All Forum Posts by: Matt Leber

@Steven May we have put used appliances in our C+ to B neighborhood rentals or well priced stainless “scratch and dent” appliances in our B+ properties. The quality of the appliances could affect the rent a tenant is willing to pay in certain markets, so we felt “scratch and dent” gave us a “new” appliance at a discount.

@Jason Ma 10% is going to be hard to find here. At least I’m not seeing it regularly. Unless you have a way to get into a property with low money down. We scooped up one that met that benchmark back in mid 2017 in Brevard County. Prices really haven’t changed much there since. We found a property listed as a 3 bedroom that actually had 4 when we went to view it. The 4th bedroom had all the requirements of a true bedroom but the bank had listed it incorrectly. Also, the house has decent sq footage (1600+) so it’s not like the bedrooms were tiny. The property is in a desirable area with good school zones, and required only cosmetic cleanup to be rented out. There was such a low supply of rental 4/2s in the area, that we could charge a premium. Perhaps you should look for properties that have a “hidden” bedroom.

@Michael Fitts we have properties 45 mins-1hr away that we self manage and it’s not too much. Multifamilies like you are looking at will have more small maintenance calls due to the nature of having more tenants. Just one thing to think about. But 45 mins is not too bad if it’s a deal! Work property mgmt numbers into your analysis just to make sure it still cash flows if you want to hire it out one day.

@Jian Guan continue to be active on the forums and encourage others in their pursuit of REI. Add keyword filters for your area so you can specifically comment on forums of investors in your city. If you do that, connections will be made. Reach out to those connections and see if they want to grab coffee or lunch and chat real estate.

You could also attend local meetups if you prefer meeting and learning with a group. I’m sure a quick google search will help you learn about local groups. Or start one! Good luck!

@Steven May they can be accurate or inaccurate. It’s case by case. I definitely wouldn’t rely solely on it. You need to look at comps. I would say you’re better off flipping the “recently sold” filter on and looking at similar properties in the immediate neighborhood to make sure the zestimate comps pretty close.

@Alexander Ball we bought a property on Hubzu once and you should be able to have an inspection period. If you see anything you don’t like during the inspection, you should be able to get out with only the sunk cost of the inspection. Sometimes you can even tell the inspector to cut it short if you notice something right away and they’ll discount some of the costs.

@Elenis C. West side Jax 32210. They are lower income, probably a C+ neighborhood. Doesn’t seem like crime is too much of a problem there though as it’s a bit further out from the rougher areas. I spent multiple weekends cleaning the units up (late at night) as we turned them over and never felt too unsafe. But anyway, we couldn’t even sniff a duplex in our area for double that price, so we bought them with the expectation that it would be a learning opportunity. And learn we have done - about property managers, evictions, rent collections, screening, and most importantly, Jacksonville. We thought that if we could be successful with those properties, who says we can’t pick up more properties there or branch out to other cities, or even out of state. Happy to have the units mostly stabilized now and running through property management.

We usually make it up to 1-2 home games a year. I have a few college friends and some extended family that live in Jax, so I’m there a fair amount too. Oh, and the Gators first football game against Miami is in Orlando this year at Camping World Stadium. We will be going to that one if we can get tickets.

@Elenis C. They’re doing well. The ones on the space coast are single families and pretty much run themselves and have healthy cash flow between them.

The ones in Jax, two duplexes, we closed in late 2018. Got them off market for $160k total and rent them out for $2850 total, so there’s some nice cash flow there. I think we’ve finally gotten them fully up to speed.

I was reading about your other post a little bit, that you went through an eviction/rehab in the first 5 months of one of your places. We went through a similar process with a couple of these units (they were occupied when we bought them), but it was a short term issue and we were able to cosmetically clean up the units and get new tenants with higher rents. The original tenants were month to month and didn’t really respond well when we switched them from traditional landlording to a property management company. So, some pain at the beginning, but just part of improving the business.

And as always, GO GATORS!

@Robert Goldman not high end, not a junker. Something functional, right in the middle.

Ex. Priced between $100k-150k and rent for $1k-1.5k per month. C+ to B+ neighborhoods.

Of course, if you can get a great deal on an A rated property that rents well over 1% rule you don’t need to pass it up. Or if you have the funds and knowledge to handle an extensive rehab then go for the “junker”. It all depends on what your goals and competencies are. I’m just speaking generally about what we have had success in and what I believe will hold well in both bull/bear markets.

@Robert Goldman the space coast is growing with the space industry in an up cycle. Lots of people moving there now due to job growth in defense and space. But that will go through up and down cycles, as usual. We liked the area because we could find better deals than Orlando, but similar rents. I would stick to mid-tier rentals as there will always be someone who can “move up” into your property in good times or “move down” for more affordable housing in a downturn. Titusville has some lower priced housing options but the rents seem to lag slightly bit behind compared to Melbourne, Cocoa, Palm Bay. But that presents opportunities because there are more deals around. There is currently some development going on in Titusville so that bodes well for the area - its becoming a more desirable place to live.