All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

I find that more and more students want to have pets, so perhaps keep that in mind when you build (fence, LVP flooring instead of carpet, etc).  You can charge extra for pet rent.

I would seek a dialog with your neighbor and try to split the cost of taking down the tree.  That seems very reasonable to me.  However, chances are that she will tell you to pound sand.  I had this exact scenario happen to me.  I explored it with both, the City and my insurance company.  Neither were any help.  The insurance company literally said: "just let the tree fall and then we will talk to the neighbor's insurance and sort out who pays for the damage".  Well, I wasn't going to have my tenants injured by the tree (was overhanging my deck area), so I decided to bite the bullet and pay for the removal myself (at least, the neighbor didn't make a fuss about granting access, etc.

you need to contact the administrator of your 401k (talk to your HR department)

 Sorry, I meant what did you pay for title insurance last time?  

In any event, have you tried to get a few other quotes?  

Personally, I would probably bite the bullet and get the insurance.  The risk is probably quite low, but this has the potential to completely wipe you out if something goes sideways.

 That seems awfully high - do you recall what you paid in 2017?  You may want to shop around with some other companies.

 Good - keep that outfit in your rolodex.  That was a very fair price.

It really depends on the PM.  I get your initial reaction of "wtf, it's MY property, so I want access".  However, not having a key does absolve you from liability concerns, PLUS you are paying the PM a good portion of your monthly profits to handle your property.  So let THEM deal with emergencies, tenant calls, etc.  If your PM is doing a decent job, there really is no need for you keep a key.  

Yes, good strategy.  It is how I built my portfolio.  Check out "delayed financing option" as a nice way to "rinse and repeat".

 I used to think that too and I still prefer at least 1 1/2 bathrooms (mainly because a clogged sink or toilet is not an automatic emergency).  However, over the past 10 years, just under half of my portfolio has ended up being one bathroom units.  At every turnover I investigated whether I should consider trying to add a half or full bath and every time, I end up concluding that I cannot reasonably recover the investment.  My one bathroom units command very similar rents and have very similar (short) vacancies.  

So, while it makes intuitive sense to go for more bathrooms, if possible, in practice, my experience says that there is little or no difference - in MY particular market anyway.

@Joel Owens is a NNN guru - he will have answers!