All Forum Posts by: Max James

Reach a buy and hold portfolio of 33 rental units/doors that each cash flow $100/door or better.  You will have built a cash flowing portfolio of $3,333/month, or $40,000/year.  

If you buy properly with the $100/door rule, you will achieve your goal with 33 units.  That could mean purchasing seven more 4-family buildings and you will have what looks like 35 units, so even better.

Definitely self manage unless you are super consumed with other things.  

What is your financial adviser going to help you with out of curiosity?  

@Jeff Barnard reassessing the property to lower your taxes is definitely a good idea to create more cash flow.  Like you said, I bet there are a lot of people who can take advantage of it, but just haven't thought about it.  So many ways to fully optimize a property to get the absolute most cash flow out of it.

Awesome info, I did not know that. Just feel like I am bothering my agent way too much with simple questions like this. Would be easier if I could leave him alone for minor things every now and then.

Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:

When you send an email through Zillow it is not going to the listing agent. That email is sold off as a lead to a brokerage who forwards the emails to one of their own agents, who will have no information about the property other than what is in the MLS.

 Nice!  I had no idea Russel, that's a sweet business model for Zillow though.

So basically, the only real way to get true information would be to send an email to my agent, then he contacts the listing agent, then listing agent contacts my agent, then my agent contacts me...  Seems super inefficient.

As I'm searching for another 2-4 MF in Cincinnati, I typically utilize all the free sources which I'm assuming most people do.  Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, etc.  I also work with an agent, but I am not currently actively working with him since I'm not in a huge rush to buy the next place.

However, when I see a place pop up on Zillow, I want to send a direct message to the listing agent and ask them various questions about the place... How many units are there?  What is rent?  Why did the sale go pending and then not close?  Is the seller willing to go as low as $XXX,XXX.XX ?

Do you guys think this is bad practice and would cause bad blood with my current realtor?  I want to ask a ton of questions to realtors, but don't want to ruin my relationship with my current realtor.

Originally posted by @Andrea Collatz:

Hi @Brian Kraft I'm a representative with TransUnion SmartMove. If you send me a note through BiggerPockets with a good phone number to contact you at I will call you directly to help with this application. Thanks!

 Soooo how much is it to run a check now... The site clearly does not like explicitly telling anyone how much it costs...

Originally posted by @James Paine:

Originally posted by @Max James:

Originally posted by @JD Martin:

Originally posted by @Christopher Brainard:

@Max James

Dishwashers are a pain in the $%^&. If my units did not already have them installed, I would never provide one. I'm not sure why you're looking for creative ways to increase the rent. If the market supports it, you shouldn't have issues with minor annual increases. 

-Christopher

 Wow, dishwashers are about the most trouble-free appliances in my units. If you get simple control units there are almost no moving parts to break, and few ways for the tenant to break it ( unlike a washing machine). I put dw's in all units as it provides a better feel of luxury and adds to what I can change by probably $15-25 per month. Considering I buy all units second hand, even if I had to swap one per year I would be way ahead.

 Hey JD, that's exactly my thought as well, glad to hear it's working out well for you!

 ====

My dad owned lower end apartments and hated dishwashers.  He took them out most of the time.  I don't run my rentals the way my dad ran his apartments.   

I've got over 20 SFR rentals and I have found the most important thing to maximize net profit over the long term is to decrease turn over/vacancy. That is #1. I hear a lot of people, especially that own or manage a lot of units that say things like, "oh renters don't expect garages" "oh renters don't need dishwashers" "renters shouldn't expect to be able to have a dog". I think that is all horse s*&+.

Tenants and renters are people.  So ask yourself what matters to you.  How important is central air, a dishwasher, washer/dryer, a garage, being able to have a dog, granite counters, etc, etc?  If the goal is to decrease vacancy then personally I give my tenants all the things I wouldn't live without: 2 full baths in homes over 3 bedrooms, heat & AC, dishwasher, washer/dryer, etc.  

Some people say tenants don't care for your properties and that my strategy is a waist of money but personally I get mostly families with 2-3 kids and a dog and they stay for 5 years or more.

*If you have a section 8 strategy, ignore all of the above.  I have section 8 units in areas with huge waiting lists for houses and you don't have to provide much to get the max voucher. 

 Great post.  I completely agree with all of your points!  The goal of every landlord should be to create a true home environment.  Too many have the motif to make money.  The reality is we are providing one of the most important resources for people and we need to treat others the way we want to be treated... Just like we learned in grade school... Too many people forget simple concepts like that I'm afraid.

Al Williamson absolutely !! I love this idea too due to the fact that this is something residents love. To a lot of landlords (myself included) we are always keeping our own points of view in mind and how we would approach a certain situation. In this case paying rent. For the majority of us, we wouldn't really think twice about taking an option where we want to pay more in the long run. However, everyone's situation is different and an option like this can drastically make life much easier in certain people. It's a huge honor they have the option of doing something like this, paying when they get paid. I have actually done this for a garage rental and the feedback was fantastic. My residents were so happy to see that I was for one, giving them options so that they can choose what they want to do and how they want to pay. Secondly, that it was a super convenient way for them to make payments since it landed on their pay day. I have to admit, I did not think of this idea on my own. I attended a seminar with "Mr. Landlord" where he came in and gave us a tid bit of what he does. This was one thing he suggested. He was a fantastic presenter and everyone in the audience thoroughly enjoyed what he had to say. Great point Al, thanks!

@Mike Wood do you think that maybe a house flipper would be able to notice more things by actually being inside of the building as opposed to staring at a computer screen?  

Same thing with comping rentals.  Don't you think by physically being there, understanding the way the other property managers handle the entire process of leasing, seeing/hearing/feeling things that cannot be seen/heard/felt through a computer screen holds some value?

I think this is also a fantastic way to interview candidates for professional property management, once an investor is ready to hand over the reins.

I do understand you might feel like your time was wasted if someone did this to you since I'm sure you have better things to do than show your apartment to some shmuck not even interested in renting.  The good news is, you got practice showing your apartment and working on your sales techniques, maybe even sparking a new idea.  It also is only 30 minutes gone out of your month so that's not too bad either.