All Forum Posts by: George Red

I started investing in KC MO during the pandemic and I have a few rentals.

A few years back I put together a few virtual meetups for investors and found some value in connecting with other people who took the dive and bought properties hundreds of miles away as a way to build long term wealth. I'm the only person in my immediate circle that invests in real estate and it would be great to connect with people investing in the market so we could talk shop, commiserate about the ups and downs and just talk to people who speak the same language. Nothing too intense, just a group Zoom connect or the like to periodically to just talk shop. If you're open to it, please message me, would be interested to see what tactics others are taking, how things are going (I'm not selling anything by the way, not an agent and I don't work in real estate in any way for my day job) and trends/areas people are focusing on.

Hoping to connect, happy Friday all.

Hey @Jaycee Greene yes for sure looking for any recommendations on providers you've used locally that work with investors and have investor friendly solutions.

I was informed by KCMO Health Department that landlords are supposed to be paying an annual fee to them and they conduct inspections of rental units in the city? What experience do people have with this, is there a way out and "off" their list. Do they come through and try to justify their existence by pointing out small things for you to fix or is it pretty benign and they're just making sure you're not a slumlord? Annual "Permit Fee" of $42 annually for 2025... any insight appreciated.

Hey @Steve Johnson, I found your website but it does not explicitly mention HVAC and I actually was about to ask on the forum if anyone had a recommendation for a furnace repair job... not a big job, one unit in a duplex not working properly. If you don't tackle that type of work, have any recommendations? Looking for good first hand experience with a recommendation... just what every landlord wants, someone who knows what they're doing and is reliable. I'll keep you in mind for the work mentioned on your site.

A re-ping on this to expand to local banks too... not just credit unions. Hoping someone has a recommendation for a good financing partner local to the market. I could start cold calling but hoping for a warm lead.

Interesting, maybe a "payment holiday" on next year's taxes for the amount people have paid over what they would have otherwise been required to pay  with the errant assessments. I know I had sticker shock and didn't pay attention (I should have) to trying to appeal. It hit the pocket for sure on a per property basis. With rising values the assessment makes sense but the assessment raises seemed exorbitant.

A hypothetical to see how people factor costs when rolling equity forward into additional purchases.

For this example assume  you purchased property “A” for 100k, and put 25% down. 2 years later you sell it for 125k so you now have 50k (25k from your initial down payment + 25k in equity).

For your next purchase, would you factor your financials based on your initial 25k investment, or the full 50k you now have in pocket? If you subsequently purchased a property for 200k, would you count gains/losses against the 50k you now put in or against the 25k you started with as that’s what you’re actually out of pocket, depending on how you look at it.

I hope I worded that clearly 

Ditto, good'ol buy and hold properties. I need to practice patience as I'm at the point where I'm just about out of funds for downpayments and saving up enough for 25% down doesn't go as fast as I'd like. I'm aware of private money etc. but I've jumped into the pool of real estate but most around me are not as ready to jump in as well.

Presently evaluating refinancing to take my downpayment money out of one property (at that point it feels like a "free" property) and balancing if I should focus on aggressively paying some properties off or keeping leverage... classic dilemma I guess.

My 2 cents...

I faced a similar situation in a unit I lease. The tenant (inherited) habitually paid late and I just let it go at first because she always paid. Rent kept coming later and later in the month so I reached out to connect with her and shared the expectation that starting the month after next I expected rent in accordance with the lease or I would begin enforcing late penalties. I gave her some runway to get her finances in order and although she can be a bit of a squeaky wheel, she pays on time for the past 2 months.

As the person is still paying, I would just stay on them about the late payments, collect the late fees and inspect the property to be sure they're not damaging the inside. Assuming they're on an annual lease, I would not renew and go month to month at the end of the lease. As long as they're paying and not damaging the property I would take that over having to turn the unit, handle a vacancy and then trying to find a better tenant in said C area. A paying bird in hand so to speak... as long as they're taking care of the unit and paying. Ultimately it may be too pricey for them but they've already moved in, I'd ride that train until they got there. The turn cost and placement will be the same... you'll just get rent from now until then. Caveat being as long as they're taking care of the unit. Hope that helps, LMK if you have any other thoughts or questions.

- G