All Forum Posts by: Karen Mcdaniel

I've never invested in Commercial property, just residential.
As an investor what do I need to look for when hiring a Property Management company that specializes in Commercial property.
I would assume its quite different than dealing with your typical SFR manager. What type of questions should I be asking. Whats important in determining if they are qualified?
Any help would be appreciated.

Have a SFR in Lexington SC that needs a Property manager ASAP.
Property is currently vacant.
Realtor: Will consider lease with option to buy

John, The major factor in "flipping" is the notion you are assuming to make the money on the sell with minimal expenses, and to make this happen with a quick turn around. It's speculative investing and your not gauranteed this will happen. In that respect it's riskier then other types of investing. You might be lucky... but remember you still have to do your due diligence and make sure you know what your getting into. With fliiping you're assuming or hoping for a quick sell to maximize profits. What if the market is low at the time? It doesn't sell? What are you going to do now?
Don't get me wrong, it's all good. Just different levels of risk.
I have 7 properties and all are rentals and I have quite a bit of equity. I bought at the right time 3 yrs ago.
I hold for the long term, get a nice tax write-off and let my tenants pay my mortgage. And write-off my trips to go see my properties. There ain't nothing wrong with that.
Talk with others who have flipped properties and get their opinion. Just remember the market is constantly changing and what was great yesterday may not be today.
Good investing!

First off, I don't think "flipping" is a good idea for the novice investor. You are analysing alot which is good, but it's time for action now. My advice to you is start with something small, say a SFR or condo and live in it for awhile and then move out at a later date and start renting it. If you really want to get your feet wet self manage it yourself. You learn alot very fast with hands on experience. Go to some seminar and see what other people are doing. It takes time to build your investment portfolio. Good Luck

To find Section 8, just goes to the local housing authority for that area. Here's a link to the HUD website.
http://www.hud.gov/progdesc/pihindx.cfm

To find Section 8, just goes to the local housing authority for that area. Here's a link to the HUD website.
http://www.hud.gov/progdesc/pihindx.cfm

Something I am adding to all my new leases is an incentive for the tenant to pay by the 1st.
The lease shows two rent amount. Ex. $995/mo if paid on or before the 1st (which is the current rent amount for the property). Or $1,020/mo if paid after the 1st.
You cannot say the higher amount is a penalty for not paying by the 1st, BUT YOU CAN say the $995/mo is an discount.
And then I also put in the lease if the rent is ever past due, the discount is null and void for remainder of the lease.
I just get tired of always getting paid last.

The only time of heard of such a high commission for a PM is with a vacation rental. Where they would have an in-house management team and would be responsible for nightly stays checkin-checkout, cleaning the unit etc.
25% for residential property is way out of line.

I'm involved with an real estate investor group in CA. They scout out places all over the world that appear to be good places to invest and this was one of them. (Don't ask me about this group please that's a whole other story). I have 6 other properties in the US and when this opportunity came up it sounded interested. I like MX and the develoment is right on the beach. So we flew down there to listen to their pitch. We got in very early so we knew there would be risk involved. But we never thought that the contract could be pierced so easily. In the US this would not be a problem. I don't think I would get involved in any more pre-construction deals in MX.
As far as my knowledge of MX law, no I had very little knowledge. We believe in the group leader of our investment group.
The original Lawyer we used practices Law in TX and MX. He is well versed in Mexican law that's why we choose him. I was just surprised by his last comment to us when I asked him this question:
Can they legally rescind our contract and resell this unit if we do not comply with their demands?
His answer:
"The seller can do whatever they want to do. I am surprised they are not willing to negotiate".

You're right about seeking counsel PRIOR to getting into a deal like this. But in our case we did just that and it still didn't help. The Lawyer was the one that suggest we make changes to the contract..instead of putting down 20% at signing, we broke it up into 3 installments. 10k at signing,10k upon prrof of building permit, and the remainder upon proof of completion bonds insuring completion of project and quality. The last requirement they failed to do....we were given only partial bonds (steel and concrete). WE were willing to give them partail payment for the bonds they did have, but they would not negociate at all. Like I said I believe they want the early-bird investors out now. They needed us at the beginning to get the project going and they were willing to negociate at that time but now they want us to get out..no negociating. They won't even accept the money now. Are only alternative is to get out of the contract and lose 6k in damages or seek counsel and fight.
Live and Learn