All Forum Posts by: Isaiah Williams

@Remington Lyman

I made the mistake of telling a few of my tenants early on that I actually owned the property they were living in, and I had to deal with a lot of 2am phone calls and end of the month begging for "exceptions" on collecting rent and waiving late fees. Since then I make sure to say the same thing that I work for the owner. It helps out a lot especially in situations where the the resident asks for something I need to thing about I can tell them I will bring it up to management instead of having to make an immediate decision.

Then again it could definitely depend on the type of tenants that you have, area you invest in, etc.

@Julien Anaya

Sounds very similar to my situation, only I am a car sales man lol.

You can definitely make it work dealing with tenets and even self managing them on your own if You choose to. I suggest reading a book called landlording on auto pilot by Mike Butler and make your decision on whether or not to hire a property manager then!

My only friends I talk to often are all on Bigger pockets!

@Julien Anaya

Dealing with Tenants can often times be both a pleasure and a hassle. It depends a lot on what your life is like outside of real estate. Do you have a job? Are you married/ in a relationship? Do you have kids? Are you active socially or in your community? You said you do flipping so how active are you in that? Dealing with Tenants whom you already know are difficult shouldn't be a make it or break it deal, but it should definitely make you think about whether you want to self manage or hire a management company. Personally, I suggest hiring property manager. If you are going to self manage, DO NOT let the Tenants know that you are the owner. You can be the property manager, but as soon as Tenants hear the word "owner" they come to you with ALL of the issues, big or small.

Good luck from Ohio! 🤗

@Hani Alomar

Sales shouldn't matter that much. Your looking at buy and hold in a rental. So long as you can make your numbers work for you, and you've done your research with strong data to justify the investment, do it. Have a plan in place beforehand and ensure you follow that system rigidly.

@Deonte Ademiluyi

Put that money into yourself. Go to a seminar, meet with local investors in your area, get involved in real estate events, buy a couple real estate books and courses. I spent over $1000 the other day on new vinyl flooring for a 3 bedroom house, and that was EXTREMELY cheap. Your 20 years old (btw I'm only 21) and you definitely have plenty of time. I suggest waiting until you have about $5k stored away and go guy yourself a house with an FHA loan. You could possibly get a cheap house for 3.5% down in a c- class neighborhood that needs a little work, live in their for a year while fixing it up. After the year is up (FHA loans require you to live in property for one year minimum) you could rent it out, refinance out of the FHA loan, and do it again with another house.

That's how I got started when I was 19. But you NEED to learn ALOT about how real estate, property management, and rentals work, especially screening tenants, because starting out your not going to have any money in reserves to fall back on if something goes wrong. Play it smart, take your time, and be patient. Like I said, you have PLENTY of time, so dont get discouraged.

@Bryan Cavellier

How long are your leases? I heard about some investors in my area doing 24-36 month leases for their SFR's, and I really like the idea of doing that instead of typical 12 month leases. Would greatly reduce turnover

@Bryan Cavellier

It most definitely is a thing to make it "too nice " but it also depends highly on what exactly your goals are.

If its strictly to raise the rent, stick with what's good for the area. If you're in a neighborhood where everyone else has window a/c units, for example, installing Central air isnt going to raise the rent the extra $100 or so a month to cover the financing (if you did that, just as an example.)

However, there are other ways besides money that can help make sense of it.

Maybe by making the unit way nicer than usual, you could convince a family to stay for a long period of time. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we want our GOOD tenants to stay forever and make our property their HOME for life. Spending extra to Make a property really nice is one way you can do that.

Another way it could make sense is if you were looking to refinance and wanted to get a higher appraisal. You have to be careful still with this one. Location still plays a major role in the overall value of a home. Installing granite countertops in a c-class neighborhood will get a slight bump in the appraisal, but probably not enough to even cover the money that went into installing it!

@Randy E.

Thank you!

@Joe Pearson

No money down Real estate investing is definitely a very real things. A lot of people have done it, including myself. But the risk is CONSIDERABLY higher compared to having some emergency fund money stored away, just in case something goes wrong (and something ALWAYS go wrong believe me.).

If a toilet needs to be fixed, a furnace needs replacement, a burst pipe appears, etc., its going to need to be repaired immediately as is your responsibility as a landlord. You have to remember that although your counting on your tenants rent checks coming in every month to pay your bills, they are counting on YOU to be a good landlord and ensure that THEIR HOME is in good repair. You could be doing not only yourself a disservice, but also your tenants, if something goes wrong and you find yourself unable to fix it. That's a really big thing you must consider if its really worth it.

I know you said you don't want to take money out of your retirement savings or through credit lines, but if something major comes up YOU MIGHT HAVE TO in order to keep the house. Are you willing to do that? Because if you're not, you might lose the house, or worse, lose the tenants because they are no longer happy living there, and then you lose the rent money and now you are unable to pay the mortgage.

If you do decide to go through with it, and if everything works out initially, its VERY IMPORTANT to not "relax." Your priority straight out the gate should be focused on either increasing your income to negate the risk, or decrease your expenses. I nothing but ramen and rice the first 6 months I bought my house in order to save up a big enough "safety net" just in case something happened. I didn't go out to eat, I didn't party with friends or go to the movies. When every one else was asleep I was up looking at my finances, managing budgets, and looking for ways to increase my income.

BUT if you do, and IF IT ACTUALLY does work out, the potential pay off is HUGE and can shave YEARS of Initial start up time off the investment clock. But you could also buy a house, have that hot water heater go down first week, have to replace the dishwasher the next week, and a month from then there could be a big storm that damages your roof and at the same time your furnace goes out.... And you could lose everything....

If you're scared of heights you'll probably never jump off a bridge, even if you know the water is deep enough to save you. But if your kid fell down and the quickest way for you to get to him was by jumping, you'll probably swallow your fear and jump in...

How important is your financial future to you?

it to you?

Hey there everyone! I really need some advice on this topic and I would sincerely appreciate anyone's opinion on it! Thank you in advance!

OK so here's the deal.

I bought a 3 bedroom house, but I'm by myself and therefore only really need 1 bedroom.

I already have rented out my other two rooms to close friends of mine and I have them under a lease and everything, but its rented out to me.

I have an LLC that I started about a year ago called Urban Diamond Properties, and I even got My EIN, but I have yet to have actually done anything with it.

I wanted to know, how could I transfer ownership of my house from my name to my LLC's name, along with the leases from my two tenants? I also want to know, since I'm living there as well, could I potentially "lease" out my own bedroom to my LLC, and use the "rent " from my room as well as my other rooms to establish a valid business entity with a legal income? And then once I did that, since my house is technically my "business location" with everything in the house a part of the business, couldn't I write off things like my mortgage, security system, utilities, etc.?

I mainly am looking at being able to establish my LLC as a valid business with an actual track record, and I really think utilizing my house, that Im already renting out, could help jumpstart that process. What are your thoughts / advise on this?