All Forum Posts by: John K.

They are all sales of their course and don't currently own any (or very few) rentals.  

When it comes to real estate courses - I believe those that can not do charge money to teach

1) Low vacancy (<5%)

2) The 1% rule is easy to get to, 1.25% of better is available in the market

3) solid employment in the area, not a city that is dependent on one thing

I heard a good story in the past about how one landlord / law firm goes about it in a nearby city.  Wait about a month, then out of the blue tell your tenants you have to stop by to chat.  It goes something like this (if you really know they are doing drugs):

Landlord: "Hey, I know you guys are great tenants but the cops reached out to me and are asking me about some kind of drug activity going on here - they are apparently watching the place"
Tenant: "Oh no man, no drug activity going on here"
Landlord: "That's what I said too, I told them you guys were great tenants and that I would follow up with you and just double check"
Tenant: "Thanks, you really are a great landlord"
Landlord: "No Problem, thanks again for taking great  care of the place and see you in two weeks when I pickup the rent!"

Tenant will move out overnight if there is drug activity.  Then as a landlord you do an eviction to officially get the place back - since all eviction paperwork is mailed to the place they have all ready moved out of you will fly through the process and get your place back in no time to re-rent.  Problem solved and the drug users will not be upset at you since you did them a favor.

(in reverse order from normal:)

Best: Direct Deposit, even offer a $5/month discount if people are willing to signup for automatic withdrawls from their account.

Better: Have them mail checks to a PO box.

Worst: Pick the check up, if the tenant is late "has the check if you come pick it up" - as long as you live close just go pick it up.  It's not ideal but at the end of the day you just get your money.  Take this into account at renewal time then....

It's not about the technology that you have or that's available, it's just about being extremely organized.  I think a hybrid is ideal - you still want to keep the original docs you have your tenants sign for lease, but at the same time it makes sense to scan them and also store them digitally.  I also feel good old fashion hard copy letters, leases, etc set the tone better than emails - getting a letter in the mail is more "official" (as long as its typed, on letterhead, etc).

I would let a tenant put up a fence as well as it is being put up by a known installer, meets all city requirements with setbacks, etc.  It only adds value, especially if you allow small dogs.  

in my B+/C quality rentals we just let them paint.  Tenants that can paint the walls take a sense of ownership and then tend to stay a lot longer.  Even if they spray a little paint on the trim or floors by accident it's not the end of the world, carpet gets replaced every 5 years anyways...

Again though, these are not top of the line places, but the middle market as well so 40-50 years old and showing signs of age.

I'd suggest making your own, no matter what it is.  Then you understand what is behind it.  I wrote my own software that crawls local reality sites for data, so I can flag places I'm interested in makes notes, do quick analysis and see the potential returns.  If a property passes my software tool, then I hit the spreadsheet to dive deeper into the numbers.  Having a way to organize / sort potential properties is a huge help - especially keeping an eye on ones that you like when the asking price drops.

One step up from the cheapest carpet at Home Depot is great, it's cheap - can usually get a promotion on install as well.  Plan on replacing it every 4-5 years, if a tenant doesn't take the best care of it it's cheap to just replace.  Can also advertise a place as having "new carpet" then as well every few years when you replace it - tenants always go nuts for new clean carpet.

I'm 29 now, started when I was 25.  I think 25 was the perfect age to purchase the first place since you have a few adult years under your belt so everyone from bankers to realtors take you way more seriously.  I now have a several duplexes and growing quickly, but all of the systems, processes and people are in place to scale up.

I had a lot of other business experience under my belt by 25, my biggest suggestion to everyone young would be to start a simple lawn mowing business (or something small time).  Force yourself to learn about accounting, business insurance, taxes, banking, etc.  All of the same concepts apply to real estate (all though they are different) - but you will have a solid understanding of business 101.