All Forum Posts by: Mary M.

I agree a good tenant is really worthwhile. I would probably ask her to pay the water bill...  and leave rent the same.  Or, have her pay half the water bill and increase her rent $30-40....  You can sign a 6-12 mo lease whatever she prefers. I would not take 6 months of rent up front. 

My suggestion is: before you close be sure you sign up/join your local and state  rental owners association. Then take any and all classes they have for new owners. 

Also a good idea to read the Ll/tenant law in your state/locale 

To win in this game of REI you need to know the rules of the game you are playing :)

I think you are forgetting the actual asset that is purchased which is holding the value of the cash spent.   I am not looking to aggressively grow, I am looking to have a steady income in retirement.  Dont forget that the asset grows in value over time, rent appreciation happens as does debt pay down.  My goal is income not asset growth so leverage is not really something I want to aggressively use. (in fact I wish i had bought all cash)    I think people forget that each person has a different need ....  and while I could use my cash to grow grow grow I have no need to do that.  I have other goals in life. 

I make over 10k/month, and live off my rentals. However, i started with a large chunk of cash and was able to reinvest and triple it.  I dont have a goal of reinvesting and reinvesting - my investment is purely to produce enough income for me to live on. Thats it. 

I will say that I look at REI differently I guess - I look at it as how much do I make on my money invested - so say I invest 1,000,000 I would expect that I should make about 60k/year (6%) (this is based off my location and type of investment) of course this will change over time as rents increase, etc.... but in a nut shell its just investing and what your money in will produce.

There are as many ways to invest in RE as there are people doing it.....  

@Jon P.  I am biased how exactly?  I am being a hypocrite how? 

I own multi million $$ of RE.  When I started investing I lived in  the Bay Area California. Since that is so expensive I decided to move to where I will invest.  So not sure how this makes me a hypocrite? 

there are so many ways to lose money. The boards are full of them. Day after day.  Many of these are "I invested OOS and got scammed/lost my money/etc"   so, my opinion is it is better to invest where you know,  where you can be eyes and hands on. AFAIK texas is not that bad investment wise,  and,  if possible I would suggest the OP try buying close to home first.  But they have not come back to this thread so my suspicions are on high alert that this might just of been a set up for various folks to "help" by suggesting various turnkey providers......    also, while there are threads about various providers who have ripped people off, this is not helpful to those that trusted them and lost money. So IMHO - esp for a newbie buying OOS is not a good idea. The risks are just too great.  

Also, fwiw I am not selling anything whereas many others on this thread are......  

I think this is a question about whether you want to keep your tenant and not about the law and what insurance would do.   If this tenant gets mad and leaves how much will it cost you in lost rent and costs associated with re renting it?  IMO if this were me, I would pay the cost to replace their window  (it should not affect their insurance to have the window replaced? but maybe check) and would offer to pay half of their 500 deductible and then I would also have the tree looked at by an arborist and do what they recommend. 

why am I getting the feeling that this thread is just a front so the "Turn key" folks can post about how great they are??  hmmmmm.....

@Bruce Woodruff in Oregon you must go thru the contractors board and first is a letter sent and give contractor 30 days to respond, then you get a mediation. If the CG and the client can not reach an agreement (in my situation we did not) I then have to go hire an attorney and go to court to get access to his bond. this so far has cost me $5,000 and I am no where near done. So....  while it may be a good option for high $$ conflicts and GCs that are afraid of the board, not so much for lower amounts and stubborn GCs. 

Buying out of state is a really bad idea. Especially if you have no experience and dont know anyone in your target area.  It is much much better to buy where you know.  Also, be cautious BP is full of sharks that will eat you alive....   so be cautious in offers to "help" 

On a positive note, RE is a long game and if you are looking to buy and hold time is in your favor. Try networking with local folks and see if you can find something closer to home. 

I hate to say this, but the contractors board is a joke. They wont really do anything and if you want to go after a bond you need to hire a attorney *after* you go thru all the contractor board rigamarole.  I hav e a half finished kitchen/bath rehab (my own home) and I have not yet been able to get a refund from the contractor to get the work done by someone else and its been 2 years.  I of course am now suing them but that is costing $$$ and time. So who knows if I will ever get my $$ back (NEVER pay for a job until its done right and 100% complete I made that mistake and now feel I am owed 20-30K)...

The OP needs to hire an atty right now and have them send a threatening letter.