All Forum Posts by: Jon S.

Thanks for the insight on PMs Joseph. I will be in close contact with my PM without a doubt, but hearing it from someone who has done it already is very helpful.  I live in Tampa and invest in Tampa. I might invest in Atlanta region in future.  I know Smyrna is in that area. Which areas do you invest in? If you want to discuss Multifamily in Tampa feel free to message me. 

For those who have transferred management of properties to a professional property manager, how has your business fared? Have your vacancy rates changed and if so how? Have your rents changed, and if so how? How have your maintenance costs been, more or less? If you had to do it again, would you make the same choice? Thank you

@Samuel Iwu

If you spend it all on one house, you’ll be fine. But then when the market dips down you won’t have any capital left to reap the harvest of discounted properties. For real estate investing 101, a great first acquisition is a multifamily property, where one unit is owner occupied, and the other unit(s) are rentals. Now you can finance this as a fixed rate 30 yr mortgage at the lowest rates because it’s “owner occupied”. If you put 20% down on a $200,000 MF, such as a triplex, you’ll spend $40k of your capital, you’ll also be living rent free and still have $60k in savings, you’ll have some skin in the game, but you’ll still have capital in the bank for emergencies and other opportunities, while gaining experience as a landlord. Then one day you’ll find another good triplex or quadplex and add a few more doors to your portfolio in one stroke for another $40k. You’ll build a track record with banks and others in the investment communities, you’ll learn how and where to find the best mortgages at the lowest rates. And you’ll be stockpiling capital for the next one or for the eventual dip in the market. Keep your capital, capital is king in this business. Comfort level is an important factor as well so you pick the style that fits your needs. We all have different thresholds and needs.

@Jon S.

Its more than estimates versus actual. That’s extremely important. However, in daily practice you have to track each bid, whether it’s an all inclusive bid or a labor only bid, in which case you have to track each payment to the contractor and each payment for materials, and be able to see how much is still owed to contractor. That’s for each job. Categories are broadly roofing, electrical etc. But in day to day practice jobs may be much smaller, a bid may be installing 2 fans, and another bid might be installing 5 outlets, or installing a range vent, etc, so tracking ea small job, bid, labor, materials, pymts, can quickly become a task requiring software.

@Monte Blackwell

Well, I own this, bought it a while back, I’ll have to go take another look at it’s functionality, thanks!

I'm looking for user friendly software to estimate, budget and track all renovation costs and payments. I'd like to hear how others are handling this and what you think of the method your using. I'm open to any system that helps streamline this process. I'm working with a project manager, so I need a program to be accessible to my self and the project manager. Are there subscription based programs out there that are reasonably priced? Are there downloadable programs? Whats been working best for you? Thanks! 

I use a Buildium property management subscription to manage rent collections, so every tenant pays electronically.  There have been very few times in the last 4 years that rent has been late from any of my tenants.  It seems that electronic rent payment (and automatic late fees) encourages timely rent payment.  I am able to get market rent or above because I have nice properties. I'm normally able to attract great applicants. One neighborhood though, where I have two properties (4 doors), is a low income area, and those are the properties that take me the longest to find good applicants. My mistake might be in over-renovating nice apartments in low income areas. But I don't want to be a slumlord, and I also want to attract good tenants, no matter the neighborhood. However, most applicants in those areas have poor credit, or unstable job history, inconsistencies in their applications, etc. So its a battle to have nice properties there, and attract good tenants to live in those areas. I'm careful to pick a property that is in a pocket of other houses are duplexes that are well taken care of, but the area overall only attracts lower income applicants. Those are the ones that I might eventually hand over to a good PM. The ones that are in nice upscale areas are relatively easy to attract good applicants. I still am having trouble with getting repairs done quickly, but that is a recent issue, in the last month, so I'm going to try a couple new handymen, and hopefully find a good one to work with. I don't want to use a contractor to do basic handyman repairs, as that would cost a lot more to do maintenance.  

@Mark Ainley

Great advice, if I go that way, I’ll only use pm for more challenging properties. But I’m thinking I just need to keep working on and strengthening my landlord skills.

@Aaron T.

I’ll try it - thanks!