All Forum Posts by: Laura Williams

I was just reading on Westport/Plaza Next Door website about how Jackson County Assessors just raised property values alot. Tons of people freaking out cause they're seeing their property's assessed values doubling and tripling especially in the Hyde Park areas.  I checked my property values online and they showed also a HUGE jump up. 

Does anyone know anything about this? In Kansas City are they legally allowed to double or triple the property taxes in only one year for the general population of certain areas?  One of the people commented on the post that we only have until June 24th to try to appeal. Just wondering what other's thoughts are that own property in Kansas City and what the deal is......If we are going to get a huge increase in our taxes coming up? Or anyone that has a good tax person who can appeal these increases? I've only just heard about all of this today and I've not gotten any notices from Jackson County...yet 

I've been investing in KC since 2014 & have a few investment properties including some in the Waldo area. The market has been hot and stuff selling like crazy as long as I've been investing here (in certain areas of course...Waldo one of them). One thing I've noticed is that this time of year (Spring/summer) is generally the best time to sell but the worst time to buy. You can usually save anywhere from 5-20% just buying in the cold winter months & not have to deal with so many multiple bids competing. Also houses that are cosmetically perfect are always going to sell for a premium & get more attention so you might look for a fixer upper or try to find houses off market or for sale by owner that aren't getting so many eyes looking at them. 

For this time of year my best strategy for buying MLS is to try to be the first person to put in an (accepted) offer and to get them to commit before any other offers start coming in ...leaving the usual contingencies in the contract. I bought a nice house a couple years ago & my agent was the first one there at 9AM. I knew it was a good deal so I put in my offer right then for full price and he got it accepted. By the end of the day there were 7 other bids and one that was 14K higher than mine but it was too late for the seller cause they had already accepted mine. So this is an example of how quickly things move here especially if something is a good deal.

I wouldn't wave any inspections or contingencies. I've been surprised way too many times with major things wrong....unless the house was an absolute steal and then it might be worth the gamble. Just my 2 cents :) 

@Kevin Janssen

So here's my thoughts on pets. I've been doing this since 2014 and have had quite a few turnovers now. First I've had tons of people renting that sneak in pets after they move in and never tell me. That's the worst. Then after they move out you find dirty pet hair all over the place and wear and tear on the floors/walls that has to be repainted. According to my PM after tenants move out then all you can do is take actual damages out of their deposit but you never get to collect a pet fee that they should have paid in the first place. 

Second tenants that rent cheaper properties aka lower deposits tend to trash properties more often when they leave...pet damage included. If someone has over 1K on the line in deposits they usually want it back & will leave a place in good shape. The ones who only have a few hundred bucks on the line will just leave garbage and dirty & trash it cause it's usually not worth their time to get $500 back or care how they take care of it. 

Another thing to think about with multi-family is the quality of life the pets creates for the other tenants. I have one tenant in a duplex that has dog poop all over the (shared) yard.  Another tenant in a duplex that I kicked out (inherited tenant) because they infested the whole place with fleas ...like serious horrible fleas that had to be sprayed 4 times to treat after they moved out.....from their dirty smelly dogs ...that smelled like dirty dog the first second you walked through the foyer and they had a horrible dangerous dog that was vicious & large and go after repairmen or anyone it saw. It was trying to break down the window to get to one guy. I had another tenant who was clean and nice and had a sweet little dog ...but it barked like crazy and drove the neighbor crazy downstairs. It barked every second the owner wasn't home. 

So just my 2 cents. I generally allow pets on houses because even if I say no pets I've found they sneak them in anyway and I might as well get the pet fee. Plus the tenants who tell me upfront they have a pet are usually better quality than people who lie and get them anyway. I would not accept pitt bulls or any vicious breeds or more than 2 pets. For multifamily I've been allowing small pets like cats or those tiny house dogs that even if they turned bad they couldn't hurt any of the other tenants cause they are too small. But in general I would prefer not to have any pets if given a choice between 2 tenants all else being equal. 

 I do recommend when doing yearly inspections to have the person doing it to make note if there are any pets there that shouldn't be there. To learn from my mistake I would have probably make a couple thousand dollars off pet fees had that been done on mine by my former PM. It could also save you from getting a pet hoarder or an untrained pet in there that could do thousands of damages. I bought and rehabbed a house from a landlord that was renting it out to an animal hoarder. She had 49 cats in there and left the house still with 22 of them in there. I'm guessing he was probably an out of state landlord & never did yearly inspections.  But after buying that house I realize how important it is to check in on the properties from time to time.

Hey @Shane H. How do you like your virtual mailbox company? Is it working out for you and do you recommend them?

@Edo Y. Thanks for the heads up about Great American Bank. I've had good luck with Bank 21 and found them to be very professional. I would recommend them for commercial loans. They do loan to investors who are not local.

@Snehann Kapnadak I have 2 duplexes in Kansas City and pay about 1K a year for the insurance ....mine are worth between 200-250k. I also used to own a triplex (200k) and it was 1K a year also. My policies are with State Farm....if this helps. 

Also keep in mind when you go above 4 units the insurance prices will do a HUGE jump up. Not sure why. My friend has a cheap 5 plex he paid 120k for and his insurance is $1800/year ...cheapest we could find and other companies wanted 2500/year. After calling around and talking to multiple insurance companies it’s because it’s considered a ‘commercial policy’ and it’s hugely more expensive than if you have a policy on 4 units or less. So just something to keep in mind when you’re shopping around. 

@Ryan Kawash

Unless the area is a horrible disgusting war zone I'd take what this other investor says with a grain of salt. Does she actually screen her tenants? I'm always surprised at how many mom and pop investors don't run background checks on tenants & then say real estate is a horrible business. 

I've seen investors do OK in not great areas by just doing good screening and/or using section 8 to get tenants. Unless you feel like 100% of the rental pool in this town are degenerate drug addicts?? If this area has new businesses popping up ....especially chain stores like Starbucks as they do lots of research on areas.....  or yoga, art studios, high end coffee shops etc & population increasing it could be an opportunity.  I wouldn't let one negative person talk you out of it especially if you're seeing major signs of progress in this town and close to this property. 

That being said if I were you I would definitely go to the town and sniff around to see what you think and check out the "signs of progress first hand". Personally I don't like to buy places in bad areas but if this one is on the way up then that's a different story. Also any property you buy anywhere will need to be fully inspected by a professional.   A listing that says "great shape" can mean different things to different people.

@Micaiah Cormier 

Nothing wrong with owner financing :) You would just need to use a title company and make sure everything is properly recorded like a real mortgage so you have protection. Don't use a contract for deed as you have no legal protection..do the paperwork as a real mortgage like a bank.

 Also if your son ever pays off the owner finance he should make sure that the seller releases the lien. I've used hard money lenders for short term lending and paid them all back properly. Then recently when I went to refinance I found that NONE of them ever released the liens!!!!  This caused me issues & delays with the refinancing not to mention if I had just wanted to hold the properties without mortgages and the lender died I would have had major issues. So just make sure if your son ever repays them in full they release the lien on the property & it is properly recorded with the city. If he does use a bank to refinance out of the owner financing then the title company and bank will make sure all the liens are released properly. Just my advice and a lesson I learned about doing private loans.

@Brandon Rossi

Sounds like you're off to an awesome start!! Congrats!! My only advice with growing quickly is to keep a strong eye on your property mngt. I've seen so many PMs out there who are completely incompetent & crooks who have driven investors to the point of bankruptcy. It's really unbelievable how bad some of them are & how few of them can actually do their job..... Also how quickly a bad one  can ruin a good property. 

 I'd also recommend refinancing into long term fixed rate loans as soon as it makes sense for you. During the last market downturn I heard war stories of investors loosing everything and all their properties cause of lenders calling their loans due even if they had been making perfect payments. I doubt that kind of downturn will happen again but just something to be aware of. 

@Wei Jie Yang

I have used Voepel for the past 2 years to manage 16 units for me. So far I have been very happy with them and found that they strive to be professional and to do a good job for their owners. 

As for Nathan Brooks/Bridge I have not met them or bought anything through them.  I have heard they are good and do nice looking renovations. As with any provider though it's good to never blindly trust  & to do all your own research with areas and home inspections, home values etc.