All Forum Posts by: Luke Trovinger

Hey @Ethan Brown! Love that you're looking into house hacking while you attend school, everyone is already used to living with roommates in college so shouldn't be too much of a stretch on your comfortability. Facebook marketplace is a good way to check out rooms for rent in an area. If you change the location to the property location and keep the radius near the property, search for "room for rent" and you'll likely get several listings, depending on how populated your area is. Another decent way to check rooms for rent is HotPads, they have an option specific to renting rooms. And of course there is always Craigslist. These are some of the easiest ways to get an idea of what rooms rent for around your area. Best of luck!

Hey @Miguel Hernandez! Curb appeal is definitely an important factor in comparables, depending on how far off the home is to the other sales around it. I'm assuming your area is fairly expensive being near LA, which will likely give you more room to play with budget wise. Painting and light landscaping can go a long way to clean up a home's exterior, my recommendation would be to look at other homes around it and see what the neighborhood calls for. Best of luck!

Hey @Gregg Romig! 5 bedrooms sharing 1 bathroom is definitely rough and likely a rough selling/renting point for folks. If it were me, I'd add another bathroom to increase the appeal. Is there a big difference between a 4 bedroom and 5 bedroom in your market price wise?

Congratulations on graduating and landing a great job @Zachary Hadjah! Not based in Florida but definitely happy to connect and answer any questions you might have!

Congratulations on the deal @Lance Jorgenson! How has the property performed so far?

Hey @Peter Morgan! This is definitely something that you can write into the lease. I'd recommend speaking with a lawyer to ensure your lease is compliant/enforceable, and discuss "hold harmless" clauses related to the lessee having sole responsibility of snow removal. Best of luck!

Hey @Kevin Busuttil! There are lots of markets out there, so you'll want to put some thought into what your preferred investing style will be. Are you looking primarily for cash flow? Low barrier to entry? Best chance at appreciation? Etc.

Once you're able to narrow a few markets down, a huge part of long distance investing is going to be the team that you have in place (Realtor, lender, contractor, property manager). The common theme is that rockstars know rockstars, so interview several agents in the areas you're interested in and get a feel for if you get along and what their experience is. Once you find a Realtor (or really any team member of the above), ask for referrals to the remaining persons. This will help you with getting boots on the ground and get advice for the best locations to purchase within those markets.

Best of luck!

Congratulations on the deal @Juan Salazar! Are you house hacking this property or a traditional rental?

Hey @Elisabeth Lernhardt! Lots of similar platforms out there, try Redfin, Realtor, Trulia for a similar experience. Auction.com and Homepath.com have foreclosure sales. Or even ask a local Realtor to get set up on an MLS search and have properties sent to you that match your criteria. Best of luck!

Hey @Zack Elaroussi! Check out Rentometer.com, or you could also use Zillow to check out current rental listings to see how your property compares.