All Forum Posts by: Sarah Anne

What I was trying to ask (poorly) was if there should be consequences if the property manager isn't getting the property filled. Or a better way to ask would be, how do I create incentive to ensure the property manager is doing the best they can to fill vacancies on my property? I want our interests aligned like Robert said, otherwise the property manager is getting an easy check for not fulfilling one of their main roles. As of right now, I handle lawn and pest fees, so if my property was vacant, they would be getting a substantial check for doing little to no work if they weren't focused on finding occupants.

What questions should I ask a maid service's references?

I already have these ones but want to make sure I'm not missing something important:

-Have you worked with them?

-How long have they worked for you?

-What were their responsibilities?

-Do they show up on time?

-Did they meet your expectations?

-Would you hire them again?

-If not, why not?

@Danny Randazzo put my list together last night of ~40 local banks (20 in Texas and 20 in Alabama)! Gonna start calling in the next week. :)

@Jill F. That's great advice! I actually heard something similar to that in a training class, where you identify your competing values (that make you fearful of certain situations), so that you can overcome those fears. They talked about creating micro practical examples, so that you could prove yourself wrong. Since, we usually need to see things for ourselves vs. just hearing it. You hear certain things to be true, but you don't commit them to your underlying belief system until you've experienced it. 

I think for me, in this particular case, the fear is the unknown/instability. You're told to go to college and get a steady income (i.e. liberal arts isn't acceptable, so engineering it is...), because that's what's going to set you up financially in life. I think I'm starting to get fed up enough (I've been fed up for a while, but not enough to truly get the ball rolling) to push into my fears and take more risk, so I can finally make my dream life a reality. The biggest thing I hate about my current situation is my lack of freedom. I don't want to HAVE to go to a 9-5. I want to do what I want, when I want. And the other big thing is the damage my body has taken from being so sedentary at a desk. I'm a dancer and it's beyond frustrating how much my body is losing as the years go by. And then the struggle to exercise/dance enough to make up for it, which can actually have the opposite effect (going between 2 extremes: sitting, and very strenuous movement). 

I could probably go on about this all day! I think I'll pull out that worksheet and start looking at my competing values to better understand them and how to overcome them. And I've also been taking very meticulous teeny tiny baby steps to just keep moving forward. I don't like the unknown (the engineer in me), so I've basically created a "Business Plan for Dummies" for myself that I'm following. :)

I'd like to start an open discussion on a topic that is near and dear to my heart: fear of risk. I have struggled with this my whole life, and am kinda getting sick of this fear I have, so I've been taking steady steps to address it, i.e. developing small habits to push me in the direction of my goals, so I'm not as fearful when it comes time to pull the trigger. I'm interested in how y'all have addressed risk, especially those that may have had petrifying fears of risk and how you are overcoming them. Thoughts?

Thanks, @Danny Randazzo! Some of the properties I'm looking at are close to $1 million, but I'm looking for a 5-10-plex, so I'm trying to stay under $1 million for this first commercial multi-family deal. 

That's good advice. I'll be sure to discuss my business plan/property types when I start to reach out to lenders. Thank you :)

Hello! I'm working the next step in my business plan, which is to actually start researching and reaching out to lenders! :D My question is 3-part:

1) Does anyone have referrals for local Texas lenders? (I'm looking to invest in the San Antonio/Austin area.)

2) How do you go about finding Rockstar Lenders? (I may have found the podcast that talks about this (one I've listened to before), but I couldn't get the link to work for some reason to re-read it.)

3) What things should I be asking these lenders?

@Keith Meyer I ran across that one in my research. Good to know others are using it too.

Thanks, @Cailyn Aune! I'll definitely be reading through his post.

I'm working on market analysis right now, specifically for multi-family. I initially just used Zillow and Trulia for rent prices. I'd like to try the 3 sites you mentioned and see how they compare.

Oh and here's another link I found:

http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2015/12...

Although I haven't found data past 2014.