All Forum Posts by: Josh Tollenaer

As a Service Manager by trade I can say one of things you could do to "1 up" yourself from the competition is to know what things cost and to have a Service manager on your team. Seems that alot of complaints here are paying high repair bills. I cannot speak for the company I work for but, I can say in the 15 years i've been doing this is most people do not have a clue what it takes or costs to complete certain jobs. If I were going to start my own PM group I would definitely have someone on the service side to look at EVERY property you were going to manage in your portfolio, this may give your owners and yourself a better understanding of where they are on how much life is left in certain areas including, roofs, hvac systems and electrical. We cant foresee every problem, but off the top of my head, series I polybutylene pipe will cause more issues than series II.Generally it was ran incorrectly to start with, instead of adding 90s in the wall it was just bent. Little stuff like this can add big problems later. I dont know many property managers that know these things, So having both ends of the PM spectrum could save you alot of headaches later and potentially save a client when something breaks b/c they will already be aware of areas you let them know about up front.

I allow pets in my rental with a 200.00 non refundable pet deposit. I also pick my rent up every month so I know how my house is being treated. IMO I think it makes me sleep better at night to know what the pets are doing in my house so its worth it for me to stop by and pick up the rent check. So far so good,

I also have been through a 203k. Aside from it being illegal if you are truly not going to reside there, there is another aspect of this that could get you into trouble. When I was going through mine, the rehab took 2.5 months. My insurance company did a drive by to see the property and almost dropped the house because it was under rehab. In other words noone was living there. I explained to my agent what we were doing and still was almost dropped.They asked me to put a couch in the living room so it looked occupied. I refused and held my ground but just be aware there are other aspects of this to look at also. 203k loans are hard enough without trying to fly under the radar. I would say definitely dont try it!

That is usually why they are pulled in my experience, you shouldnt have to pay for a new one, the township should replace it if they pulled it. On new lines I have seen them charge up to 600 for a new one.

Ok, I am completely with you all on this. I went by and looked at them and WOW! The neighborhood is scary. I dont think I want to tackle that long term. With that being said, I think the price had me excited, b/c I have no capital to put up at this point. What other ways are there to get my ball rolling? Ever since I finished the renovation on our current house a few months ago, Im really wanting to do another deal and start making something more of myself. Is there any way to use my own home as leverage or do I need to wait until I can pull cash together since thats easier said than done! Thanks so far for all the advice!

Hi everyone! Im new here and looking for any advice from the "pros" I can get. My name is Josh and by day im a service manager for a 240 unit apartment complex. My wife and I just recently bought an REO for 62k and did a 203k renovation loan on it (what a PAIN!!) and finished out at 75k. The house conservatively appraised at 105k. Now should be around 120k to 130k. On that note, we were unable to sell our other house so were are renting it out now. It makes very little but does pay for itself. This got my wheels turning and made me think maybe I could do real estate investing since I know how to do all the work myself, but were cash poor. Everything we had was dumped into the 2 properties we own.
My question is: I came across 3 duplexes in a rough (and I mean rough) area for 28k for all 3. 2 units are rented @ 300.00/ month w/ 4 needing work (carpet, paint, etc. Taxes combined are about 900.00/ year Seems to me if I can get all 6 rented thats 1800/month. Ive read about the 50% rule. I believe these fall under that. I may be able to borrow the money from family to get a down payment to finance. Tax Value is only 22k a building, so I know Ill never resell at a huge gain but monthly cashflow would be pretty strong I think. Any suggestions would be appreciated, if you say no, why? If you think that would be a deal then please explain. Im in property management but still green on the issues i may incur. Thanks so much -Josh