All Forum Posts by: Jackie Sladky

Thanks @Pavel U..  I use nextdoor.com where I live but didn't think of using it for that neighborhood.  It's a good idea.

Oh and I check the mls here and there just to stay current with the market, and it's crazy. 

@

The investment is going well. One unit moved out the day after we closed – by choice. The other three units are staying even though their leases expired.  One set of the tenants is a definite keeper. The second one is okay.  The third set will have to stay on a month-to-month lease, and all with rent increase to keep up with the market.  We are very responsive and show our tenants respects, but they know that we mean business.  All pay rent on time.  The sloppy ones cleaned up after themselves and so far, no one gave us reason to turn them out and especially, we are not ready yet to do so.

Our current issue is that we know just a few trusted professionals.  All four of us work fulltime, and I live in Northern CA.  My daughter and son-in-law (my business partners) live about a mile away from the building, so they went there to check on the place and talk to neighbors.  We want to have some work done in one unit, but our GC is not available for another two months.  A highly recommended GC gave us the quote that is about double our estimate.  If I were local, I could try going to meetups and talk to people and connect to professionals.  I guess it takes time to establish relationships and know people. BTW, my friend knows someone who helps landlords evict bad tenants, in case we have a need.  If and when the time comes, my partners will want to evict people rather than paying them, so it’s good now to get to learn as much as possible about our tenants.

We need a GC to work on renovating our rental unit, including kitchen remodel, new flooring, paint, and bathroom touchups. Anyone know of a reliable GC please let me know. We will also need good subcontractors.

Marc, could you send me one also please?  we have the original lease from old landlord, but it has holes and is in scanned format.

Thank you.

Wouldn't the CPA need to know your local state's tax law?

Sorry for not respond sooner, and we were so busy with work and the purchasing process. The answer to why we didn’t like the Hopkins duplex is simple. We are new and still inexperienced. We were thinking of looking only at areas that close to our current house, not areas that investors can make money. Now my sister wants to jump in with us, so we will look at the suburb next, but that has to wait.

Here is description of what we are getting into: The property we are closing is in uptown (according to us) or borderline powerhorn (reality). Its structure, plumbing, electric systems are sound. Roof and garage need work - $15k. It’s the worse looking building on the block. It’s ugly (it can be painted) trash and dog poops everywhere, and there is a mattress laying in the backyard. We have estimate for the trash out already.

It has 4 units, all have rents about $200/month lower than the market. We saw tenants in three units when we inspected the property. All seem reasonable and live there for at least 3-4 yrs without any rent increased. Three leases already expired and one will expire on the day after we close. All units need some improvements: flooring (very dirty carpets), kitchen (ancient cabinets, ugly and cheap countertop),… We plan to have people in two units move out and then renovate. The other twos we’ll propose rent increase.

Current management company: owner is own of town but management company is local. This company just collects rents and does nothing. Tenants told me of the poor service and by just looking around in and out of the building, it’s obvious. If you are an out of town investor, you should make the management company take pictures and send them to you monthly. This building looks really sad but then, the owner may not care, more about him later.

Now about the tenants: three of them try their best to make the place feel like home, since the rent is low and the location is ideal. One family (with two kids) has a dog and is borderline hoarder. The dog is friendly and well taken care of (I judge people by how they treat their animals). These people have to go. Their place is full of stuff with little place left to walk around and smells bad. The toilet is leaking for six months (not major work), but they did not report (maybe didn’t want visitors). They looked nervous when we inspected the place, and when we came back a few days later with the roofer, the yard was cleared of dog poops.

Here’s our plan: with current owner’s agreement, send letter letting tenants know that we are buying the building and that we will reach out to them. On the closing day, deliver instruction to two units that we want to keep and serve the notice to the other two tenants. One or both will leave. The one with the dog may not. In this case, we’ll promise to give them a brand new TV or cash if they leave.

Now we need to build connection with professional people! So far, we already have one handyman referred to us and know of one small, honest general contractor.

About the current owner: my agent found out that he is an old doctor living in Florida and just want to get rid of the property. What makes my offer more solid: The other two higher offers were not accepted because they involved FHA loans with little over 3% down and would take months to close, if it closes.

Investors take note: 1) landlords using the worse property management company may want to sell, and 2) the home we bought 5 yrs ago was also from people moved to Florida. 

We've landed!  We've made an offer to a fourplex in Minneapolis and had just received the verbal acceptance.  Now we are shopping for a good inspector.  My agent knows of two, but I don't know if having an inspector with knowledge of multifamily properties makes any difference.  If you know of someone, please, please refer that person to me.

I've found that the numbers are high and that it takes a lot of patience.  If we were not to get this building, I believe it would be months and months before we can find one that meets our need.  I saw a property that was in pending one day after listing.  I was told that there were two other offers that came in at $20k and $25k higher, but ours was more solid. 

My husband also thought that extension of the light rail should improve property values, but we did not do any research.  Any new development or technology or market condition can change everything so rapidly now-a-day.  My friend told me that  the number of 16 year olds wanting to learn how to drive is less now compared with say, 10 years ago.      

Thanks everyone for confirming that I am on the right track in thinking that the price was too high.  What Marc wrote about expense risks with old buildings is exactly my concern, and since we will not move into one of the units, the uptown model will not be a fit for us. I better stop dreaming about buying and making money with a duplex there – at least not now.  Our smart real estate agent showed us a property in Hopkins, and we thumped it down!  But it’s okay.  We are still learning and haven’t made major mistakes yet.  Now we will include the suburbs in our search.

Huynh, we are not networking with anyone.  It’s because we are still newbies.  There are four of us, including my husband and my daughter and son-in-law.  We want to be hands-on and DIY whenever possible, but we do know too that in many areas, it’s way cheaper to pay the experts.

We are in the market to buy and hold and plan to put down 25%.We have a seasonal real estate agent working with us, who is also a friend.  Rent in the areas we are interested in is about $1300 – $1550 for a 2 bds/1 ba.

We were thinking of a duplex priced at $440k, built in the early 1900s and has funny, damp smell in the basement.  We asked for info on the property: details, incomes, expenses and have not received it yet.  One unit is currently vacant.  Now within one week, they received two offers!I was thinking that even at $390k, it still would not be a good buy, so why are these properties moving so fast?  Are these buyers relying on future appreciation?  Or am I off base in thinking that the price is too high?