All Forum Posts by: Lawrence Rutkowski

How does SAHA determine initial rent? For example, I have a rental in an area they pay up to $2,025. I planned on listing the property at $1,700 as that seems to be a reasonable market rate. Will SAHA pay more for me to accept a section 8 tenant over a market tenant? Do they hire brokers to do price analysis for comparables? I don't know how this works and I can't find anything on their website.

I can't find anything about people successfully using AI yet.  My thought is that the people that ARE using it for lead gen/outreach, automation etc. will keep the methods to themselves until the advantage of early adoption is done and that business segment is saturated, then they will sell courses to everybody else..

 Good to know! I was wondering if there was even a point, given the level of bureuacracy involved with SAHA. Getting answers on anything not completely boilerplate is tough.

What are your goals for the property? What is your financial situation like?  The optimal solution is to get rid of this problem tenant, perform the necessary repairs/updates, and get a quality tenant at market rent. $400/below is very questionable for a great tenant, let alone a garbage one. I operate in NY and TX, but I assume the rules in GA are somewhat similar. It'll be faster to rid yourself of him via a non-renewal than what seems like an inevitable eviction for nonpayment. 

**Just saw this was 4 months ago. I hope everything worked out for you!

I've got a SAHA tenant here in San Antonio, and am wondering if you can challenge a low Fair Market Rent assessment. I felt I was slightly lowballed last fall, and have a renewal coming up end of this summer/early fall. Tenant is fine, but rent comparables have gone a solid $150-$225/month over this time period. Per SAHA's FMR map, they'll pay UP to $2086/month in this zip, and the 5% rent cap is over, so that's not the problem. I'm assuming they're running comps and picking the lowest of them, when this property is somewhere in the top of the middle. I'd like to be able to counter if I get lowballed again. With my property taxes and insurance going through the roof, every dollar matters!

Leveraged SFR rentals aren't working in most places now, for reasons other have already mentioned. Try looking for properties you can take sub-to with more favorable financing or owner financed wraps. Other than that, searching for SFR rentals right now just isn't worth it if you need cash flow now.

Very legal. Easy to just deed the title back if the lender wants to pull the due on sale clause. Find a seasoned, investor oriented title company that knows the ins and outs of the whole thing. If your attorney knows what they're doing, conveys that to the lender, they aren't going to want to bother with it. More than likely.

I am getting back into active real estate investing again after about 1.5-2 years more or less off, outside of a handful of realtor transactions.

I'm looking to start back up slowly. I remember when I FIRST started years ago, I had a good response rate with hand written letters and personal texts to leads I found driving for dollars. I'm not trying to get a bulk list and blast 1000s or addresses off the bat. I also feel like people were getting cold call and postcard fatigue. The MLS is albeit a pointless avenue at this point.

What are those of you that are getting your off market deals doing these days? 

@Aaron Bihl Ain't it??  I have my license as well and used to work with "investors" from BP looking for residential rentals. Almost all of them were from one of the coasts, or just moved here from one of the coasts. They ALL had ridiculous expectations about acquisition and cash flow. I closed several deals from here over maybe a year and a half, but it was like pulling teeth. People have only gotten worse. I don't even bother anymore.

Hello all,

I own a duplex in the city of Buffalo NY. I am looking at drawing up a lease-option for my downstairs tenants who have been with me for 8 years.

I have never done one of these and would be appreciative for some advice in structuring. 

Essentially, I would like deposit money, and have downstairs manage the property while cash flowing a few hundred dollars per month. I would also like to know how you would calculate the purchase price 3 years from now. 

What I would like to do in my perfect world, is have a 3 year term, $10k-$15k deposit/down payment, (house just appraised for $150,000.) have downstairs maintain the property (they do 3/4 of the maintenance now, but they would now be out of pocket) and manage upstairs tenants and collect and keep the rent (Upstairs $800). I am in the process of a cash-out refi, my new PITI will be about $750/month, up from $580. I would like to receive monthly payments from downstairs of $1,100-$1,200. They are currently under market rent at $750(because of longevity and maintenance/lawn/snow etc).

Downstairs received $30k this month from an insurance settlement. Otherwise, they are not high earners. With what they make, and factoring in rental income, they should be good for a loan down the road barring more pandemics or tougher money.

Is this reasonable? Fair? Smart? I am open to input. I'm not ready to sell outright at this moment, but I am looking at exit strategies out of NYS as I live and own properties in San Antonio, and I'm getting less enthusiastic about managing 1700 miles away. Of course the landlord-tenant laws in NY are deplorable, and only getting worse it seems. (No, I am not interested in selling to you unless you want to pay retail.)

The second part of this, 

I've recently acquired new tenants upstairs in October.  

I've received several excessive noise complaints from downstairs, and that they've tried talking it out to no avail. IF we execute this lease option, and IF it came to possible eviction, would downstairs have an easier time since they live in the building? Would the "Roommate law" apply at all (or something else?), or would it be moot because I would still hold title? 

I intend to speak with an attorney soon, but would like a better understanding before I do. (If you have any great referrals, I will be happy to check them out.)

Also, I'm looking for advice on what I asked, not on tenant management or soliciting cash offers. I've been landlording, flipping, realtoring (is that a word??) for a long time. I'm not "burned out" because of noise complaints, or really at all. This just happens to be happening simultaneously, and the lease option mechanics are new to me.

Hopefully I didn't come off as an *** on that last part, throwing it in there from past experience..  Relevant constructive input is much appreciated here.