here so not interested in doing any unpermitted work. Just really want to finish this basement; it's a great space. 

Looking for reliable contractors in the greater Huntsville area. Electrician, roofing, general carpentry and handy man, remodeling.

Thanks!   What’s her contact number?

Hi,

My partner and I are looking to buy single family homes and duplex opportunities in the Huntsville, AL area. We need a realtor and property.

@Todd Fithian

That’s why I proposed the question to see how many in the Bigger Pockets world goes by the book or goes by a feeling.  :) It’s common for new investors take a more personal towards their application approval approach.  And yes I would have to agree that going by the book does NOT guarantee a perfect rental situation.   Going by the book, however does avoid any discrepancies of fair housing practices as well as weeds through the prescreening.   Ultimately at the end of the day experience does teach us not to touch the burning pot.   Thanks for your experiences and insight on this.   I can definitely say I have had bad renters that’s more The night met the qualifications by the book as well as great renters that we toolkits a chance on.   

I particularly am of the opinion that everyone is on their best behavior during the showing and application processing.  So you really don't get a feel for the kind of person they are until after all the dust settles from their move in.  My advice was to stick to the qualifications he set forth for approval on credit, income, and reference criteria.  Its a better practice to do that anyways as his investments continue to grow.  Thanks for the input everyone.  

Inherited tenants are always a coin toss.  Glad you had a great experience @Heath M.  Its sometimes hard for tenants who get used to practices from one owner and have to get accustomed to a new owners practices.  Sometimes its just better to cut the cord in the beginning.  

Just spoke with one of my new investor clients today.  He recently purchased a 2 flat that he is planning to live in and update in one unit while renting out the other.   (NEW HOUSE HACKER, CONGRATS!)  Anyways, we were discussing how to select an applicant to lease.  He wants my assistance (I'm a Realtor) in helping to find a qualified tenant for his unit but before a lease is signed he wants to meet with them first.  Now, I advised him one way and he agreed to proceed with that.  I am proposing the question to everyone else here just to start a friendly discussion and maybe get some different perspective.  I can see that there are definitely points to be made on both sides of the coin.

The question is:  After you have processed an application that meets your credit and income approval, do you have to "like" the tenant in order to proceed with renting to them?  (Take out the way off variables like "political beliefs, crazy cat people, or any other sort of non-conforming oddballs that you meet from time to time in the rental world.)  

Happy Thursday Everyone!

The seed money is a partnership. Where one partner brings the cash, the other manages the asset. He wants nothing to do with managing the property. Expenses would be split in thirds. So my wife and I would own 2/3 and he 1/3. He would only ask for a certain percentage on his money each year, a small amount 3-5%. The benefit of his money is that he is a top broker and finds deals that others who may have money to invest would not. If we wanted to be bought out, he would do that. If we wanted to sell, we would sell or be bought out. 

I'd love other opinions on this. So my wife and I both work (and basically run) part of a management company of about 30 apartment buildings. We make decent, fair $. Our shared goal is to own our own properties. While my wife likes property management, I have recently finished a MSRE degree in RE Development and have no desire to run another person's properties any more.

We want babies, to start our own investing and real estate venture, and are always always super exhausted. We work our tails off. Our plan was to help fix the unorganized company, then move out of state to a more desirable city. Plan was to move South.  

My boss (there are two) doesn't want us to leave, so he made an incredible offer. He offered us $1,000,000 in seed money for apartment buildings so that we stay at the company, we get to own something, and he still gets to own too. He offered us each 1/3 ownership with a small percentage (3-5%) on his money. He may just be blowing smoke, as is his usual deal-closing behavior, but he has come through on every promise he has ever made me. He has worked me to death, but he has never cheated me so to speak. So we think he's serious. He's not a bad guy, but he's already made his millions and can be incredibly unclear at times and difficult to work with. Other than that, his experience is invaluable to us. We put him to the test already, and he made a small cash offer. (It didn't go anywhere as we pulled out.) He would likely find the deal since they don't buy anything but off market. We are trying to find a deal ourselves, but it may take a while.

So my question is, do we take the offer and stay at a job that we have outgrown? Do we need to ask additional questions? Do we just ask him to give us all the buildings and pay us a management fee so he can stop being in the management business and just be a broker? We are beginner investors with a ton of education and experience. We've just always worked for others. My wife is a power broker, she just hasn't stepped into it yet because she puts all her energy into managing leasing apartments). I project manage and flip entire apartment buildings. I'm leaning toward saying no because it is money in exchange for my time and career. It's not just money in exchange for us managing it. It's money that may never come. Or money that may come, but will force us to stay at a badly thrown together management company that they don't 100% let us run. My wife is thinking it's not an offer we are likely to get elsewhere from a partner who will likely never even drive past the properties. Also, she hates Chicago. We're kind of torn. We'd love your feedback on this.