All Forum Posts by: Jason Wear

@Justin Sheley Congratulations! I love seeing success stories like this. I am a brand new investor who would love to be able to do it full time. In such a short amount of time I've developed a passion for the business and love spending every chance I get to learn. Learning is actually fun for the first time in my life and I can't get enough of it. I just closed on my first duplex that I will be house hacking with. I hope to be in your shoes one day as well. I wish you the best of luck.

@Jonathan Holmes Thanks for your input. That's what I was hoping to hear. I'll definitely be on the lookout in the future and do what is necessary to not let this happen to me.

Basically to make a long story short and to make things as easy as possible without getting any legal entities involved, I have a tenant who vacated the property and left his girlfriend there to take over paying rent about 6 months ago. Previous owner used a property management company who was never informed about anything and has been no help at all. It was a huge pain just to get a copy of the lease and the security deposit transfered over to me. The guy is on a month to month now and his ex girlfriend wants to sign a year long lease, providing that she's qualified. I know a 30 day written notice to vacate is required by law but if he and I are both in agreement to end things right here and now is there anything stopping us from doing so? Is there any paperwork that I need to get involved to cover both of us without having to give a formal 30 days notice?

@Harjeet Bhatti Thank you! It's good to have people out there like you all to keep me thinking straight. 

@Russell Brazil Thanks for the advice. I understand it's not for everyone and am brand new to being a landlord. I'm excited and motivated to give it a go though. Hopefully this test run will work out successfully.

@Andrew Kerr Thank you for taking the time to offer your advice. As much as I want to buy again already, my gut is telling me that I should wait. I'm sure getting some tennant management experience under my belt would help greatly as well.

Hi everyone! I am brand new investor just getting my feet wet. I just closed 10 days ago on a tennant occupied duplex that I'm going to to be living in as well. I'm in the process of refinishing the hardwood and updating the bathroom, then just tackling some minor cosmetics before moving in. I had the misfortune a few years ago of taking a $20k a year pay cut after being discharged (honorably) from the Navy and going through a divorce in the process. To make a long story short I ended up getting stuck with all debt that we had accrued during the marriage. I ended up doing a short sale on my house and began renting again. My credit had dropped from high 700's to mid 500's after all the damage had been done. Shortly after the sale of my house I was fortunate enough to find a new job that paid more than what I made in the Navy. I worked very hard the next couple of years to catch up my debts and be on time with all payments. I was able to repair my credit enough to qualify for a new VA home loan. I still had a maxed out credit card that I just couldn't seem to pay down at all because of the amount of interest every month. I decided to fully cash out my Thrift Savings Plan (retirement fund) and pay the entire balance on my credit card. I just could not deal with the debt anymore.

    I'm already itching bad to buy another property. So, my question after all of this is should I wait until I'm settled in to my duplex and my credit has rebounded from this new home loan and the new zero balance on my credit card or is it worth it to purchase another duplex or multiplex? I would love to hear all comments and concerns and answer any questions you may have. Thanks!