All Forum Posts by: Jill F.

@V.G Jason

I do not look at Door count as a financial metric. You must st have misunderstood what I wrote. . Door count is a useful way to make quick comparisons between assets within a familiar market. Door count has no bearing on the cost, value, or cash flow of an asset.

@Dave Meyer You asked to be convinced, so here goes:

Discussing investments on a per unit(door) basis makes sense to me in many situations (particularly when you are talking about the business of managing properties).  What else could you use? number of tax parcels, number of physical buildings? Number of tenants?  I really don't think most people looking at door count are looking at it in isolation. Door count really isn't a (financial) metric, it's a way of categorizing your investment. Discussions about investing usually include a variety of metrics which might be viewed at the portfolio level and then further broken down by city, neighborhood level and per unit(door) level. We analyze our investment performance cocr, roi, roe, noi across our portfolio but also by neighborhood, property and unit--  all of these views are useful in different ways and all of these metrics require context. The fact that you might look at your investments on a per door basis certainly doesn't preclude you from looking at other views or using a variety of metrics and it doesn't imply that you are priortizing this particular view over all others. Of course I know that when I talk to a Cali investor that his/her 10 door portfolio may very well have a higher market value than my 60 unit Ohio portfolio. I also know that I'm likely to see more tenant issues with 60 doors than a 10 door Cali investor. I also know that a Cali investor may very well have a much more difficult time when they run into a bad tenant apple. Discussing a real estate investment on a per unit basis can be a useful way to look at important metrics but it needs context.

Did I convince you?

In Ohio you could manage properties for her even if you are not a licensed real estate agent working under a licensed broker so long as you were her w-2 employee or you were doing it for free. You could not however, represent her in court in any capacity other than as a witness. If you posted the required notices for her you would have to show up in court on eviction day to be a witness. If she owns the property in her name (not an LLC) she could represent herself in court. In Ohio the property manager can't represent the owner in court either see Cleveland Bar Association v. Picklo, (2002), 96 Ohio St.3d 195

I tried kind from home depot that looked more like residential carpet in the 99 sq ft bedrooms in my first rental in a "D" neighborhood. The quality of the carpet was very low they looked very shabby and flat in short order and the adhesive was a bear to get off when we tried to replace them. Plus the carpet squares faded and flattened so quickly that replacements were really obvious. The commercial grade office looking ones probably would have been better. Get laminate. They have stuff at home depot for less than $1/sq ft that holds up and looks nice.

I want all my tenants to know who I am. All 61 units have my personal cell phone number.  Most tenants don't really want to talk to their landlord-- when they need to communicate, they would rather email, text or put in a problem ticket. I have a couple older men that call once or twice a year if we haven't talked in a while.

I have 22 units in 44306. Send me a zillow link and I might can give you suggestions. In that area, owning only one property, I'd consider section 8. HUD 'Fair market rent' for 44306 is $1230 all utilities included so you ought to get 950ish from section 8 if you don't supply any utilities (Hud small area fmr is 40th percentile rent in the market). A couple months ago I got 975 market rent for an 820 sq ft 2 bedroom in 44310. Your problem with that property is neighborhood, not size--- that's right around the corner from Joy Park Homes.

Our son (32) is a partner in our business. Right now he spends his weekends helping us renovate (our family has always bonded by working together). He is also our succession plan. It is my hope that the income from this business will prevent him from having to support us in our old age if we live to the point where we need care and I'm pretty sure that's his hope as well ;) . This business may also need to help support my 94 yr old mil should she live long enough to run out of money. Our son has a good software career that he enjoys but I hope this business will provide him the option of retiring early should he want to. I am hoping my husband and I can semi-re-retire and spend next winter sailing.

Painted (some shade of white) trim will be more popular with tenants than stained wood. I do leave 6" solid oak or mahogany trim in historic buildings if it's in good shape but we paint or replace clam shell from the 50's and 60's. We often find around here that "wood' trim from the early 90's is plastic fake wood.