All Forum Posts by: Lowden Charles

@Drew Sygit

Thanks Drew for the heads up with the major shifts in experience between the door count hurdles (i.e. 50 being different from 100 to 200 etc.) I definitely will keep that in mind.

Also to clarify I totally understand that my 8 doors isn’t much in this industry and when I referred to the “book of business” I was implying after the acquisition is completed that would be my starting point.

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know anyone in my market (Southern NY-Westchester area) that may be open to a discussion in this industry?

@Scott M.

Thanks for the advice! This is super helpful. We have an attorney that we trust to hopefully help us through this process but I definitely like the earn-out model based on client retention!

Do you have any suggestions on business brokers that you have worked with or heard of that you would suggest I reach out to?

Hi all! 
I’m a real estate investor who has decided to get my license (based in NY) and would like to buy a property management company in the Westchester area. We self manage our own properties (5 properties with 8 doors) and love it. Wanted to know if anyone had advice or experience purchasing a property management company so we can come with a book of business or if that’s even a good idea to look into. 

Any help is welcome!

@Kevin Huang

I’ve been in a similar situation and I’m not happy to say that I handled it appropriately. I told them that the according to the lease if they terminated the lease it would make the entirety of the balance of rent left on the lease immediately due. They very much didn’t like that. It lead to me having to pay an attorney and almost going to court because they got council and tried suing me for some bogus charges, not notifying them 2 days in advance and they also had appliance issues during their tenancy so they also argued for us not providing an safe unit.

Looking back and how we handle not is to acknowledge the tenant’s request but ask them to fill out a Notice to Vacate form. We give them options to select from as reasons for them vacating the unit. In it if they choose the option for early termination we make it clear that by selecting this they agree that they are responsible for payments until a new tenant is found. They are also required to keep the unit available for showing. It just covers the bases so if they go to the courts we bring that document to show the judge they were the ones to break the lease terms and we are looking to work with them not harm them while protecting our property.

Hopefully this helps! Good Luck!

@Breelon Bryant

Honestly great questions! I don’t believe that there will be a major housing crisis caused by the moratorium due to the fact that investors were recently burned in 2008 and it’s still fresh in there minds so they create more of a cash cushion.

In regards to the tenant issue...I am dealing with a similar situation. I’m based in NY where the laws are totally written in favor of tenants, so I’ve been answering every maintenance request from this bad tenant and paying costs in additional fees around this tenant not upholding the lease terms, as well as attorney fees. I started the eviction process but even then I’m working on communication with this tenant. My advice, do the right thing even if the tenant is choosing to do the wrong thing. I want to look back and know that whatever happened I didn’t lose my integrity and get caught up in the bad behaviors of a few.

Good luck!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Mount Kisco.

Purchase price: $1,800,000
Cash invested: $225,000

This was our first deal and we made a lot of mistakes on it. It’s currentl for sale so we can exit and roll the money over into more profitable ventures.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We were just excited to get in the game.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It was a short sale that originally fell through for another buyer and we were able to get a hold of the broker representing the bank and take down the deal.

How did you finance this deal?

Cash

How did you add value to the deal?

Full renovation of the property. Everything from wallpaper removal, refinishing floors, to landscaping and replacing the cedar roof. New kitchen and master bath as well.

What was the outcome?

We originally were looking to flip the property however we couldn’t due to the fact that we didn’t understand the market that we were in fully. This was our first deal and we were too emotionally attached to it and the return we were looking for. We found a tenant however she is leaving and we need to sell the property ASAP.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned the importance of understanding how a market is trending and having an end user in mind for the property. It took a while for us to find a tenant and now it’s on the market for sale we will have to update the price and try to cut our losses as quickly as possible

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes our agent helped us with the process and is looking for ways to get it sold quickly.

Hey BP Community! My team and I just got our first rental tenants! We are really excited and happy with our selection. Now we want to create a process that we can reuse as we continue to build our rental portfolio. Does anyone have or can suggest where I can find a template that has a uniform way of giving the tenants the necessary information like contact information, rental information and payment as well as other necessary information that I maybe missing. If there is anyway someone can help me with this I would appreciate it and if I can help you in some way message me as well and hopefully we can work something out. Best, Lowden Charles

@Allende Hernandez Thanks for the suggestion! All really helpful.

@Allende Hernandez thank you for the well wishes!

That makes sense, I didn't know how much I would be able to get out of the lease options so I assumed we could get the best of both worlds. Chances are the ability to get the funds out to do the next deal and capitalize a bit more is probably better for our goals in the long run. 

I also saw on your profile that you have wholesaled deals in the past. Is that something that is difficult to learn? Where do you recommend that I go so I can learn how to do that in my market?

Thank you so much for your help!

Lowden Charles

Hello BP Community,

I have been on BP for a little while now, listening to the podcasts, reading the posts on the forum and taking the advice that everyone else has been giving and this is my first discussion post so here it goes...

I have been working with my family on looking for our first property to invest in for several months and we finally were able to get our hands on a good deal. It is a short sale that we were able to sweep up because the previous buyer was not able to get their financing in order (lucky us!). We have vetted several contractors and we are very pleased to find one and we are happy with him and his team's work. We are under our budget from what we projected the costs of the renovations would costs now comes the part where we will be working with our broker to determine the listing price for the property. 

My question for the BP Community is this, because we have been able to acquire the property at such a good price should we flip the property or find a tenant with a lease with the option to buy? The property is in Westchester County, NY and obviously we don't have much experience and we are also keeping an eye on the market for the next deal.