All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Scherer

@Brandon Dinsmore I would be interested- keep me posted! Thank you!

@Bill Russell Hi Bill! I live in West Michigan and I have 5 rentals in Grand Rapids. I’m also a Mortgage Loan Originator. I would be happy to chat or help any way I can!

Hey Martin!  I have used the same Property Manager for all 5 of my properties for over 5 years and I am extremely happy.  I would be happy to get you in touch.  Do you already own properties or are you looking to put a team together before you make your first purchase?

Thanks,

Jeremy

@Will Schafer congratulations on your first investment! It gets easier every time. Grand Rapids is a great market to be in! I wish you the best of luck.

If you insist on leasing a car, have you considered leasing it in a company name? I’m assuming your self employment isn’t cash under the table and you have some sort of LLC, etc. Hopefully you even have some business credit established. This would allow you to lease with minimal down, not effect your DTI (assuming you don’t need to personally guarantee the loan), take advantage of another tax deduction, and build/establish more business credit. Before all of that, I would find a good lender and CPA. Math is just math, you need someone who knows what they are doing and can explain to you how they are doing the best job for you.

Curtis Morgan @ American Realty. He manages all of my rentals, and we rent to college students also. I’ve had virtually no vacancy, no mark up on maintenance costs, and his rate is reasonable. Are you using an agent to purchase? In Michigan you have to be an agent to be a property manager, so you might find some value in finding the property manager first and then using them as your agent. All property managers know how to be an agent, but not all agents know how to rent a property.

Call Ryan at Budget Plumbing. He is the owner. He has done work for me on my personal residence and my rentals. His company does good work, they show up on time, and charge a fair rate. Message me for his cell phone or you can find the business number online.

As stated earlier, no chance 1M is going to move a 500B market. What I didn’t see stated here was the fact that Craigslist now gives people posting the option to take cryptocurrency as a form of payment. I would start there if you are really looking to pay only in Bitcoin. For all of the crypto haters out there - most people investing in crypto now know that it is similar to the tech/internet bubble, but it would be nice to catch the next Google or Apple. All 1300 aren’t going to stay forever, but I promise you a few are going to stick and change the landscape.

I have 3 properties in the Northwest part of Grand Rapids. Two are 4 bed / 2 bath and one is a 5 bed / 2 bath. My rents are $1295, $1500, and $1800. I find Zillow, Redfin, etc are always off on rental estimates and values. My Property Manager has always been more accurate and reliable than anything I can find online.

I just closed on a deal today in Grand Rapids. The other properties I own in GR I bought more or less turn key. I was getting outbid by crazy amounts by retail buyers this spring also. I decided to go in a different direction. The house I bought today needs about $30K in work, but it scared off every retail buyer. I still had to look at it the first day it was on the market and put in an offer the next day to get it. I paid $92,900 cash (mine and some private money paying interest only), will put $30K into it and should own it after small holding costs for around $125K. ARV based on comps should be about $160K. This means I can wait 12 months (or less depending on the lender) and finance the property. 80% LTV let's me pull out all of my cash and I will be in the deal for $0. Rent will be $2200-$2400 and I should clear well over $1,000 per month. Not the direction I was planning on going, but you have to take what the market gives you.