All Forum Posts by: Jason Mills

Not a travel nurse but I'm friends with a lot of them. Best thing you can do is once you get a property to list it on Furnished Finder's website and facebook page. It's geared specifically for travel RNs.

Thanks guys! So I currently have properties at Butler University that I rent out to students. The cash flow has been phenomenal but the well has dried up in terms of new affordable properties to buy and rent out. Some of my tenants are actually IUPUI kids and they’ve told me some of their friends live off campus in riverside so I decided to check it out for myself. I know it’s not as established as other neighborhoods but I’ve had such good success renting out to students (believe it or not) that I thought I’d see about this area since it’s somewhat close to IUPUI and the rehabbed homes over there are still far cheaper than anything around Butler. If the homes can appreciate while I’m renting them then that’s an added bonus. That’s my thought process anyway, just trying to stick to what I know. Does that make sense to you guys or do I sound crazy for wanting to continue to rent to students and young professionals?

What's everyone's take on the neighborhood now and in the next few years in terms of buy and hold strategy? I'm not needing great cash flow but I keep hearing about massive city-funded development and investment coming to this area but historically these plans have hit snags and ultimately nothing comes to fruition. I know this neighborhood isn't in great shape now and I see a lot of very cheap homes (albeit in poor condition) but the ones that have been rehabbed look like potentially good investments. I also feel like this area gets overlooked with Irvington and Bates-Hendricks getting a lot more attention in the past couple years but there may be a good reason for that. 

Thank you Scott and everyone else who replied! The seller had a change of heart and declined to sell anyway but I took the advice and was able to score on a similar deal thanks to you guys!

Thanks Nathan and Marcia. I’m this area it is actually commonplace and practically necessary for tenants to sign leases 1 or 2 years in advance because housing that is walkable to campus is so scarce in this area for students. I have 3 other houses in this area and this is normal as strange as that seems. The campus is in a bubble you could say. Hence why it has been impossible for me to sign anyone a month before school started. She did pay the entirety of the deposit as soon as she signed ($2500 18 months in advance) whereas most of the time a group of 4 people will sign at once and split up the deposit. What I meant earlier is that whether or not she gets roommates to sign with her, she is still responsible for the 2500/month going forward and she doesn’t get “an out” because she couldn’t get anyone. I probably didn’t make that clear to you guys but it is in the lease. Nathan, in the case of your third point, this was taken care of by me because she was required to to sign a non-refundable deposit, so I have that 2500 but not the 4 months of rent she still owes. So now the question is should I continue to wait wait someone else to sign or do I go ahead and take her to court now? She’s up to $10,000 owed. I have already contacted her and her father to no avail. Thanks again.  

Hello all, I had a college age tenant sign a 2 year lease 18 months in advance near a university that is almost exclusively rented by college kids. It’s a 4 bed house and she signed and paid the deposit in full thinking she’d have time to get roommates. (The lease was specific about it not being the landlord’s responsibility to find tenants; the rent was expected to be paid in full regardless). Long story short, she backed out a month before school started, leaving me with a vacant house for the past 4 months and no luck in securing tenanats since school is well underway despite lowering the price and opening up the search. My attorney says I should wait until securing a lease before taking the client to Small Claims Court but it’s looking less and less likely I’ll be able to rent this out and I need the money now. What should I do? Thanks for reading!

@Cameron Pendergraft

@Ross Denman

@Todd Burton

"I would, however, ask him what he really expects to make since he obviously believes the potential profit exceeds $25k."

This was exactly my concern, thanks for conveying that better than I did. As far as the amount of $ I'm putting down, it would be $20k for the down payment and $20-25k for the updates. So the buying price is 90k + 25k in updates plus commission and closing costs from the sale, and he believes he can sell the place for 150-160k all within about 3 months. If this wasn't new territory for me literally and figuratively I'd sign up right away, but I'm just going off of his confidence in his ability to make the deal work which is making me a bit uneasy. I'm tempted to ask for a 50/50 split after the 25k is reached with a promise of continuing to do business with him if it goes as well as expected. If I were him, I wouldn't have asked for a bonus until more deals were made but this guy is a real go-getter! 

Thanks guys. He Has no ownership rights on the house but does have exclusive listing rights before it goes on the market. Not sure if that changes anything but what I think I’ll tell him is that I’m not down to share in any profit unless he’s going to put up any money himself, and if he objects I’ll just tell him to find another buyer. I’ve only been doing buy and hold deals so this is new territory for me, thanks for everyone’s input and if you guys have anything else to add I’m all ears!

Thanks guys, so he would be making a commission on the sale and is also asking for additional profit on anything above $25k in profit from the sale. Thanks for confirming my suspicion that this is a little unethical on his part. It’s a little frustrating because he has previously worked good deals for me without asking for anything else. 

I’ve been using the same realtor for my last 4 rental properties. Each deal has gone well as a buy and hold investment. He has recently approached me about a buy and flip deal that is currently off market, and he says this will garner an easy profit  of $25k after doing the necessary updates. Here’s my issue: he says he wants the profit of anything I make on the deal if it’s anything over $25k so that he has “skin in the game”. Is this normal or is he trying to pull one over on me? I feel like if I’m the one taking the risk on this investment I should be the one making the money. Would love some feedback on this one!