All Forum Posts by: James Brewer

Most garage door openers can be cleared of all remote pairings. They can also be paired with most any remote. Rather than keeping track of which goes to what, just store a pile of remotes. Grab one an pair for new tenants. Collect remotes and clear pairings as part of move out.

Hi James, my husband and I admin Wisconsin Contractor & Handyman Club on Facebook, a wild, wild west of contractors and property owners coming together. Reviews are shared in the group as well.  From running this resource, I notice that the contractor/handyman world is ever changing. Who I recommended 2 years ago may not be a person I recommend any more :) 

You are welcome to ask in the group for what you are looking for. 

Top things to get before hiring:

1. Copy of driver's license

2. CCAP check

3. W-9 (if over $500 and not a inc)

4. Lien Waiver--anytime payment is made

5. Insurance

6. Verication of all contractors that will be on job site--just ask are they doing the work themselves or subbing

7. If a license is required, DSPS check

8. Formal quote or contract in writing with clear and detailed expectations of each party.

Check WI contractor licenses: https://app.wi.gov/licensesearch

Check for judgments, liens, lawsuits: https://www.wicourts.gov/casesearch.htmCheck LLCs: https://www.wdfi.org/apps/CorpSearch/Search.aspx

@James Brewer, I hope all is well with you and appreciate you asking this question. 

I came from what people would call the "inner city" of Milwaukee, WI. It has not always been the best place to live but made me who I am today. Someone with a life's motto of "Raising the Standard of Living" for my tenants, clients, investors, and the communities I serve. The inner city is what it is due to lack of investments which creates opportunities for those residents. Some of the residents who do not take responsibilities for their lives, their families and where they live causes more damage for the whole then just themselves. Because some of these bad apples causes trouble doesn't mean we should turn our backs on the community as a whole. Some of these residents go to work everyday and pay their bills on time because of their pride to be a standup citizen. 

Growing up in this type of neighborhood teaches you how to survive and to not trust outsiders. If you are going to invest in these areas, go there and meet the people. Get someone on your team that knows the community and the people. Despite the drama, the people in these communities know what is going on in their community and if they know you are trying to improve their community they will look after you and your investment. 

Don't turn your back on investing in a community that could use your investment to better the environment and other people lives. The greatest gift you could give to someone in the "inner city" is a home that looks like it should be in the suburbs. The smile on their face will be worth the investment.

Beleza,

Charles Anthony
  

I'm not sure what the term inner city represents in this discussion but I have been doing class D for 15 years. I'm currently selling some off but still I have them in multiple so called inner city regions.  My generalized description is not 100 percent classless and  destructive individuals with no jobs or credit. My generalized definition of the inner city is not some place I'm afraid to drive in, full of gang bangers, gun shots or tenants who die from drugs. I've had my share of horror stories but have achieved tons of success and profits as well. One of my  low income families are the best tenants I have ever had in my entire history of investing. They have never ever been late with any payment for years. It's there on the 1st every month. They are very clean, respectful and treat my unit like it is their personal property. I've had a few section 8 tenants that were very good as well. If anyone has ever listened to a Dr. Joe podcast you will discover that 100 percent of his tenants are section 8 and come from class d communities where he puts them in thriving communities. I have a Masters degree and I lived in the inner city. I have never over dosed, shot someone or car jacked an old lady. I'm actually afraid to ask what the definition is since in DC these so called lawyers, doctors and professionals are gentrifying areas like Anacostia and Congress Heights in SE DC. In essence, many people are highly successful in this space and part of it is understanding and respecting it. If there are several people who say they navigate these environments without all these horrifying and despicable experiences, it would behoove you to consult with them. I have never met an investor who is emphatically successful in this asset class to have all these generalized descriptive assessments of the term inner city, let alone tell another it can never work. If done right it can be  a substantially rewarding power move.

@James Brewer we sold our one property that could be considered “inner city” (and Denver isn’t a rough town at all compared to many, even the worst parts aren’t bad compared to cities on the coasts or the rust belt). On paper, it should have had the best returns of all of our properties by far but in reality it performed the worst by far. What kept it from reaching its potential was higher turnover (from issues beyond our control like tenants dying from overdoses, bed bug outbreaks from someone bringing in a mattress that spread throughout the building, gang activity scaring people away, loud and abusive tenants causing issues, stabbings, shootings and kidnappings at the property, etc.). This building wasn’t even Class D, I’d call it C- on purchase and as we completed our value add and kicked out the riffraff we improved it to C+. However the issues persisted due to not being able to convert the whole neighborhood around the property into a place that would attract good tenants and keep them there. It’s hard to screen tenants well when none of the applicants have good credit, good jobs, good references, clean records etc. that you want because if they did they wouldn’t be choosing to live in that neighborhood. The building also had tons of deferred maintenance and hidden issues. After a bunch of years doing this I’ve found that spreadsheets can be deceiving. Our best returns have come from the properties that had less cash flow on the spreadsheet and our worst returns came from the ones with the best cash flow on the spreadsheet. I even live within an hour of all of our properties, started off self-managing everything as well as doing all the turnovers, maintenance and repairs myself. Even the plumbing, roofing, you name it. If I had been out of state, we would have lost so much money on the one property mentioned above that we sold. Or we would have had to just not do what needed to be done and let it fall further into disrepair, which is what a lot of landlords do and that’s why these types of buildings often have so much deferred maintenance. You can make money on these properties but you have to be willing to deal with tenant issues all the time and also be okay with your property being in bad condition. The low rents don’t justify keeping up on all the cap ex and increased damage from the way tenants treat their units. For example I would rehab a unit, get it really nice and then have to do it all over again in 6 months when the tenant died in there from an overdose and trashed the unit before they died getting wasted with their “friends”. In order to make money I would have had to do the bare minimum to the units and just ignore a lot of the problems. Not for me and we’ve gotten much better returns from other buildings with lower cap rates in better locations that have had much better appreciation, steeper rent increases, less cap ex, maintenance and repair issues, property management fees (I no longer self manage everything) etc. and require so much less brain damage to own and operate. That’s why the golden rule is “Location, location, location!” I recommend buying the worst property in the best location you can afford, and improving that property up to the median standard for the location. We’ve made the most money when we’ve done this, regardless of the projected cash flow on the spreadsheet.