All Forum Posts by: Giovanni Isaksen

@Elizabeth Colegrove I admire your energy, stamina and willingness to fly back and forth and sleep in hotels... and pay for all of that. Of course if the properties are located in places you want to visit making them work/play trips is great.

Personally I get all the business travel I 'need' during the market research, due diligence and acquisition phases. Once a quarter after that usually is enough.

@Shaun Anderson unless you're planning to move to Columbus, you will definitely have to outsource the prop mgt in order to keep an eye on things and provide good service for your residents.

That said like @Elizabeth Colegrove points out, you will have more control if you do it yourself and it will be quite an education... but that 2,500km commute will be a long one... and the time change, isn't Columbus 2 hours ahead of you now?

I would find the apartment owner's association(s) for Columbus and start networking, the information you receive from fellow owners is far superior to anything the 'gurus' are pitching.

Good hunting

@Shaun Anderson hiring professional property management is the difference between being in the property owning business and being a landlord. Having grown up in the landlord business I much prefer the property owning business. For a small portion of collected rents someone else will handle all the tenant issues from marketing vacant units to evicting them if necessary. The property manager will coordinate maintenance and repairs and prepare the financial reports for your review. It also means no middle of the night phone calls to you from tenants.

While the 'sticker rate' many property managers quote is in the 5-6% of Gross Operating Income range, figure all in with assorted fees and charges it will run 9-10% of GOI.

The key of course is to find a good property management company, one that is competent, honest and fair. The second key is that your job is to manage your property manager to make sure they are achieving your goals for the property.

A quick Google search on Regina property management brought up seven names. To find the good ones I recommend joining your rental housing or landlord's association. Attending their meetings will allow you to network with other property owners and get the straight story on who to hire and who not to.

Good hunting-

And then there's this: Calculated Risk blog (Great on housing and the economy) reported on the MBA's Index of home purchase mortgages; it's at 1998 levels- http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/04/mba-mortgage-applications-decrease-in_30.html

Good hunting-

@Cal C. I don't know if the homeownership rate is going all the way to 55% but that is the trend. In addition to the factors Sam and @Jon Holdman mentioned there are two more that are having a significant impact.

I think an underreported issue is that the prime first time homeowner demographic are 'children of the housing collapse', who grew up watching their parents and friend's parents lose their homes or be stuck with negative equity. Like children of the Depression, the traumatic events of their youth will influence their attitudes and behavior for a long time. For many it will be a lifetime.

The second issue is the exploding levels of student debt and its effect on graduates ability to qualify for and afford a mortgage. As of last summer the amount of student debt outstanding was almost $1 Trillion (with a T!) and growing at a compound rate of almost 14% annually. That is more than is owed on credit cards or auto loans.

Have a look at these charts below. The first is from a Fed report updated a year ago. The report essentially concludes there's nothing to see here move along but the charts (starting on page 34) lay it all out. http://bit.ly/1kcqOUN

The second and third charts are from a Barclay's report out in 2012 that was reported on by Sober Look showing that while college graduates have an income advantage and could presumably buy a house more easily than non-graduates, the number of those who do is crashing. The final chart compares the credit scores for graduate and non-graduate potential first home buyers and shows that only those without student debt have rising ratings. http://bit.ly/1hOoExj

OK those charts are tiny so if you want to see them in a larger size shoot me a message with your email or check out the links.

Good hunting-

The deal pencils pretty nice if the deferred maintenance is minimal:

I was just about to hit send when this report on the Sacramento apartment market from MPF research came in: http://www.propertymanagementinsider.com/sacramento-apartments-putting-up-strong-numbers.html (You may have to register to see the video but it's free)

Can you increase rents and/or other income $100 per month if you do the work? If so it will pay off in five years. The pitch to the tenants is that it will reduce their total cost of living in your property. Your net cost will be what it costs to replace the system less the service calls, brain damage and time it will cost you to keep the current system operating. If there is room to raise the rents/other income and the tenants are unwilling maybe you will have to replace the tenants at the $100 higher rent/other income to recover the cost in five years.

Good hunting-

Hello @Malcolm Jackson An sfr is a Single Family Residential dwelling, in other words a house as opposed to a plex (2-4 units) or a multifamily property (5+ units). 'Nine ways from Sunday' is a figure of speech indicating that there could be many ways to do something, for instance analyze the investment value of a house.

RE: your last question, as an apartment guy at heart I share your interest in finding information and education that is specific to multifamily/apartment complexes but a funny thing happened along the way. In most of the markets we're active in re-urbanization is where the trend of demand is and this means mixed-use properties. I've seen mixed-use properties that had everything from offices, retail, self-storage, hotels and even public parking under or attached to apartments. So guess what, I'm learning or re-learning a lot about commercial space and leases these days. To that end I wouldn't disregard the more rounded education the CCIM courses provide.

Good hunting-

+1 for @Brandon Turner and @Alan Charles recommendations. It really helps to know how the math works, forwards and backwards. For that I highly recommend Frank Gallinelli's 'What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures' http://amzn.to/Zv0Zph (On Amazon). Frank is a member here and posts occasionally too.

Good hunting-

You're welcome @Kevin Young. I believe Gary Tharp developed the xls sheets that are used in all the CCIM courses. He is a member of the Society of Fellows of the faculty at CCIM.