All Forum Posts by: Ken Swearengen

I have a rental property in Kansas City (I'm out of state) that I purchased from a turnkey company. I've had a good experience with them; they've paid for a couple issues that they missed when they turned the property over to me.Late last week I got an email from the maintenance manager at my property management company where the tenant had called because they were having trouble keeping the house cool (68-70 degrees) and it was also causing condensation to form on the ceiling and peel some of the paint and apparently also get into the light fixture. The manager said the attic was getting too hot and they needed to put in some vents and exhaust fans and quoted me $3200. I reached out to the turnkey company who sent their own maintenence manager, and he said the inspector is particular about condensation issues and would have said something about needing more vents, so they don't think vents are the issue ( he said there were plenty on the roof). He suggested getting a dehumidifier and possibly putting more insulation in the attic.I'm at a loss for what to do now since I'm not out there. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of stuff?

Thanks Steve! Already on it, looking for a house hack next.

@Kathy Henley This is strictly an optional service they offer; from what I gathered with my contact the only other time they'll go into the property is if the resident reports a problem. We had an inspection completed as part of the sale back in June. I have repairs and maintenance built into my budget so I'm not worried about the cost, I just thought (perhaps wrongly) the most property management companies did a walk through as part of the 8% I'm paying them every month.

@Tyrone Matson I think they bought it around 90k? They took care of all the rehabbing way before I bought it, so I'm not 100% sure. It appraised for $146k.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $144,900
Cash invested: $31,877

Turnkey SFH in Raytown, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I've been looking to house hack, but with 2 kids -- one about to enter school -- the options around my hometown of Baltimore, MD are rather limited.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The turnkey company was recommended to me by a member of Active Duty Passive income. I worked with the owner of that company (Bridge Turnkey) to find a property that fit my cash flow expectations (it'll be around 12%).

How did you finance this deal?

We had some cash saved up, so we put 25% down and financed the rest through a bank.

How did you add value to the deal?

n/a, it was already to go

What was the outcome?

They had a tenant in place for us paying the top end of our estimate rent range on a 2-year lease.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Even for a turnkey I didn't realize how many phone calls I'd have to make to set up the utilities and all that. Plus this town just started a rental registration program which is requiring more phone calls. But worth it!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am very happy with Bridge Turnkey. Voepel Property Management has also been really easy to work with and very responsive so far.

I just got a notice from my property management company for a long-distance rental property I have that they are scheduling fall inspections. The inspections are $175. This is my first rental property (I purchased in June), and I was wondering if they should also be doing a semi-annual walkthrough that is part of the management fees I'm paying, or whether it's standard to just pay for the "more thorough" (i.e. they have a checklist) inspection that they do twice a year. 

What I love more than anything else in the world (other than my family) is being a first responder. My wife is a stay-at-home mom for my two kids, so making a career out of it isn't an option financially even with our pretty frugal living. So real estate is a means to an end for me to spend more time doing what I love. It's gonna take several years and it's hard sometimes to keep the end in sight, but I think it's totally worth it. And who knows, once I get a few more properties under my belt, I may fall in love with RE investing!

I've had Voepel recommended to me, but I'd like to talk with a few more to get some comparisons. I"m getting a turnkey SFH from Bridge in Raytown.

My wife and I found a duplex we love just over the Maryland border in Shrewsbury, PA. Our real estate agent did a video walkthrough for us of the units (one vacant and one occupied -- don't worry, for the occupied she handed her phone to the tenant for them to do the walkthrough).

We're gonna work with our agent to answer the following concerns, but I wanted to see what you all recommended as well:

1) We drove past the house and looked at it from the outside, but my wife is uncomfortable purchasing a house for us to live in where we haven't seen the inside, even if it's just the vacant unit. Given current restrictions, have you been able to view vacant units?

2) We'd like to sell our current condo, but with two kids it requires a deep clean and a good paining. Are cleaners and painters still in business?

3) What other considerations should I keep in mind through this process during the stay-at-home orders? I know things are going a bit slower, but other than that what else should I think about?

@Jacob Sampson and @Trent Stone thanks for keeping me objective! We've been searching for almost a year for a house hack around Baltimore with decent public schools, so when I saw this particular home I put on my rose colored glasses. I think the most important point I got from both of you is to not use "ideal" rents but the existing ones. To address some of your other points:

- Based on my talks with other investors around here, 1% "rule" is pretty standard unless I want to get into a war zone.

- This is in a solid B neighborhood.

- The property has been rehabbed recently. Roof is 2 years old, HVAC, Furnace, and Water heater are about 5 years old (if I remember correctly).

I'll reach out to some property managers and see what they say too. Last time I talked with my mortgage lender he quoted me at a solid 4% for a loan, but that was before all this stuff went down; I'll adjust accordingly after talking with him again.