All Forum Posts by: Chris Dawson

Welcome @Michael Ryland!  Absorb everything you can from this website.  Since you have family in the area, I would recommend you plan a trip here and schedule some time with local professionals to put together your local team.

@Rob Bianco, it may be too late for you to do this, but if you hire a local lawyer to create your LLC, they will usually list themselves as the registered agent at no additional cost. That is how I have done my LLCs.

@John Liebau take the time to fill out your BP profile, including uploading a pic of yourself.  The more you share with the community, the more the community will share with you!

@Jordan Gobely use the 1% rule for insurance in the Kansas City market for your numbers and you will be covered.  I have used Shelter Insurance for years for my rental properties.  They have a very competitive rate for rental properties.  I will say, however, that I have not had to deal with a claim with them, so I don't know how good they are at delivering on their policy.

@Michael Davis I would start by cross-referencing your list with any clubs, websites, or social media outlets that focus on REI. For example, I would check to see if any of your names are signed up with BP. If you find a match, then contact them via that club, website, or social media group. For the ones that you don't find a match, just be honest. Call them up and tell them exactly what you want. Be prepared to get blown off by some, but don't let it stop you.

Hope this helps.

@Joe Prenger purchasing a rented property with a tenant on an oral agreement is very risky.  What proof do you have that they have been there for 10 years?  What proof do you have that they have been paying the rent amount that you were told they were paying?  Is the rental amount written into your purchase contract?  Are you buying directly from the seller or are you using real estate agents?  If you are using an agent, he or she should have written in the contract a clause to produce proof of the rental amount.  

I've seen this happen more than once where the tenant was not paying the amount the seller claimed or the tenant had not been living there as long as the seller claimed.  If you are still in your due diligence period, you need to take care of this first before you worry about raising rents!

@Vivek Arza check out http://www.marei.org, They are the biggest REI club in KC. Their monthly meeting is always during the second week of the month, but they may be having a weekend workshop when you are in town.

@Dar Fornelli if you don't want to install the liner, you really only have 2 other options:

1. Switch out all furnaces and water heaters for electric versions.  For a 6 unit, this will cost you way more than $7k.
2. Change the flow of the exhaust to exit the building in a way that doesn't use the chimney.  You would need to have a professional look at this to see if it would even be possible.  The location of the furnace/water heater might make this impossible, but there is a small chance this could be done for cheaper than $7k.

The only other advise I have is to call a few chimney companies yourself and see if you can get a better price.

A previous company that I worked for had an install contract with Home Depot.  It was only for installing fences.  I'm not sure what our contract price was with HD, but I know it was much lower than what we would charge on our own.  Its all about volume for HD and for the installers its all about staying busy.  

I personally feel that hiring an HD installer to do one task, such as installing carpet, can be a good idea.  They usually have the best installation prices and as long as the material isn't overpriced (remember, you have to buy all HD material for them to install),  you should walk away a happy customer.  Worst case scenario, if something goes drastically wrong, at least you know HD won't run off or file bankruptcy to avoid fixing their mistakes.

I would NOT recommend hiring HD to do multiple tasks or manage a large project for several reasons:

1. If you use HD to manage your project, you may have to use all HD materials.  While HD generally does have the best pricing on building materials, they don't always have the best pricing or selection on high end products or special materials like custom cabinets.  You might end up paying more and/or getting an inferior product.
2. HD installers are locked into a contract with HD to do a job for a set price.  This means the faster they work, the more money they can make.  You could end up in a situation where the installers slam in your project without taking the time to do it the best way that it could be done.
3. An independent contractor would not be tied to HD's products and could therefor provide you with a wider range of solutions and a wider range of pricing.

Hope this helps.