All Forum Posts by: Kyle Steiner

I have a tenant who moved out and left the place in decent shape.  However, there were some scuffs on the walls, the kitchen counters had some dried food on it and the floors were dirty.  The bathroom required some cleaning as well. In total, I probably spent 2 hours painting, 3 hours cleaning and about $60 on cleaning supplies.  What is reasonable to charge for my time?  Also, am I allowed to deduct the cleaning supplies I bought from the security deposit as well?

As a side note, this is a property located in Southern California.

@Ruel K. I spoke to Swanny today.  I agree, he has good advice and we share a lot of the same views on how to grow our real estate holdings and cash flow.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I think I'm going to go the route of pulling out the equity via a line of credit since that gives me more flexibility in terms of identifying another property to purchase. Also, like some of you have mentioned, it will allow me to benefit from some potential future appreciation. As a side note, these condos peaked at about $135k back in 2006-2007 so I feel like we're close to the top of the market. However, even if there is a pullback in the market, I should still be able to cash flow even after adding the line of credit. To the person who suggested I listen to podcast with Swanny, that podcast is what prompted me to post this in the first place. It sounds like he was able to do pretty much exactly what I would like to do. I just need to spend some time laying the groundwork to get a team on the ground in an out of state market. If anyone on here sees this and has some reliable brokers, property managers, etc in their networks, please let me know as I would like to start making connections prior to investing in another market.

Edit: The title should have been "Lease California Condo or Sell and 1031 into OOS Multifamily?"

I have a condominium I bought about 5 years ago for $60,000 that I can sell today and walk away with about $100,000 after selling expenses. It rents for $975 per month ($11,700 per year) and after expenses I clear about $6,500 of NOI. It's owned free and clear which means, based on my total cash invested, it has a COC return of 10.8%.

However, when calculating my Return on Equity, I'm only getting about 6.5%.  My question is, if you were in my situation, would you continue renting this property out or would you sell the condo and look into investing out-of-state in a market where you could take that $100,000 and buy 5 houses or a small apartment building?  I think I could get closer to a return of 10 to 12 percent on my $100,000 rather than a 10.8% return on $60,000.

Also, another option is that I rent the condo out and get a line a credit on it. I have a bank that is willing to loan $60,000 at 5% interest against this property, so I could pull some equity out and deploy it elsewhere for a higher return.

I am interested in Cincinnati as a market but I am hesitant to jump into an out-of-state property because of the difficulty in managing a property that's not within a few hours drive of where I am.  Also, my condo is currently vacant and I want to either rent or sell it ASAP which means I don't have a lot of time to fly out to other markets and make connections with property managers, etc.  Additionally, I work full time and wouldn't be able to get time off until around Thanksgiving.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions on my situation. 

I agree with Anthony.  What is the agreement you have with the seller?  Is he still part owner of the home? 

Usually when you do seller financing, the former owner essentially becomes the bank.  If I were in the situation you describe, my bank wouldn't have any right to tell me what contractor to use to repair items listed in an insurance claim.  So I'm not sure why he thinks he has the right to dictate who you use for the repairs.

Thanks for the encouragement Joe Homs. I'm interested in connecting with others in the area so I'll check out the meet-up groups you mentioned.

I'm a real estate investor from Southern California who has a few rental properties currently. I've done 5 buy-and-hold deals personally over a long period of time and I'm looking to ramp up my activity significantly. I've done one flip with a family member about 8 years ago. When I graduated from college I was a licensed real estate agent and closed escrow on a few houses. Then 2008 happened and as a realtor in his early 20s with no established business, I found employment elsewhere. I now am in the management consulting field and I am primarily working with banks on ensuring their compliance with lending regulations and internal controls. I'm recently married and my wife and I are in our early thirties. Our ultimate goal is to be able to comfortably retire (if we want) in our mid to late 40s. We're currently saving a good chunk of our incomes each month for a down payment on something and we also have access to a line of credit if needed for potential rehab costs. The rental properties that I currently own are in California but I was looking into buying some turnkey cash flow properties in Memphis. I'm still considering the turn key route. However, since I don't necessarily need to be totally hands-off in my investing, I'm now also looking into doing a flip in some of the lower priced areas of Southern California, like Riverside or San Bernardino county with the aim of taking on a project with a bigger potential payday. Also, if you have advice for someone like me who is looking to increase their deal flow and eventually gain financial independence/early retirement, send it my way.

Hi everyone, I'm an investor from California who is looking to buy an SFR in Memphis. I will be in Memphis on Wednesday (tomorrow) and have a morning appointment with a turnkey operator there. I want to keep my options open and see what else I can buy without going through a turnkey company. I'm looking for a property in the range of $85,000 - $110,000 that would generate at least 1% gross rent monthly. I want to stay out of the class D and C- minus communities and I'd like someone who a good understanding of the neighborhoods to show me around. I should be available from 1:00PM to 5:00PM tomorrow to look at properties. I'm looking to put something under contract within the next 30 days, sooner if I find something that fits my criteria. If you're interested in working with me, either post here or send me a direct message.