All Forum Posts by: Luciano A.

@Edward Heavrin   

The strategy worked for a while, but be careful. Banks are getting stricter with cashout refi. Crunch your numbers and make sure the deal will pencil out before you go through with it. Buying with cash can possibly get you the deal, but so can paying more than anyone else-just make sure you talk to your lender and find out how they treat cashout refi versus straight refi. The market is changing so past success and strategies might not always work in current conditions. 

Best of Luck 

@Andres Triveno

  I always recommend someone looking to buy a new build get an inspection because even though some of us try to bring a quality product to the market, it's possible that we might miss something. Not all inspectors are good, and not all builders are good either. So many people got into the building business without construction knowledge and rely on city inspectors or their GCs. I pray the market forces these guys into retirement. Humans build properties, not robots, so it's possible that it was an honest mistake or worse someone cutting corners. Get an inspection; it's only $400 whereas you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on your new build. Last year I started using third-party inspectors to inspect my builds in their different phases. You can ask your builder if he utilized a third-party inspector for his build. Even larger builders have been known to use third-party inspectors. 

Best of luck 

@Bruce Woodruff Is right. 

HGTV makes it look easy. I get told by clients why my trades charge so much it only took them 2 hours. You are paying for the trade's experience and knowledge. He can do it in 2 hours while it takes a DIYer to do it in 10 hr. The other thing It's important to consider the safety of your tenants if you're going to do your own home repairs. If you damage the property or hurt someone, your insurance may not cover it. Even if you're a single-member LLC, it won't protect you from lawsuits or other legal action if something goes wrong since you were negligent. It's better to hire professionals who know what they're doing than risk losing everything on a bad DIY job.

Best of luck 

Welcome to Houston. I think Real Property Management Houston does stuff in 77020. Another way to find a property management company that knows those zip codes is to search rentals in those zip codes on Zillow or HAR and see who has many listings and see how they are presenting the property to the public with their pics and description of the properties. Seeing how they represent other landlords will help you narrow down to a couple that you can choose from.

Best of luck 

Hey Courtney,

 Houston's weather is much nicer in December than New Jersey's. LOL. I've heard that New Jersey has high property and income taxes. One thing to consider when you are looking in Houston is the property taxes. The city has been more aggressive than in previous years when it comes to appraising properties. Years ago, the property appraisal was low and your purchase price didn't affect new taxes very much; now it jumps immediately to what you purchased the property for, which can whack out your cash flow. The city passed a new ordinance that will make building triplexes more affordable; soon you'll see more triplexes and fourplexes as new construction rather than having to buy an old 1930s construction project. This will be especially good for out-of-state buyers, you want to keep maintenance costs low so they can get a nice return on your investment.

Best of Luck 

@Christopher Teal

Congrats on trying to move forward versus letting another year go by. You should become friends with the folks in the planning department. They will help you and give you advice on what they will and will not approve. Hate to have you spend all this money and not get plans approved. You might want to ask them about private roads, shared driveway easements, and retention systems. I normally do infill lots and that has its own hurdles. You might need to talk with someone who can re-plat this lot so that you can break them up into separate lots to build these duplexes. This will not be cheap and can take up to a year depending on how fast or slow this city moves. Finding guys who are familiar with that particular city will be key. 

If you are wanting to save on property taxes see if you can get an agricultural exemption by putting a few goats or whatever animal you can get for cheap onto the property. Again not sure what city and if this is rural or inside city limits in a residential neighborhood. 

Best of luck 

@Ricky Bass

If you are going to get construction financing you should ask your lender who they use to appraise the pre-build. This way you are using their appraisal that the banker will take under advisement. Another option is to call a local real estate agent that is familiar with your area and have them do a CMA to give you an idea of what others are selling their duplexes for.

Best of luck 

The 24-year-old who owns 1,000 doors in 12 months. Those stories are everywhere on IG, BP, and other social media but if you only put $25,000 as an LP into the deal and you have 100 partners, then in reality you own a bathroom in that complex.

As a landlord, you know how much time and money it takes to get a rental property ready for its next tenant. But jumping the gun can end up costing you money as well. I'd send them a 60-day notice that reminds them their lease is expiring and asks if they're happy with their unit and want to stay. Don't mention rent decreases or increases. Some tenants might want something like a steam cleaning of their carpets--and they'll stay! Moving is costly with the first month's rent and security deposit; humans are creatures of habit so moving to another part of town might not be convenient if they've got the same routines in place already. Good operators run their rentals with efficiency and respond to tenant issues with speed; some tenants value that and don't want to move out just because another property is $100 cheaper. We all have had that landlord who doesn't want to spend a dime until absolutely necessary; some will stay because it's the cheapest place in town but others would be willing to pay more to have a responsive landlord. 

Best of Luck 

It's nice to see someone taking steps to verify and check a prospective tenant's background. I've met other landlords who just do a basic credit check and hand over the keys once they receive the deposit and first month's rent, then get surprised when they end up in court. The current landlord's recommendation should be taken with a grain of salt. It's better to call one of their previous landlords--they won't have much to lose by giving an honest recommendation. If this prospect checks all your boxes (real proof of income, good rental history you can verify), then it would be fine to rent to them.

If you ask me, the better question to ask is: "What are your criteria for qualifying tenants?" This can indicate how much trust you place in your processes. If you have a low threshold for qualifying tenants, then I can see why you are uncomfortable making a decision based on just those qualifications. If your criteria require a potential tenant's credit score is over 700, income is greater than 3x the monthly rent, and their rental history shows stability, then trust your process. Otherwise, what's the point of having processes in place?

 Best of luck