All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I use datazapp.com. They charge 3 cents for both the phone number and email address. They have a $125 minimum order (4166 records), but they also have a plan where you can do as many small batches as you want for $250 per month for up to 6,000 records. There results are very accurate, but of course people change their email addresses and phone numbers. 

The cash flow depends on a lot of factors. A $100 or $200 cash flow is a dangerously small amount when you consider the vacancy rate, unexpected repairs i.e. a broken sewer pipe underground that costs $10,000 to $30,000, or how many years will it take for your $100 per month to pay for a tenant who does not pay rent for 6 months and you even have to pay an attorney.

Sorry, but I've been investing for more than 50 years and I understand the philosophy that $100 x 10 when you own 10 homes is $1,000 profit per month, but the problem is; WE DON'T LIVE IN AN IDEAL WORLD!

The $100 per month cash flow is the small (tiny) picture. The professional investors take the amateur investment analysis many steps further by eliminating the dogs ($100, or $200 cash flow) and purchasing only properties at discounted prices where major profit (100% ROI) the day the property is purchased and by stretching out the projections to calculate what the RIO is the day escrow closes and you increase the rents and project further 1, 2, 3 and more years to see your ROI when you increase your rents every year.

If (when) you need help with the numbers, just ask how?

By law, when a tenant with a lease wants to move out the tenant must still pay the monthly lease payments until you find another tenant. It is your legal obligation to find a tenant as soon as possible. It is also in your current tenant's best interest to work with you to help find a new tenant and to show the rental unit.

The best thing you can do when a tenant wants to break a lease is to explain, in a nice way, the legal requirements for both parties and try to work together.

We get a few tenants every year who sign leases, stay one day, one week, or a month or so and want to move out. It is a part of doing business. While every property owner wants their 'good' tenants to stay for life because we make more profit, we must also be honest with ourselves when someone breaks a lease and we must calculate the true amount of money we lose, if any, and that is what we try to recover from our tenants when they break the lease. Otherwise, everything can turn into arguments, hate and mental anguish. 

I am sure you can if you have the funds. Talk to a developer. There are definitely thousands of 55+ communities. 

It sound like you have no experience with being a General Partner.

To do a limited partnership I you must have an attorney and there are many laws you have to abide by. There are many laws that protect the limited partner you are not probably aware of and you can get into some serious legal problems. What could possibly happen when you do not abide by the laws and give your partner the legal forms is if your partner wants out of the deal, for any reason, and you can expect that your partner will want out, if your partner sues you then you will not get any type of trial where you can speak on your own behalf nor will you get any relief from the court. The judge will rescind your partnership agreement, give judgement if favor of your partner and you will pay every penny back plus court costs and damages.

I've been involved with several syndicated partnerships where I was the limited partner and every partnership failed to produce the results projected. I was in very large partnerships with K-Mart shopping centers and even those failed miserably.

When you are dealing with other people's money you have serious obligations and you had better be really good at bookkeeping, handling income taxes, and reporting to your partner(s).

Yes! You need an inspection. You cannot expect the GC to make your decisions regarding what goes and what gets replaced. You need to know exactly what the GC is going to do and what he is not going to do. From the ground up has a different meaning for everyone. Does the electrical panel need an upgrade to more amps. Do the sewer pipes have to be replaced underground underneath the structure. Are there cracks in in the foundation. Is the roof being replaced. Is there rotted wood underneath the floors and a lot more.

If you don't have a contract it is up for grabs and who comes to the owner with cash and a contract, first.

Write a Offer To Purchase, get it signed, try to put a small down payment as low as a few hundred dollars, bring the Purchase Contract to an escrow company and get the property tied up legally. Put in the contract you have 3 or 5 days to get an inspection with the right to cancel the contract.

You can pick up Offer To Purchase contracts at Office Depot or contact me and I will give you one.

My philosophy is that tenants rent and prefer not to own a property for many reasons i.e. they cannot, or do not want to take care of maintenance issues. A major part of owning rental properties is providing service. Of course, we get tire, but that is our job.

I always prefer to light and clean furnaces and water heaters because it gives the opportunity to make sure everything is safe and you get the inspect the rental unit. It also helps to build a good relationship with your tenant.

Unfortunately, and I hate to say this, but I've been renting and working with rental units since 1965 and my father told me back then the difference between renting to single men or single women and this is 100% true. When you rent to single men they move in and you hardly hear from them. When you rent to single women they complain about everything that is not imaginable i.e. they want us to oil door hinges. We just rented to one woman and she went to Home Depot, purchased a level and complained that the bathroom floor was not level. Not true!. Then she complained that she wanted reflectors on a flower pot in the driveway because she misses the apartment building when going home. It is a huge 28-unit building and the first one on the block next to a CVS drug store.

Accommodate your tenants wishes and love them for what (who) they are. This is a business and everyone loves good service without the grumbling and complaints. I would rather tenants call with for the most insignificant problems vs. not calling and ending up with major repairs that could have been prevented.

This recent thread will answer your questions.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/729336-rant-stop-using-bad-math-to-analyze-real-estate-plus-a-hot-tip

The profit for multi-family properties is about 500% more that single family properties when you know what you are doing and you can purchase multi-family properties for about 30% to 40% less per unit. When looking at multi-family properties you do think in think in terms of 'ARV'. Most of the money made with multi-unit properties is earned the day you close escrow and increase the rents and when you increase the rents every year. You cannot analyze multi-unit properties properly like you would for a single-family because they are two entirely separate animals. The value for single properties is limited to comps in the area. The value for multi-unit properties revolves around gross annual income just like every other business.

What made you want to get started in wholesaling?

Lots of luck! If the Deal Machine app could get you one property deal for every 200 properties you click on, as advertised, I would be a billionaire. Even with the LandGlide app, you will either have to knock on doors, or send some sort of direct mail. Don't start looking for a new Mercedes just yet. Send 2,000 to 3,000 direct mail pieces and if you are really lucky you will get one response. So, with Deal Machine at 90 cents per direct mail piece you are looking at $1800 to $2700 and the probability of closing a deal is slim to none. Everyone selling people on getting into wholesaling want new investors to think this is a simple no-brainer business. Problem is; I personally get 3 to 5 calls every day from wholesalers. The competition is fierce and the number of letters and telephone calls I get is annoying.