All Forum Posts by: Isaac S.

Great thread!

everyone else has covered most obvious points about the logic behind breed specific dog bans and best practices for dog friendly landlording.

One thing I have not seen mentioned, is that even the nicest well meaning dog owner can raise a killer dog by treating it too much like their child and not the pack animal it is. Just watch some episodes of the "Dog Whisperer" and you will see plenty of nice, well to do, caring dog owners that have dangerous dogs because they let the dog dominate them, and become possessive, territorial, and therefore, dangerous. The dog does not use enlightened human logic and conscientiousness, it uses instinct and training...if it is not trained properly it only has instinct, and if it is bred to have instincts of an aggressive dog...you could have some problems, even with the best intentions.

I have rented to dog owners and I have been a pitbull owner myself. The most common problem is not the feel good intentions of the owners, it is the lack of knowledge of proper dog training.

It is easy to spot a scumbag-gangbanger-a-hole-criminal-felon with an aggressive dog(unfortunately, almost always a pitbull) but, the real problem will be when those good tenants with jobs, good credit and kind hearts, are so puzzled as to why their perfect little 70lbs sweet pitbull baby bit someone.

Lastly, a question to the OP.

 Are you running a business or political dog advocacy group? 

Your job is to make a good profit providing a clean, safe, and well maintained housing unit. Your actions, while guided by well meaning principals, could create an unsafe environment for your other tenants or neighbors. If you want justice for aggressive breeds of dogs, start a foundation or donate time/money to a rescue shelter. If you feel comfortable risking your assets  for a tenant and their dog, go for it, but the courts and insurance companies have already determined that you will have some liability, if/when something happens.

Just my two cents.

1. Go to biggerpockets.com and ask advice.

2. Take that advice(most of it) and hold it near and dear to your heart!

3. Never ever ever ever deviate from that advice!

4. Be willing to learn new things, especially when it comes to cleaning or fixing anything in/on/around a house or apartment. You may not actually end up doing the work yourself, but, having the knowledge of how to do it(or how much it should cost and why) will be helpful when dealing with contractors. YouTube  and BP is very good for this.

5. Always conduct yourself with the highest level of integrity and ethics.

I agree with all the other replies and I have learned many(if not all) of those lessons the hard way. Having the BP community is like having the best mentors in the world at your fingertips. Never be afraid to ask and always be brave enough to listen.

Lastly, THANK YOU!  to all the respondents  for taking time out of your busy schedules to pass on your valuable knowledge.  No matter how much I think I know, I always learn something new here.

if you did inspections of the property during your purchase due diligence, you will probably have a list of deferred maintenance items...you could offer to fix some things or do some improvements, providing that they pencil out for you. I have found that people will tend to handle rent raises better when they see that it directly correlates with improved service or product. Even a new $200-300 appliance, like a BBQ, as a bonus if they sign a new lease for the increased rate, will more than pay for itself if it keeps you from having to turnover the unit(paint alone can get pricey, not to mention 10 years worth of repairs, to get the unit marketable)

hope this helps and best of luck!

I agree with @Scott Mac , dress professionally...I have several contacts,  RE Agents, that are your age and look as young, they dress real sharp in suits and ties and conduct themselves like pros. 

Also, the reason I cultivate relationships with younger agents, is they are hungrier and will work harder and are not just going through motions or waiting only for deepest pocket whales, they are just starting to build their networks of investors. You should point this out to potential clients/investors/partners, your clients will be your top priority and you will crawl through mud, scale barbed wire fences, go behind enemy lines and do whatever it takes, if they work with you...it's part of the reason the larger well established brokers always have a stable of young agents, youthful enthusiasm!

As for credibility, your best way to build that is with good communication(listen more than you talk), knowledge of larger economic factors, and knowledge of  your specific market or niche, being highly ethical, and being highly motivated. Lastly, despite your age or youthful appearance...it will take time, hang in there and best of luck!

one more vote for "yes"

More safety and accountability is better.

 also, an amenity that you did not have to pay for, monitor, or install and makes the tenant feel happier and safer....is always a winner in my book

@Don Konipol

hey Don,

thanks for the grain of salt...I guess my concern is not being able to have my alternative use of the saved funds, out pace the eventual phantom income tax bill, and therefore hurt my cash flow at that time. Maybe when I am a bit more confident(sophisticated) in my long term financial planning skills, I can get it to work for me.

However, I am actually more curious about ZCF DST....i thought most DST's are 10 year max cycle, so, how does the 20 year amortization work if they cant refinance or sell without substantial penalty?

LOL, at reply 2/2, i think i would be OK with the taxes if it avoids that total collapse option.

Thanks again for your thoughtful reply!

I was recently exposed to the use of Zero Cash Flow DST offerings for the same reason you would invest in an individual ZCF asset....

for me, I first considered them for the depreciation that would help shelter cash flow on another asset that is fully depreciated. But i was soon discouraged as I found out that prepayment or refinance was heavily penalized, so when the deal started to generate phantom income(year 10-12), that is taxable, you would be on the hook for even more taxes and not have an easy exit. At least that's my understanding. Am i wrong?

my other questions: how do the DST sponsors exit out of the ZCF Properties or do they at all? Is there any chance of appreciation? Will you get your initial investment back out at exit?

I like the idea of using some part of my portfolio as a highly leveraged path to enough depreciation to shelter my income and give me a higher cash flow, but, I am not sure if i am missing something.

@Joel Owens

Joel you rock! Your answers are always thoughtful and well articulated and you really are a great contributor on BP. We have talked on the phone, in the past and you were really helpful and generous with your time.

@Dave Foster

You are another BP rock star, too! Basically a "ditto" of what I said about Joel, but, we haven't yet had a chance speak directly.

Thanks to both of you for the pro advice and input.

Also, thanks to the other two investors for chiming in!

@Mike Jacobson 

@Amit M.

I am so thankful for Bigger Pockets and all the really good people(including any that didn't get mentioned) that use it!

@Mike Dymski

Haha...I hear ya and have thought about it.

If i would  pay management company to manage this place it would kill the profitability. The 4-8% management fee,  and getting charged for every basic maintenance task, they are not motivated to get you best cost on bids and usually add a percentage for supervising, did i mention its a 90 year old building?...2/3 of the units are singles/studios, so generally higher turnover, causing higher fees for clean outs and lease ups, etc, etc

Recently had to get a "fire rated" door to the roof replaced from some city inspection, the first  bids were $3800-$4500, but with the right contractors and a little of my own time and motivation, i got the job done for less than $1500 and 12 hours of my time, and it had 2x the fire rating than the city required. Lets not forget the management company would have piled on a few hundred on top of the bids for a supervising fee. I'm not saying they shouldn't, I just can't afford to leave that money on the table if I'm not making more than that somewhere else. 

I guess that's kind of my point, I could easily see loosing 10-15% of my profitability using a management company, so it makes the DST fees more palatable when I factor in how much more time I would get back from passive investing vs. vetting/managing a management company and possibly still being active at times.

Just having no control or ability to fire managers or jump in and help out when the asset needs it, or time your exit, means you have to really really really trust the DST sponsor.... no pun intended(OK maybe a little pun)

Thanks @Mike Jacobson for your input. We are in very similar situations and priorities. It's not so much the cost, since I am ok with paying people that really add value and don't just go through the motions. It's more of the lack of control and having complete faith in someone else...