All Forum Posts by: Mike McKinzie

Andrew Johnson, I have owned a rental, bought at an FHA auction, held for 20 years, sold for a nice profit after making LOTS of money in rent, and yet, I NEVER SAW IT IN PERSON. Currently, I own 25 rentals and have personally seen only 6 of them. But then again, I am unique, having previewed in excess of 10,000 homes in my life and reviewed sales documents on over 5,000 transactions. But I am not discounting your advice, for those new to the game, it is better to fly to the property and preview it. HOW did I do it? Having 'boots on the ground' that I trust explicitly. Having appraisals, Home Inspections and Independent property inspections (Broker,PM, Lender, maybe even a friend/family in the area). But it can be done!

There are a LOT of Real Estate Agents here on Bigger Pockets in Orange County, CA and most are very professional.  Including me.  I am an agent at First Team Real Estate in Seal Beach, Orange County, CA.  I first got my license in 1982.  As for investing in "The OC", I have done very well with appreciation but the rental income is very poor. A Million dollar house rents for $3,000 to $4,000 a month.  I can take that same million dollars elsewhere and get $10,000 a month, or more.  So if you want to bank on appreciation, go for it, but if you want cash flow, other markets might be more lucrative.  I own 25 rentals but most of them are not in orange county because I am looking for cash flow.

Josh

Excellent job creating a company.  All of your ideas are excellent.  Let me add that you need to be ready and willing to fire a team member and find a new one.  In the past ten years, I have fired six property managers and hired new ones with the latest one this month. I have been investing out of area since 1978.  The biggest reason to fire a PM is because they got too big.  They try to run a PM that is managing 500 units like it was managing 100 units, they did not not know how to scale up.  Also, remember there will come a day when you want to be 100% Passive, which is where I am today.  The extent of my “work” today is approving a repair via email, text or phone call.  And the occasional firing of a PM!

The “consent of the governed!” who has consent, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton??  Which proves my point, there is NO common good.  For what may be good for one may be bad to someone else.  32 states voted to make marriage ONLY for a man and a woman, and yet it was over turned by the Supreme Court.  How STUPID is a government to allow an Unconstitutional amendment to be on a ballot!!  Money wasted on both sides.  

There is NO SUCH THING as "the common good."  What a misnomer! Rent Control?  How about gas price control?  Health Insurance Premium control?  Food price control?  Clothing price control?  For anyone who wants to make a serious study of true "high population economics", they will see that any price control leads to economic hardships and downfalls.  Just as monopolies are BAD, government controls are also BAD.  No entity, government, religion, corporation should have that kind of control.  If California institutes rent control, I would sell all 11 of my rentals, 8 of which rent for less than $1,000 a month.  11 families would be stuck paying HIGHER rent, I would invest elsewhere (not real estate) and the rent pool decreases.  It would not hurt me at all, but those 11 families would be hurt seriously.  Anecdotal?  Yes!  Possible?  Definitely!!

I am having trouble finding a reputable Property Manager in the Kansas City, MO area.  Using Google, I am getting mixed results.  Some are not taking on any more property, some only do apartments, some only do commercial, etc....  I own two rental homes in Belton, MO, just outside of Kansas City and am trying to find a good Property Manager at a fair price.  Please PM me or post on here if you have a good referral.  Thank you.

Last year, We purchased a "turnkey" in a suburb of KC that turned out to be a "turkey," a real POS.  We have sold it twice this year and both times the buyer backed out after the Home Inspection.  This is after we have already put over $10,000 in repairs.  Since we live in CA, I need someone I can really trust to get the property up to code and up to snuff!  Please Contact me via my profile if you have a referral or are interested.  Thanks!

During my MM, I do my Silence while I am walking.  I am averaging 3 miles a day and walking at 3.5 miles per hour, I get about 50 minutes of silence.  I can actually do ALL the items on the list while walking, except reading.  Journaling I do mentally.  Visualization and Affirmation are easily done on my walk.  When I wake up, the first thing I do is stretch as much as I can for a minute or so.  Then, I stand up, turn around and MAKE MY BED.  This gets me into the "awake mode" plus I get a chore done.  Then I put on my sweats and walking shoes and out the door I go.  Most days, it is 2-3 minutes from waking up to out the door!

Matthew, some people are posting as if they have the ONLY right answer for you.  And yet, no one, not even me, has the right answer for you.  As you have noted, many folks have given good advice and I am sure some combination of several of them will work best for you.  I am very pleased to see that you want to learn and research.  Once you do a full inspection of the house, then you can start making plans.  Don't be surprised if the repairs/refurbishing costs add up.  We moved back into my parents house after they passed and the repairs to bring it back into shape are over $100,000.00.  Luckily, since we live there, we are doing about $20,000.00 a year since we are also investing actively (we have bought 12 more rentals since we moved in).  This year is all new windows and re-stuccoing the entire house.  We still need to replace all three bathrooms and the kitchen!  It adds up quickly!!  So take your time and I am sure you will choose the best plan for YOU!

We have a HELOC on our primary residence AND on one of our rentals, and use both as Tax Write Offs.