All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I am not here to judge, but it sounds like someone needs to do a better job at prescreening people?  I know you have high expenses, but do you think hiring a property manager to turn this thing around would be worth it?  

Other ideas:

Price around on your insurance companies.  Is it necessary to exterminate every month?   Perhaps the frequency could be cut down to save funds?  That seems like a lot!  Most landlords I know only cover bug extermination for the first 30 days, after that it is the tenant's responsibility.  Eliminating that expense alone takes a huge chunk out of that $500 overage.  

If you want to get out of it, you could always sandwich lease option it to the guy, but he will have to come up with a balloon payment in 5 years, or whatever period you set for a buy out. Tell him you can't finance it forever.    This way it stays in your name, but you could put it in a property trust and add his name to protect everyone's interest.  (I have never done this myself, just heard about it). You can charge him what the property would be worth in five years, plus charge him an option fee for providing this lease option to him that is non refundable if he backs out.  It can at least get you to 2019 and past the prepayment penalty?

Water and trash would be the only utilities/costs I would pay.  What all utilities are you paying, and why?  If they aren't metered, try considering a flat fee for those, and estimate an average of the whole year.  

I don't know if this helps any, but I hope it does.  :-)

Lisa

Hey Brandon,

I don't know all the answers but I will give my opinion, and a suggestion.  My suggestion is make sure you can have AirBnB's in the area.  I just offered on a house, but thankfully it fell through because I intended on the exact same scenario you are doing, but my city outlawed AirBnB's about a month later.  

1.  Deposit - First and Last Month's Rent.

2.   You could always hire a property manager that lives close to drop by, but unfortunately by the time you will most likely hear about it, the house will already be "stickered".  I don't think you can do much more this than put this in the lease, perhaps stating occupants who cause issues with noise ordinances can be evicted.  I just don't know how legal that truly is, you'd have to check it out.

3.  You can have this problem with students as well.  What you could do is have it set to a particular temperature with a lock box over the thermostat.  I have seen companies do that to keep people from putting them up and down constantly.  I don't think most vacationers want to abuse a rental like this, but kids think nothing about opening windows when the AC is running.  You could also make it a smart house in which you can see if someone is there and monitor the AC, turning it off when it isn't rented right through your cell phone, etc.  Just some thoughts.

4.  Furnishings - No spices, but everything else, yes for vacationers and students.  If they can move right in and everything is there, you save them money.  Buy stuff used.

5.  How close is laundromat?  If it isn't directly next door, I'd say provide the W&D, or you will lose business to someone who has one on site.  Students are lazy. LOL

6.  I highly recommend having a property manager based on your plans if you live more than a half hour away.  If you are offering vacation rentals, all the linens need washed after stays, cleaning needs done, trash needs taken out, etc.    I know that some people put a "cleaning" penalty in their agreements that will charge the vacationer if they have to clean up more than what is normally expected, if things are taken, etc, and they hold a credit card for this purpose.  If you advertise through AirBnB, you can choose who you let stay based up on the feedback of other owners who have rented to them.  That helps a little.  

Please feel free to connect, I would love to learn how this turns out because I have had the same ideas and may do it in a town that hasn't outlawed it yet.  Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend, so do your homework.

Will you come redo my house?  Lol.  Looks great, love porch and kitchen! May you reap the rewards!!

How old are mechanicals, roof, windows, ect?

I would suggest the seller arrange for a lockbox if the dont havea property management company or other local resources to unlock it.

Have you done the comps in the area?  This does not sound like a good investment to me.  You still have capital expenses, maintenance, vacancy costs, etc.  Negative means, negative.  Positive sounds better to me.  I would keep looking.  The whole idea of a house hack is for the investment to pay for you to live there.  That's not the case in this scenario.   

interested, could set up a time over the weekend to see it?

 I got mine from my title agency free.  

Interested, but need more info.  Please email to lkovaca@aol.com