All Forum Posts by: Justin M.

The property manager I've used is shutting down. They reviewed their records for final accounting and **surprise** they forgot to bill the tenants for a major repairs a couple years ago. I'm the owner and, while I knew about the damage and repair work, I had no idea that the PM had failed to bill the tenants for the repair!

It seems the person responsible for speaking with the tenants didn't want the stress of confrontation, so he just floated the repair costs on the PM's own account and kicked the can way down the road...

Here's where it gets really interesting. The tenants are students. Every year they swap out some of the roommates for new students, renewing the lease but essentially keeping the original agreement going. The original student who caused the damages doesn't even live there anymore 🙄 How the heck is this supposed to work? Even if the PM can legally require the current crop of students to cover the cost, the situation is very complicated. The PM screwed up majorly. So as they wind down operations, they're going to pass me a group of pissed off tenants.

I feel like they should be eating this cost. Anyone encountered a situation like this? 

What's a smart and legal way work with a handyman for small jobs in California? The law says it's okay for jobs that are $500 or less (plus some other restrictions). But what happens if the person gets hurt? I've tried asking my insurance broker about this and they just say "you should never hire an unlicensed or uninsured person".  They just shut down the topic without providing any real information.

A few years ago a worker fell from the second story on my property. It was due to his own error and luckily his injuries were minor. He was working for a licensed and insured company and they took care of his medical expenses.

Another time, I had hired a handyman for a small remodeling job. He was cutting some boards with a compound miter saw when he got distracted and almost cut off a finger. Luckily, he was just a handyman on the side. He had a regular full-time day job with medical insurance. He got stitched up at the emergency room and I didn't even find out about the incident until it was settled. What if he didn't have medical insurance though? What if something worse had happened?

I'm looking for some practical advice from other California land lords. How do you balance risk while still running your rentals profitably?

A few months ago an insurance inspector decided that I needed to get a new roof on my rental house. He felt there was too much shingle granule loss. I didn't agree because the roof looked to be in good order. I'd made a few repairs here and there when high winds had blown off a shingle but, overall, the roof looked great, it didn't leak and the shingles were still pliable. I talked to two roofing contractors that estimated it had another 5 years to go. I didn't make any headway explaining that to the insurance company though. They were adamant and so I paid to get a new roof 5 years earlier than needed.

Now, I've got another inspection coming but this time on the house I live in personally. I didn't even realize that insurance companies did that on regular non-income properties. I'm wondering what surprises might be in store 🤦‍♂️For instance, we have a trampoline and a tree house. Will my rates go up? Does anyone know how this works?

Useful thread and I'm curious what kinds of 30 year refi rates are people now finding, two months later? About the best I'm seeing myself is 3.125%.

How much to loan servicing companies normally charge to manage a private loan? Ballpark?

Matt, it seems like you've done a fair amount of research on AV. You mentioned the Palmdale high-speed train hub post in an earlier post I believe and it prompted me to read a few articles on the subject. Sounds very promising. Have you done any research into the anticipated long term affects of having a hub there? It seems like regardless of the government contracts that the hub would open up the area to commuters and encourage other development.

I appreciate the suggestions Matt! I haven't spent a lot of time in Bakersfield, AV, Palmdale or Lancaster, but I can see the appeal numbers-wise. I feel like I need to get a better sense of how the economies work in these way-out-there regions and understand who are my potential renters if I buy in those areas? A long weekend excursion may be in order.

Another complete newbie question - what's typically the best method for analyzing the rent prices and vacancy risks in a city? I'm assuming Zillow's not to be trusted Is Craiglist as good as it gets? How do investors who are new to an area determine how long it will take to rent property? How do they determine the true market rent prices since those numbers aren't published the way home sale prices are?

Tell me about it. Norwalk is surprisingly expensive. It has some nice areas, but even the rough neighborhoods are pretty pricey. Chock it up to good freeway access and the metro.

Interesting suggestion Larry. I'm going to have to do some more research on these turn-key providers. You always hear that you "make your money when you buy", which seems to imply that you're only going to find cashflow positive properties by locating needle-in-the-haysack distressed sellers, or winning at a foreclosure auction. I wouldn't have thought it would be possible to purchase a turn-key property with immediate cashflow. "What's the catch?" is my first thought, but it's certainly something I'll do some research on.

Ohio seems to offer some great prices on real estate. What's the reason the that housing prices are so low compared to other areas?