All Forum Posts by: Jason Albasha

Take the win. 

@Robin Krieb Unless they were privy to out-of-state investing in the first place, I don't think this will push someone out of the city, it'll simply tighten criteria.

@Sean McKee Thanks for sharing. One-time Pay to Stay would be OK if:

1. There was a limit to when they can "stop the eviction". Silly to wait until a sheriff is at their door and they've been holding the cash. For example, 5 days from the initial eviction notice.

2. There is a fast lane for a repeat offender.

Sometimes it feels like things weren't thought through. The harder you make it to hold a security deposit, the more likely I'll take move-in fees instead. I favor move-in fees in the first place. I vet people upfront so using the security deposit to twist their arm has never been necessary.

Let's assume rent is $1,600. After four $400 move-in fees, you've made your security deposit. On top of this, the law allows up to 1/2 of rent so you actually make it back in two tenants, at four that's $3,200 additional income that would not have existed.

In the SD case, the tenant would have to do enough damage to keep a security deposit, and you have to justify why you're keeping it. Regardless of the amount of SD, you're netting $0  regardless since they obviously did enough damage to warrant keeping it.

Even so, I'd hope 1/4 tenants aren't doing enough damage to warrant keeping a security deposit. Sure, a SD can be 1.5x rent, which would be $2,400 in our example, yet again you have to justify why you kept it so you're spending most, if not all, on repairs.

@John Warren At 62 units, at $1,000/month rent average, that's $31,000 in move-in fees left on the table? That's initial rental after purchase, fixing up, etc. If factored over time at 6-8% turnover, is 4-5 units/year, that's $2,500/year.

I think a lot of people are answering this question incorrectly. The questions @Tatiana Contaisn't asking if every single mortgage broker is worth it, it's asking, in general, is it better to go with a broker or directly to a lender.

@Tatiana Conta Broker's shop lenders for you. You can shop around yourself as well. I'd personally work with a broker as they get you the best deal, yet feel free to shop lenders as well and see if you can get yourself a better deal. Usually not.

You may get promised best case scenarios yet I've never had a client find a better deal than I can get them. 

@Svend W. Get more quotes. Simple as that. Then you'll know if it's overpriced or not.

For labor, it depends how accessible the area is. If it's easily accessible then I'd find a day laborer who would do it for $200. It doesn't take skill, just manual labor.

If the area is inaccessible then you have to think what value your time has. You already know if you want to make 1 phone call and have it done it's $1,500. If you hire someone for $200-$500 then junk pickup for $400-500, per John's comment, then you're paying $600 on the very low end, to $1,000 on the high end. Let's say $850 to be fair.

It's up to you to decide how much more of your time to invest in this compared to how much you're saving. I know people who would scoff at saving $600 by putting in more of their time, while others would jump at the opportunity or even do the work themselves.

Get more quotes, negotiate them, and you might find negotiating down to $1,200 is easier than figuring out logistics yourself and ending up paying $950, for example.

@Svend W. Get more quotes. Simple as that. Then you'll know if it's overpriced or not.

For labor, it depends how accessible the area is. If it's easily accessible then I'd find a day laborer who would do it for $200. It doesn't take skill, just manual labor.

If the area is inaccessible then you have to think what value your time has. You already know if you want to make 1 phone call and have it done it's $1,500. If you hire someone for $200-$500 then junk pickup for $400-500, per John's comment, then you're paying $600 on the very low end, to $1,000 on the high end. Let's say $850 to be fair.

It's up to you to decide how much more of your time to invest in this compared to how much you're saving. I know people who would scoff at saving $600 by putting in more of their time, while others would jump at the opportunity or even do the work themselves.

Get more quotes, negotiate them, and you might find negotiating down to $1,200 is easier than figuring out logistics yourself and ending up paying $950, for example.

I'm only at 9 units. I stay on the outskirts. Jefferson Park, North Park, etc. I find these areas allow for higher cash flow while still holding strong to possible appreciation.

This house I'm talking about is for my family. We have a second baby on the way and I need a home office, and so we've outgrown our current place. The house was in Niles. It just closed 2 days ago, 3 weeks after bids, they offered $5k more than us, so $30k over list, and closing in 3 weeks tells me they paid cash. 

Mortgage applications still where they were at last month.

I'm shopping for a house and just offered $25k over list... outbid.

 It's a completely different world. I used to get my haircut at the Fade Inn 15 years ago, the park was full of gang bangers.

Now I get coffee at Portage Grounds and work on my laptop. Take a walk in the park when I need to stretch the noodles. I'll hop over to the Xsport to get a quick workout in, then take a jog at the park to cool off. It's a nice area. 

It depends what was used. If they're glue traps or snap traps, then that means the pest control had access to the area, and so you should have access to fetch it.

If they used poison then you might be out of luck and have to wait as this means it could be anywhere, including most likely an inaccessible area.

The long term solution is to figure out where they're getting in from, and plug that up.

@John Warren What are your requirements for a venue? Maybe I can help.