All Forum Posts by: Kathleen Ennis

What the heck? That makes so little sense.  It seems like that would mire one in huge insurance/liability issues. Maybe I'm being paranoid? But if a little kid trips on a tree root at a daycare at your house, couldn't you be held responsible? Wouldn't you have to get all sorts of extra insurance. And how about if the daycare person turned out be abusive? Your house would be "that creepy house where the kids were abused" like, for the rest of time.  

This is why my husband and I bought outside our home town. The price-to-rent ratios in our part of California just weren't do-able.  

Great idea, Judy, and thanks for the link. I just signed up for the ACRE newsletter, and will see if they have a meeting that coincides with my trip.  I'll PM you for electrical/roofer recommendations. Feel free to pass on handyman recs, too, family or no. Like I said, finding a good handyman is the secret to a happy experience in my mind.  Where do you invest in Pittsburgh? Our house (which closes next month) is in Lawrenceville. Super excited to be a part of beautiful, beautiful Pittsburgh. I'm even threatening to take up football fandom! lol

Wow. I am so very grateful for this thorough and knowledgable response. I have heard of "umbrella policies." Yes. Duh.  With our primary residence and the four rentals, it only makes sense. Right now my two properties are under one carrier, and my husbands two with someone else.I'm having a "slapping my head" moment because I am definitely in a place where I wasn't seeing the forest because of all those darn trees. 

I'm also going to scour this site for information on LLCs....right now our properties our under our personal names and an LLC never occurred to me. You have given me wonderful advice, and tons to think about.

I'm so new at this that I don't even know what a turnkey company is! lol.  I just posted asking for advice on several things, including property management. I totally agree with you about the "boots on the ground" team. I think the reason we have had such success here in Modesto despite our total lack of skills (seriously, I can't hang a freaking picture) is our wonderful jack-of-all-trades handyman and a gift-from-the-universe plumber.  I'm going to Pittsburgh to sign papers next month and my other goal is to find my team. So happy to have found this site so I'm not relegated to Craigslist and crossed-fingers.  I'll definitely keep you posted. 

Thank you for your hospitality, Steven and Marlon. It is good to be here!

This is my first post! I'm so happy to have stumbled upon BiggerPockets this morning. What an amazing site. 

My husband and I are in the process of purchasing a home in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh.  We live in Modesto, California and have a few properties here that we manage ourselves with the help of a few very reliable and affordable

handyman types. Two standard rental homes, plus a small cottage that we rent out on a short-term basis to traveling nurses via AirBnB. We've had ridiculously good luck in terms of tenants and wanted to invest a little more of our cash in the real estate market. Modesto is finally seeing the recovery the rest of the state has been enjoying for years, so the price-to-rent rations "at home" are no longer so appealing. 

This was a rather spontaneous purchase. In researching places with favorable price-to-rent ratios, Pittsburgh emerged as a potential candidate. We had a week of vacation laying around, so we flew to the PGH in early June. To make a long story short, we fell in love with the city. The Lawrenceville neighborhood reminds us of Portland 10 years ago, infused with a charming mix of brewpubs, cupcake shops, and hipsters.  Anyway, we found a lovely little house that needs some "cosmetic updating" and are planning to rent it out.  

Any advice/feedback on the following issues would be appreciated. 

• Competitive insurance rates? 
• Contractors: I have a few issues that require licensed contractors: roof repair, some drywall work, regulation of water flow, etc.
• Handymen: I have LOTS of issues that require a jack-of-all trades. Removing some ugly chain link fencing, painting, replacing doors. My dream is to find in the PGH what I have here in Modesto: an honest person with a diverse skill set. Mike can hang a picture, build a fence, and add electrical outlets. 
• Property Management options: I really, really don't want to pay a monthly fee. I was thinking of using online options, or maybe hiring someone to find/screen tenants and then taking over from there. This is why I need a good handyman! But maybe I need to bite the bullet since I live so far away?

I'm coming to sign papers during the second week of August. I plan on staying a week or so to see how much I can get done live and in person. I'm resigned to racking up airline miles getting her ready to roll out. My goal is to haver her rent-ready by October 1, and a tenant in place by November. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.....

My name is Kathleen Ennis and I teach at a local community college. My husband Russell is a high school administrator. We live in Modesto, California.

We own a few rental properties in our hometown: Two single-family homes and a "mother-in-law" cottage that we list on Air BnB and is pretty much rented out continuously by traveling nurses. These have been successful ventures for us, and we wanted to expand our reach in this area, since we are about 11 years away from retirement. Our dream is to retire to Medellin, Columbia.

The property values in Modesto have finally started to take off again (we were behind the curve for a few years) and the price-to-rent ratios left a lot to be desired, so we started to do some research. Long story short, we are in the process of purchasing a home in Pittsburgh, PA, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. And suddenly I'm terrified. What were we thinking? We live thousands of miles away. I need to find insurance, a handyman, make decisions about property management. We manage everything on our own at home because we live close and have amazing, trusted handymen. We rent to people we know and everything is so easy here. Seriously: have we lost our minds? PITTSBURGH? I'm here to get advice from grizzled (and not-so-grizzled) veterans.