All Forum Posts by: Joe M.

Good topic.

In the three rentals I've rehabbed I took a middle ground approach, leaning more towards durability and functionality than aesthetics.

For example in one home all the carpets were crap, so I put in new laminate hardwood floor in the kitchen, living room and hallways. Price for this is close to carpet and should be a bit more durable. An added benefit is hardwood floors tend to make a room look bigger (in my opinion).

I also do window blinds in all my houses. You can buy cheap ones at lowes/home depot and they install very quickly. It's just another added touch that makes the place look a bit more attractive to a potential tenant but doesn't set me back a whole lot.

Also, a nice two dollar addition for each of my rentals is a "zip it" drain un-clogger. Pick some of these up and give them to each tenant and show them how to use it. Will save you a ton on plumbing headaches.

Assuming that the tree does not have a lot of branches extending over structures then I would estimate the job at around 500-750. Looks like the tree is in a back yard so they will have to manually drag brush to their chipper so that might add some extra cost. If they have to do a lot of roping and rigging to avoid structures it could go up to 1,000.

Leaving behind wood can save you a few dollars. I would just ask them to cut it up into manageble lengths.

Also I would STRONGLY reccomend hiring someone who is a Certified Arborist. You can find a local certified arborist here:

http://www.isa-arbor.com/faca/findArborist.aspx

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year BP

January 1 will mark the 1 year anniversary of my business and the beginning of my real estate investing endeavor. My how time flies.

I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to the community here at BP. The advice, guidance and support have proved to be invaluable in my first year in business.

This industry is unfortunate in that it seems to attract a lot of guru hucksters, but I’ve found none of that nonsense here, just good hardworking folks trying to help each other out. That’s what makes this site great.

I started the year with the goal to purchase, renovate and rent out 2 single family homes. A modest goal to be sure, especially compared to the volume of transactions some of you do. However I felt this goal was achievable given my current situation with a full time job and two small kids at home. Well I’m happy to report that not only did we achieve our goal, we actually surpassed it by 1 house! So at the conclusion of this year we have 3 very nice single family homes in our real estate portfolio that we own free and clear with awesome tenants.

It’s my goal to purchase, renovate and rent out 2 more homes in 2011 with a stretch goal of 3.

I wish all of you continued success in the coming year, and my sincere thanks to the BP community for your continued support.

I did my first two deals at approximately the same time. While not ideal I was in a similar position in that I couldn't pass on the opportunity.

If you don't feel like you have the bandwidth for all the projects at once, you might consider either wholesaling the ones you can't/won't be able to handle or just simply prioritizing the houses and work on them one at a time.

If I were in your position I would prioritize the homes according to how much time/money each one will take to rehab

I'd start with the easiest ones first so you can get them on the market and get them rented. That way at least you can have some cash coming in while you're working on the ones that need more time/money.

There is no amount of money that would make it worth it to me to have to deal with tenants like that.

Seriously?

I purchased three houses this year for buy and hold. In all three cases I found the deals on my own. My realtor simply facilitated getting me into the house and submitting my offer.

He's a good guy, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure what sort of value he added. I ran my own comps, I know the market in this area better than he does etc.

I guess when he decided to work with me it was simply because I called his brokerage up and said I needed an agent to submit a HUD bid for me, and that's how we got started.

I had an applicant for one of my vacant properties ask me what sort of discount I could offer if he paid a full years worth of rent in advance.

I told him I had never been asked that before so I wasn't sure.

The rent on this particular house is $650/mo for an annual total of $7800. I was thinking maybe give him a $300 discount if he paid a full year in advance and make it $7500.

The thing I'm concerned about is what happens if he does something stupid and violates the lease in some way. Does he then forfeit all rents paid or would I be required to refund it?

Any of you ever buy a bulk email list and use something like constant contact to email information about your property such as current vacancies? If so did you have any success with it?

I'm one of the guys the buck the trend with my investment property and I don't finance anything.

The benefits of owning free and clear property is substantial in my mind.

The best benefit is that I can be very selective with tenant selection and not be rushed into a decision because I have a mortage payment looming.

Also I don't have to deal with banks and be a slave to them. In my twisted mindset if you are financing all of your property you really don't own anything, you are simply a custodian for the banks money.

I can buy property faster and cheaper with all cash offers. In one case my offer was $10K lower than a competing offer but my offer was accepted. Why? All cash offer w/no financing contingency. Yes I know I could buy all cash then refinance to pull my cash out after close but see points 1 & 2.

My final reason is that I can focus on the nuts and bolts of running my business, finding solid properties and managing my tenants, rather than out begging banks to give me a loan.