All Forum Posts by: Chad Hale

Welcome to BP!

Loads of information and people/friends that want to see you succeed!

What types of properties are you targeting? SFR, multi-family, small commercial?

Any particular areas/zipcodes?  San Jose is a huge geographical area.  Understand if you don't want to publicly post :)

Chad

@Jennifer L.  Hard to know why homes are vacant.  Are they being listed for rent or just empty.  Some investors/speculators are simply buying homes and not occupying or renting them.    Hoping to sell for a "quick" profit 6-12 months down the road.  That has worked fine the last 3ish years.  I personally would not be using that strategy right now.

Hopefully, you find a great applicant soon for your place.  Sometimes a simple math excercise of calculating dollars lost per day of vacancy plus your effort/time will help in figuring out if / how much it makes sense to lower rent in order to get it occupied and $ coming in.   Just don't cut corners on accepting a tenant!

@Jennifer L.  From what I'm seeing the rental market is cooling off a little bit (Same as the housing market).  Last year was crazy. I would receive 10 applications out of 20 people in a 30min showing.  This year it is more tempered.   I am back to phone screening applicants versus having a short (30min) open house and being done.

As far as 3x or 2.5x gross income.  It depends on the market, area and type of housing for rent.  This along with other rental criteria should be property specific to qualify the best possible tenants in a reasonable amount of time.   

Chad

I monitor craigslist for the preceeding few weeks for the area that I'm renting a property in.  I then price according to the market.  Perhaps $25-50 under depending on how quickly the owner wants the property to be rented.   Having top notch rentals in great shape always attracts great tenants.  Currently averaging less than 10 days to fill with quality tenants.  Sometimes only a day or two.

I would be cautious about getting lots of applicants and "carefully" selecting the best.  That practice often violates fair housing rules.  You are supposed to accept the first qualified applicant.

Rentometer is interesting but too varied for specific units, amenities, locale, etc.

You'll know within 24 hours if you are priced too high or low based upon the number of inquiries received.

Of course all of this can/will change as market conditions change.

Chad

Hi All,

I have a contractor I am happy with for the properties that I manage.  Not the cheapest but does great quality work and communicates great.  Please PM me for their info.

Regards,

Chad

Congrats!!  You definitely put in the hard work to achieve!  Enjoy your new adventure.

Ah Minh, did you have to just give the rent control secret away :)

I have read that ordinance a couple of times.  One of the few?

Watching the city council recently debate the rent control issue was interesting.  They stated how many times a few of those "loop holes" were actually used in several years period.  Practically zero. Ok, it was like 12.  But then they made a big fuss about changing/eliminating them.  What was more damaging to the renters was the significant increase of the use of those "loop holes" as a result of the rent control discussions.  Suddenly a lot more people were aware...

cheers,

Chad

Just had great results with Farbex Construction Services.  I will be using them again.  In fact, I'm getting a quote from them for a second project.

http: / / farbexservices  dot com

Ask for Gregory.

Chad

@Jon Quijas

Hard to say not knowing every financial detail.  Also, your long term goals/strategy influence what to do and when and at what cost/risk.

HELOC's are very hard (in my experience) to get on a non-owner occupied. As Mike said, they also have adjustable rates. One other thing to consider, is that most lenders count the entire HELOC against your debt to income regardless of the balance. So depending on your financial situation it may be more beneficial to use the available cash in the HELOC for a purchase or close it out entirely to satisfy debt-to-income for a better rate or loan at all.

Also every, refinance has associated costs.  Sometimes you can get good lender credits (at the cost of interest rate) that can change the immediate required cash in/out.

Talking with a good mortgage broker can further explain these inner workings.  It really does become a numbers game for a specific situation.  Not to mention the underwriting rule seem to be continually changing.  (Happy to share who I have used on half a dozen or more transactions, PM me).  

Sorry I can't provide any further specifics.   Hope this helps though.

Chad

@Jon Quijas  - you could refinance and pull cash out to help fund your next venture as Mike  said.  Current rates for multi-unit (3-4) non owner occupied 30 year fixed are around 4.25 - 4.5%.  

Depending on what you currently have, your cash flow numbers may not change that much?  Also, I would leave some room in your numbers for decreasing rents in order to remain cash flow positive when the market corrects.  Of course this is from a conservative perspective.

Good success!