All Forum Posts by: Karen M.

This is a good question.  So for you as a real estate investor, or as a new real estate investor -- your **minimum** benchmark for a return would be -- 15% to 20%? 

I live in a good rental / cash flow market, and I also invest in the stock market.  I expect my *minimum* stock performance to average inflation + 7% / year.   I would expect for the work involved with owning property (and the lack of liquidity, and the higher transaction costs) that the *minimum* return on investment would need to be higher to justify the investment.  

Karen

I wonder if the police simply asked them for the names of all the people who were recently at their place, and you were one of them.  It might not have been that they were pointing a finger at you specifically.  Take some deep breaths and keep on trucking. 

That is so weird.  I'm sorry it happened to you. 

Of course you don't quit because of this!!!  These aren't the right people for you to work with.  That is OK, you will meet other people.  Hang in there.  

Hi BP Friends,

I am working to convince my husband to buy-in to real estate investing.  Ideally, I would like to find a property in the Milwaukee area that we can self-manage.  We would begin with one lower-cost house or duplex that makes sense financially and is in a neighborhood that we like, and then I would learn to manage it. 

My husband is open to supporting the project financially, but he does not want to be called upon to run the rental.  That is OK with me.  He is nervous that I will be asking him to go and fix things.  However, I could hire that out to a service person and budget for those things.

But also --- I could look for tenants who take good care of the property and who will ideally, do a lot of the maintenance. 

How do I do this?  I have heard mentions on several podcasts of landlords who, in their leases, give a lot of responsibility to the tenants to take care of the property, as a homeowner would.  

Could we please talk about this in very specific detail?  :)   If we begin with a single family home, I would want to have a tenant who can and wants to and even enjoys making their home a nice place.

How do you do this?  What do you put in your leases?  How do you talk to prospective tenants about your expectations?  Which maintenance items do you take responsibility for?  What is your maintenance schedule for your properties?

If anyone is willing to share with me their specific lease language via message, I would love to review your examples and learn from them. 

And how do you screen to find a person who will be caring about the property?  Do I ask something like -- do you own a lawnmower?  (seriously, I don't know how to address it!)  Have you maintained a house before?   

Do you give your tenants a chore chart?  (I don't mean like a mommy, I mean like a seasonal reminder kind of thing.)  

Honestly, in our own home, there might be some gunk in our gutters right now.  I don't expect perfection, but the property needs to be protected

I would also love to know, very specifically, how you do property reviews / inspections while the tenant is living there.  It sounds like many landlords do quarterly or semi-annual property checks.

Let me ask it like this -- I am going to take on a new job of being a property manager for our investments.  What systems do I need in place to be successful, and to have a good experience all around?  

Thank you so much!

Karen

Welcome George!  This is a great place to learn.  :) 

I went to go look at that book at Amazon and read the preview.  One little snip:

"Investors should sell stocks by mid-January 2014 and look to buy them back in 2015 or later at a Dow as low as 5,800."

Not quite, so far. 

Have you tried networking / marketing to some horse people in Wisconsin?  They're around…

I am looking at a listing and it says:

WARNING - Basement & kitchen have discoloration.

What do you think that means?  Thanks.

Check people's references to determine whether someone is a good worker or not.  Or you could try working with a temp agency to find someone that you like.  You will likely need to take time to train the person you hire and show them what is needed for your specific business.

Dawn, thanks!  I'm going to set up an inside tour.  :)