All Forum Posts by: Jen Faulkner

For those of you who own corporate rentals, I have a couple of questions.  I don't yet have a furnished apartment, but I'll be doing it the next time someone moves out of one of our rentals.  I have a pretty detailed inventory list, but I just want to know this . . . .  

First--do you supply all of their items like shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc.?  I'm thinking about providing a "welcome basket" with all of those items, but then leave it up to them to replenish them as needed.  Maybe add in a service for extra charge if they want us to replenish the items for them?  

The other question I have, since they are short-term rentals, do you charge nightly?  I'm thinking about a monthly fee, but then charge more if they only plan to stay weekly.  I don't even know if I want to deal with nightly, but I know it would be a huge convenience for the renter, and it would be good for us too if the rental is vacant one week and we can pick up some more cash that we might not have gotten if we didn't allow nightly.  Maybe nightly is something I can add later when I get a handle on the whole thing.  What does everyone else do?   

I haven't read any other comments, so I hope I'm not repeating anything.  I'm relatively "small potatoes" here.  Five units under our belts, and we're now getting to the point that we'd like to hire outside help (and we already have on occasion, but now it's to the point where we want outside help on a more permanent basis).  It was fun managing the first three (which was a 3-plex), and then even the fourth one wasn't a huge deal because we moved into a house that had an apartment above it, so it's right here on site.  But when we added a fifth in 2013, it started to become tiresome.  It's not difficult, but it's just time-consuming, and I don't know about your family life, but at some point, all the properties just start to take time away from personal relationships.  And with five properties, we have the money to pay someone to do tedious jobs like mowing the lawn or fixing a toilet or painting a garage, etc.  Self-managing can be rewarding, but at some point, you really do need outside help.  If you want to start out that way, by all means, enjoy it, but it sounds like you realize that someday, you will need to hire out.

Hi, @Teague D.!  Welcome!  I haven't been a member of Bigger Pockets for very long, but have been in real estate since 2008.  We have a local group that we meet with once a month, and I think it will be in Washington next month.  If you'd like to join us, let me know.  It sounds like you're ready to get started, so you might find it beneficial to chat face-to-face with other investors!  :)

@Scott Dixon, I am piggybacking off this post.  :)  Will you send me info on your handyman, please?  We have a couple that we use, but I always like to have more on standby if I can!  Thanks!

Hey Mark,

I know you! lol Are you and Karen part of the Peoria Area Real Estate Investor's group? They meet once a month. Our next meeting is on September 24 at 7:00 p.m., and I believe it will be at Gracie's in Washington. I think they're bringing in a CPA to talk about tax-saving REI opportunities this time, but they have different topics or events each month.

For those of you who have a vacation condo, do you use the resort’s rental program or do you market your rental yourself through sites like VRBO or HOMEAWAY and find your own cleaning company, etc.? And what are your reasons? Would you ever try the other way around? Have you tried the other way?

Thanks all for your input! We joined a local REI group, so it's my hope that my husband gets a little more in tune with the business aspect of it all (he's more of the maintainance/handyman, and I am the biz end). We've been landlords for 7 years, and I really feel like we could have been a lot further into this if we'd planned better from the beginning, but now is the time!

@Aaron Mercer, I'm in my 40's.  You're darn right 30's is young!    :P

Can I edit my original post?  I just realized that my first question doesn't really make sense...but I can see that you know what I meant.   lol

Linda, I have definitely thought about doing that, but my husband and I are not on the same page, and I don't see him ever being on the same page with me. A man in our local real estate investors group just recently bought a rehab house for $19K, and then he fixed it up to where the ARV was $60, and he did just what you said. And then he went out and bought a couple more properties. I'm totally on board with that, but my husband feels that it's awful to add on more debt. And unfortunately, this is something we can't disagree over. Blah.

Hi!  I haven't been on BP for very long.  We own five rental units in our area (four apartments and a house), so we're still small potatoes.  I really have big dreams of owning a lot more, but I don't know at this point whether to use our income surplus towards those rental mortgages or to start paying them off.  At the moment, we have two mortgages.  I'm sure I'll get differing opinions on this.  Part of me really wants to get things moving along with more profit, and then use that new profit to start paying off the other properties.  But then there's the other part of me that would feel really great about starting to pay them off now, but then there wouldn't be any new income coming in until they're paid off.  What do all you other investors do?  Are you willing to take on more debt if you know you're income will be more than your expenses?