All Forum Posts by: Matt Faix

@Jeff Filali That's a nice start to 2017! Congrats on the quick sale!

@Account Closed agreed, we will always accept calls, but we're not always able to answer while working our 9-5 jobs. We figure the more options to contact us, the better, but we can typically provide a faster response through text/email/website, which is why we encourage these options. 

@Max James @Phil Signoroni @Aaron Wyssmann

We just started using Cozy as well and are loving it. 

As for the maintenance side, we have a form on our website, email address, and phone number. Most tenants will use the phone number to either call or text us. I'd eventually like to get away from that and move to the more formal option of the online form/email for maintenance requests, but either way once we receive the request we use an application called GQueues for tracking. We've also started to use it for other back-office activities - paying bills, sending mailers, reconciling our books, etc. It's a nice web application, but also has a mobile app, and is around $25/yr. 

@Jerry Ellis There are any number of ways to come up with cash. It's just a matter of how much you need, how quickly you need it, what you would be willing to pay for it (interest), and how much effort you put in. Here are a few options that are discussed all throughout the forums - wholesaling, flipping, hard money loans, private money loans (friends/neighbors/coworkers), partnerships, portfolio lenders, owner financing, self directed IRA. Or you can get creative with a separate side hustle to fund your RE ventures - sell stuff on ebay, teach piano lessons, build an app, etc. The sky's the limit once you start thinking outside the box. Best of luck!

@Luke Carl There are a lot of these over in the BP FilePlace - https://www.biggerpockets.com/files 

@Daniel Saunders We've had the best luck with either the MLS or people in our network. We tell everyone we meet exactly what we're looking for, not just our realtor.

We've also started to build relationships with brokers in the area since we want to get into larger multi family properties. We're not there yet, but we want to start laying the groundwork for solid relationships. 

@Richard Allen- Let me know more about that App, I would be very interested in something like this. I posted the other day about it the other day in a similar thread - https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/80/topics/394...

@Greg P. as for other driving apps, be sure to check out MileIQ if you're not already using it. It runs in the background and tracks all of your business related mileage for your taxes. 

http://www.city-data.com is another great resource for that information. 

@Adrian Smude Sounds like a great idea for smaller handyman type of jobs, but we have our go-to people that we use for bigger things. Where are they planning to expand? 

Ann Horlacher we had this a few years ago. We inherited a 30+ year tenant that was about 200 under rent. When we took over we bumped her by $75, then have made smaller increases over the past few years. She is a great tenant in a not so great area. Pays on time and doesn't cause any issues. To us, it was worth a couple years of a good tenant at a lower rate, rather than risking bad tenants/turnover. We figured the latter would be the more expensive option. It depends on your situation though, if it's a high demand area with good tenant selection, then maybe opt for the full increase.