All Forum Posts by: Mark Trebor

Sounds good I had my dates wrong so I am free on the 20th looking forward to meeting you as I am an investor in Duluth as well.

Is this something you have done on a monthly basis?  I'm busy on the 20th but would be very interested in future events.

What does your tax return from last year say?  

@Jim K. - well said! I summarized what you said with "highway robbery".  Big PM's have lots of over head so there's probably one guy making allot of money and a bunch of minions working for $15/hour rifling through your tenants stuff.

A small guy starting out I think you really need to self manage, hiring a PM you are just looking to get taken advantage of.

@Coleman Nelson - OK that sounds good, having more information is always a good thing.  What vacancy level do you consider worthy of raising rents at?  I have a different yet good problem, in the past 11 years across 18 houses I have only had one house vacant for a 3 month period.  Otherwise I have been 100% full.  I always wonder how high I could raise rent but never really know for sure what metric to use.  Right now I rely on other landlords in the area and monitor their properties, we keep our houses nicer and rents about $50 less so that we don't have to deal with vacant houses.  Its a simple plan but maybe not the most financially responsible.  Its a college town so houses rent fast and we have a known reputation for keeping good houses and being decent and flexible with the tenants.

I know your market well, since you tossed out the idea of house hacking maybe you might want to stay near campus?  Maybe find a house that you could use as a duplex but really is not a duplex?  Something where you could convert a basement into a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom living space and then rent the upstairs to college kids?  There are not allot of duplexes in the campus area but if you can deal with college kids around you it might work out well.

Have you found people to be persuaded to be engaged with your company based on potential gross income numbers?  I feel like when I look at a property and somebody starts telling me about the "potential" this property has I get turned off and my B.S. meter kicks in.  Are you using this information for some other purpose?

Where is the 20% down coming from?  Are you taking equity out of your first rental or going straight cash?

How much will you net from your $1250 in rent?

That sounds about right for my area in the midwest.  Its highway robbery that's why I self manage.

If you're using a property manager he should have all of these guys lined up or if he's big enough he will have licensed guys on staff.  Be careful with the property managers, in my city they charge 12-15% of revenue, $500 annually for finding tenants and then there are additional charges for each maintenance call.  I know a number of landlords that rent college houses and pay property managers.  They start with a house that generates 25K in revenue and their property manager is grabbing between 8-10K a year on each property.  That's why I self manage.