All Forum Posts by: Joseph Todd

Hey all,

I am wondering if you wouldn't mind throwing some suggestions at me for books, podcasts, documentaries, blogs, or anything else pertaining to navigating a down economic cycle as an active real estate investor. I know there are plenty of books from 2008-2012 on how to buy properties in a recession, that's not what I'm looking for. I've acquired about 40 apartments in the last year and am looking for preventative and active strategies to minimize risk when the economy decides to fully take a dump.

I'm aware of J Scott's recent E Book which I plan on purchasing shortly after I finish this post. Any other suggestions or personal insights you may have would be greatly appreciated. 

Hey Joe,

I'm also Joe. I live just a bit south of you in here in LA and have been working on building a portfolio in Huntsville for about a year now. I have 37 multifamily units in various parts of town. Happy to answer questions if you want to shoot me a PM.

@KJ L. Actually no, it's not Terminix. I'm going to send you a PM about it if that's cool. I'd like to hear if you've spoken to this company but don't want to put them on blast necessarily because they're local.

Hey all,

I've been working with my PM to get a termite control schedule put in place on my MF properties. All of them are between 4 and 8 units. Both she and the realtor on my most recent deal have been pushing the idea of termite bonds. I just received a quote from the termite company and it includes a $1,000+ one-time up front installation fee for some sort of device that prevents them on an ongoing basis, and then like a $200-ish per quarter charge on each property for ongoing treatment.

~$200 per quarter per property sounds about right to me for termite control, but I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around a $7,000+ up front cost to install their system at all of them. How do you guys handle termite prevention? Is this a standard thing or am I being sold an expensive system I don't really need?

FWIW, I live in Los Angeles where we are no strangers to termites and I've never heard of something like this.

@John White thank you for the heads up! It's wild how much interest rates have jumped since the Summer. I closed a deal in April at around 5.8% (.2% bump because we took a 7 year term) and the deal I just closed was at 6.2% with the same terms! Really irritating. I'm looking into Fannie/Freddie hoping to find cheaper interest rates. Do you, or anyone else here, have any experience dealing with the big agencies vs. local banks?

I've closed two portfolio deals with Bank Independent in the past 6 months and have been very happy working with them. In the past year or so, they've really tightened up their criteria for outside investors given the large influx of new money. They want to be cautious about who they work with and require pretty detailed personal and financial info when you first start but it's a great, close working relationship if you qualify.

I am curious to find out how the interest rates compare to other lenders. Anyone currently getting a quote that wouldn't mind sharing?

Well I own 18 apartments and am in escrow on another 18 doors right now (12 apts and 6 SFRs) and my advice remains basically the same. It completely depends on the property, the street its on, neighbors, etc. Generally, you can find property in any part of town that cash flows well, has been maintained well, and will rent out with a week of being vacant at most. Next door to that you can also find a house that looks good on paper, but is falling apart and has tenants who have completely destroyed it beyond repair.

Maybe someone else here will go through your maps and give you a street by street breakdown of which properties are being maximized and have owners who are just itching to sell them to you for a great cap rate, but in my experience that's not really how it works. If you have it narrowed down this much, you're at the stage right now where you should be out there doing boots-on-the-ground research.

.You should really go and check it out for yourself. Being from LA, your idea of a "good neighborhood" is going to differ from most people on BP. The rest of your requests are so different depending on street and even house to house that there's no real way to give you a straight answer.

Hey all,

I'm currently in escrow on a portfolio of 18 apartments. I'm purchasing all cash but am looking to finance them ASAP after I close, which should be in the next week or two. I've started to reach out to some lenders that my PM has recommended, but so far haven't found one who can handle the largest of the properties which is 8 units. 

Before I start looking at reviews on Google and such, have any of you worked with a lender who is able to cover larger properties that you wouldn't mind connecting me with?

Thanks!

Joe