All Forum Posts by: Jenna Harris

@Shelby Willitts what did you decide to do? I am considering the same thing but am still looking for any and all guidance. 

Hi Nkem, the tenant ended up vacating. We gave her the deposit back and didn't charge anything to break the lease. It was an 8 month ordeal dealing with the County, but the property is cash flowing well now. Best of luck!

Congrats on your success and best wishes for an even better 2020! 

I am curious about the whole portfolio - how many units are each of the other properties? How are they funded? How much net cash monthly are you receiving from each unit? 

Also, any tips for managing renovations long distance? My husband and I work full time jobs and have 2 small children in San Diego and we did a renovation on our first duplex in Indiana and it was ROUGH! How often are you making trips out to Alabama? 

I would love to add at least 6 units to my portfolio this coming year and appreciate any guidance and advice you have. 

Thanks for the inspiration and sharing your journey!

@Rowena A. We were fortunate enough to have our Indy realtor act as our general contractor for the project. He is a house flipper and has a construction team already so he took our project on and so far it is working out really well. We are almost done and ready for a renter.

Thank you all for the insight - I really appreciate all the different perspectives and personal experiences!

Hello BP world! 

I am a new investor - I own my personal residence in San Diego, and have a duplex in Indianapolis (currently undergoing renovation). My strategy - and ALL the research I have done - is to look mainly at cash flow when assessing deals, and I firmly believe this is a sound strategy. However, it is likely that within a year or so, my husband may have an phenomenal career opportunity in Nashville and it would be a huge quality of life improvement for my family. The issue is that the cost of good housing in Nashville (neighborhoods where we would want to live) is rapidly increasing - some neighborhoods we like have increased more than $100k since April of last year when we visited! 

That being said, we are thinking it may make sense to purchase our soon-to-be-primary-residence NOW, and rent it out until we move there. We would have to sink ALL our cash, probably sell the Indianapolis property (which we were considering doing even before this opportunity), and would earn barely above a break even point on the rent. In short, we would have no capital left, and no cash flow, but could potentially save a very large amount on the purchase of the Nashville house a year from now. 

Question #1 is: What is everyone's thoughts about this in general? Has anyone done this before? What risks/rewards/challenges/etc do you see here?

Second issue is: After speaking to our San Diego lender, it looks like we would be able to keep our current San Diego home as a rental when we move. Again, this is another property that has massive equity potential but very little, if any cash flow. We could rent it out for enough to cover our costs, and we are earning about $50k per year in equity that we could borrow from to purchase other properties down the road. Nashville house will also have a huge potential for equity both as a rental and as our primary residence.

Question #2 is: In general, has anyone had success with investing for equity rather than cash flow? How does this work? (There is very little research on this as a strategy). At some point we would want to leverage some equity on these properties to restart our cash flow strategy - do you see this as a set back? Does it make sense to have two properties that gain equity but no cash flow then leverage the equity in a year or so to invest for cash flow? 

I'd love to hear anyone's experience in this arena. The original plan was to invest for cash flow, and save all the profits to re-invest and buy more, so we do not NEED the cash flow at this point (and we won't need it in Nashville either). I sincerely appreciate any personal stories - good and bad - about investing in higher class properties that gain equity.

Thanks so much!

- Jenna

I have been working with Marketplace Homes for about 6 months and frankly am not satisfied. I would appreciate other recommendations as well. 

 Thanks Mitch - I appreciate the advice!

I just closed on my first 2-unit property out of state, and the sale triggered an inspection from the County Health Department. The inspection found several issues that will require a relatively large rehab that we were not planning on completing until the tenant moves out. (These issues were not found by my pre-closing home inspection, or the contractor I had inspect and quote for light rehab but that is another issue.) The County has given me 2 weeks to complete the repairs, or I will face a large fine. One side is vacant, the other has a tenant. I would like to go to the property and do most of the work myself in a few days to avoid high labor costs, but am not sure what to do with the tenant. 

My question is: What would you suggest I do with the tenant? Ideally I would like to offer to put her in a hotel for a few days while the work is being done, but I'm not sure if this is customary.

I'd love to hear your thoughts/experiences/advice with similar situations. Thanks.

I recently closed a transaction with @Joel Clausen from the Keller Williams Scott Smith Team, and we are working on at least one more by the end of the year. I live in San Diego, so I need an agent who is responsive, trustworthy and willing to work probably harder than he/she should have to - and Joel has fulfilled all of my expectations (and then some...I'm not sure if you saw my previous post from August, where he changed the flat tire on my rental car!).

Joel is tagged here so you can connect with him - hope it works out!