All Forum Posts by: Lee L.

41. Started at 34. 8 units in L.A. area: two triplexes and a duplex. All self-manage. Enough real estate for me for the time being. 

At 50% off, some of those appliances look like a pretty good value. Anyone have experience with Ikea appliances for rentals? Specifically their dishwashers and fridges. 

Your tenant messed up. But is he a bad tenant? Is it worth the vacancy and headache? Maybe you could warn tenant and set a clogged toilet procedure? 

remove the garage door ...

If I could get get both stove and fridge used for around $500 and increase the rent by around $25 I'd probably do it. 

@Lynn Gadd

4 properties in 4 different states. Damn, how do you manage that? You have a team in all the states? 

-- Security cameras that run on solar panels. I use the Reolink Argus 2. While the image quality is good, I wish it would do a much better job at "waking up" when there's activity. The technology is getting a lot better. It requires wifi, but luckily one of my tenants gave me access to theirs. It has halved my urge/need to visit the properties because I can check up on them on my phone. 

-- Having a storage unit, garage or half-garage for landlord's use. They're great as a command center where I store my tools and random stuff I need to service the property. Each has at least a small bed or comfy couch, and lots of bottled water. 

Yes, 4 seems high for the moment. Depends on your credit and other things. You can find average rates here http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.c...

I'm working with a great lender now in CA, but for a duplex. Would be the third loan he's helped me with. Highly recommend him. PM if you would like his info. He's based in Orange, CA. 

Perhaps just give the units a good scrubbing. advion gel from amazon is great for killing roaches, btw. 

It depends a lot on the condition of the property and how old everything is. But on a duplex 

1) Capex is probably the main variable. What is the condition of the roofs, foundation, driveway, paint, and other big items that need to replaced soon? If the roof needs to be replaced in say 5 years, you may even want to factor things like that on a per month basis to arrive at your capex calculation.

2) Water, sewer, garbage: Depends if there's landscaping and washers. Probably around $200 a month (my area)

3) Gardener: $50 - $100. Depends on the garden

4) Supplies: $50

5) Rodents, plumber, something gets broken: $200

6) Vacancy. It depends on how stable that tenant is. If they've lived there for 5 or 10 years, they're not very likely to move in the next few years. If they just moved in and rents are higher than market, the tenants will be more likely to move. However I might allow for 1 month vacancy every 2 years $1500/24 = $62.50

Based on that you might be looking at close to $600 + capex + mortgage + insurance + taxes. You also have to pay for your own gas and electricity, and spend more to fix up your place.