All Forum Posts by: Jen Boyd

@Colleen F. Shocking that people would deliberately ignore the lease and/or requests by an owner but I guess it makes sense. How much do you pay these people to ignore you? I find it shocking that property managers would vet bad tenants KNOWING they will have to deal with the repercussions. I guess that is the cycle of bad management - lease up just to get the fee, then have to deal with bad tenants creating more issues that go ignored, and so on and so forth.

@Jason Hirko Good point - the do a lot of the "dirty work" when it comes to dealing with tenants and the every day tasks that the investor doesn't want. But don't you think if they did their jobs well (i.e. vetting good tenants) they'd have less headaches to worry about? 

@Shawn Ackerman - that's a great strategy. Once you find a good "team" to support you, you can focus on the big money maker of your business - the investment piece. Meanwhile, the other members of your team benefit from you as well. A win-win for everyone. How long did it take you to vet your PM and find someone you want to work with long term? Seems like people go through quite a few before finding the right one - or at least one that they deem acceptable.

@Kristopher Hanks - Good timing for this post! It amazes me that property managers can be so bad at communication when their business is wholly based on providing a service and dealing with PEOPLE on both ends - the owner and the tenant. Communication is clearly a key component that is missing here which is shocking. How "hands on" are you? Do you expect the property manager to deal with issues, maintenance, accepting tenants etc. without telling your or are you involved in the decision making?

@Nick C. - I was afraid you'd say that! Certainly true that no one has as much stake in the property as the owner. Regarding the economies of scale you mentioned, I would think that if you only had 1 unit that needed to be managed you'd seek out a smaller manager that wouldn't be deciding whether to spend time on a 100-unit complex or your single family ranch, but someone who had a small portfolio of multiple similar properties to yours instead?

Not meant to offend the property managers out there - I know the good ones exist. However, a common theme I've seen is how hard it is to find a good, reliable property manager that makes the money you spend on them worth it. So please share your stories of what has made you frustrated with your property manager (or what you're looking for in a good one!)

Welcome! Check out the podcast it's very helpful. Also set up some keyword alerts. Mine is for "Montclair" which is how I came to find your post :) best of luck. Jen

Thanks @Vincent Priore, which areas of Bloomfield would you avoid?

@Jeff Stewart this is what I figured. Thanks for your insight.

@Allan Szlafrok I'm surprised by what you said, I would think that in an area with very high property values, flipping SFR's is the most effective business model. Certainly you have to factor in high holding costs, but there are bound to be deeply discounted properties in need of rehab that flip well? I feel (and this is completely my opinion) that there are a LOT of flippers in this area for that exact reason. What is your strategy? Buy & hold duplexes like you said?

@Brian Spatz - Makes sense that people would want to rent an SFR in a good school district location but like you said, a roof is a roof and costs almost as much for 1 fam as 4 fam and taxes are high. I don't know how the numbers can possibly work. I also don't understand the concept of spending $300k cash to get back $1,000/month, less all the cap ex over the years... can you explain why someone would be willing to do that? Are they just hoping for 3% appreciation? Seems like a crappy/risky ROI to me.

@Kevin Hill - Thanks for the insight. I guess there is potential for good tenants in areas like Belleville and Bloomfield, good to know... And regarding towns that have high prices but good schools, this is exactly what I imagined is the case - I would expect that it is easy to find renters willing to pay a lot of money in good school districts, but whether an SFR would really cashflow, even in an area like that, is definitely questionable.

Thanks everyone for your responses I really appreciate your help and insight

@Bill Neves thank you so much for that explanation, much more clear to me now.

Are you talking about a mobile home or a modular home? I am interested in manufactured homes as well but of the modular kind, whereby they stay in place and look like (and can be as large as) a traditional house once they're built. I heard that there are no problems selling or refinancing these types of homes since they're actually made of better/more durable construction than homes built on site. Is this not the case?

I have been looking into buy & hold investing in the greater NYC area of NJ, primarily Hudson, Essex, and Bergen counties and I've come up with a few questions. I'm trying to understand what motivates people to move and rent in certain areas.

1. Has any one had any success landlording with multifamily homes in Bloomfield, NJ (or places like it - i.e. cheaper railroad stop towns) and had a positive experience and good tenants? Would you recommend this area to live and/or invest? I'm having trouble figuring out the demographic that would want to rent in Bloomfield. I figure most young people would try to live somewhere in Montclair as opposed to a more suburban place like Bloomfield, and young couples would want to BUY a starter home there since the houses are a bit cheaper and its a suburb, but its not really a place for long-term families because the schools aren't great.... so who is renting there? Let me know your thoughts.

2. Do you feel that a lot of people rent single family homes in the greater NYC area? Maybe I am just unfamiliar with it but I always see apartments for rent, very rarely do I see whole single family homes. Is it because it doesn't cash flow to rent a whole house in this area? Or is it because people don't want to rent by the time they can afford to pay for the rent in a single family home? Or am I living under a rock and everyone is renting SFR's right under my nose?

Thanks for your insights.

Hi All, I need some help and advice. This will hopefully be my first jump into the real estate investing world and I feel like I've found a deal with potential, but it needs a good bit of work. I brought a contractor with me to look at the property and he said the basement looks fine with no water damage, structure looks fine, but he is worried that what looks like an addition onto the house may not be up to code, as well as the fact that the house is very close to the building next door. 

Question 1: I assume I need an FHA-certified inspector to come out and make sure everything is up to code beforehand, correct? I am basically required by the lender to make an offer contingent on inspection and appraisal?

Question 2: What if I go with the streamline loan and it turns out to be really close to the $35k threshold? What if there's a change order? The home is really old so I'm worried I'll go to do something simple and find a bunch more problems which = $$$.

Question 3: Should I still hire a 203k consultant to inspect the work? You still have to make "draws" from the funds in escrow with streamline as well, right? How does that work when you don't have a consultant? Who inspects?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice! Would love to hear from anyone who's done a 203k streamline already

Thanks @Ricky Butler, no need to apologize, I'm no stranger to the pitfalls of autocorrect, especially with no glasses :)

I'm kindof a newb so I'm a little confused. 

#1 - What does becoming a pre-approved developer within the municipality do for your ability to purchase the property? I've never really heard of the term pre-approved developer or contractor unless it pertains to FHA/203k contractors. How does that change the "limbo" status of the property?

#2 - How do you negotiate an offer with someone who doesn't hold the title to the property? What rights to the property do they still have? What are you trying to get out of the investor whose name is in the system? Since he technically doesn't own the property, he should just give you a bill of sale for $0 to clear his name out of the system right?

Other questions I have: where did the lien go? I was under the assumption that the title to the property could not be transferred due to the lien and the investor defaulted on the contract because they didn't want to pay the lien off.... So who paid it?

Sorry, lots of questions, like I said, I'm still learning haha thanks!