All Forum Posts by: Michael D.

If you want to invest, then you need money to invest. So first start with that. To get money, you don't need to do anything with real estate, any old job will do, as long as you save most of your money. This is what I, and most other small-time investors did/do. I had jobs in unrelated fields that I was good at, and saved my income to invest in rentals. Then I bought some and collected rent.

Others will mention various odd-job things you can do to earn money, like bird-dogging and whatnot, but that's probably not your personally best way to earn money, so mostly a waste of time. Although there is some educational value in working in RE, so take that into account.

At a high level, it's no more complicated than that. The details would fill many books, and indeed do. You should read some - I did.

So to answer your question, my story:

1. Earned and saved as much as I could, in an unrelated field.

2. Read a lot of books and web sites about RE investing.

3. Talked to people about it.

4. Bought some rental houses.

Good luck!

What would be the point? You can sell the BTC and give them Dollars, or you can give them the BTC and they sell it for Dollars. Why would it matter?

@Thuy Pham-Satrappe, the building had so much deferred maintenance that it's hard for me to tease out just how much was really 'on-going expenses' VS just catching everything up. For example, I replaced ALL the hot water heaters and completely re-modeled one unit. I also re-did substantial parts of the plumbing to separate out the water onto different meters. The first year my repair costs were higher than the total gross rent. But the repairs were trending steeply downward and only 25% of gross rent after a few years. I ended up selling the building a couple of years ago, and I imagine the new owner experiences much lower expense rates than I did.

If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to try to fix everything in one shot, all up front. If I had done it this way, instead of bit by bit it would have saved me a lot of aggravation.

For other properties I've since moved to tracking individual mechanical systems and budgeting money every month for their replacement. I don't keep a separate account or anything, I just budget for it in my ROI calculations. For example a furnace costs, say, 12k and will last 20 years, so that's $50/mo. You'll have to figure those numbers out for yourself.

A friend of mine owns a condo in the Chicago area and would like to take on some roommates, but the HOA rules and regs says "No leasing." Since she's not really leasing out the whole condo - just taking a paying roommate or two, is this okay?

@James Wise, that's a valid point, and it's what I've been struggling with. On the one hand, I don't want to borrow imagined trouble. On the other, it does seem a little weird and I'd hate to find out later something bad has been going on. And in case there is something urgent I need to speak with her about down the road, I want to be able to contact her.

Thanks everybody for the replies and suggestions. I think I'll reach out to a PM contact that I have there and see if I can pay him to make a one-time trip.

I own a rental house in another state. The tenant and I have always gotten along fine, corresponding via email, text and cell phone. On occasion she's been a little difficult to get in touch with, but I've always gotten a call back in a week or two max - until now. This is a low-end rental and a low-income (but good) tenant.

I tried to call her about a a minor issue several months ago, and have not heard back since. I've tried emailing several times, texting, and calling her cell phone. Recently I've tried sending a certified letter (containing all my contact info and a request for contact) with return receipt, but USPS reports they were unable to deliver it  - Notice Left (No Authorized Recipient Available)

There is nothing particularly wrong, and she's completely current with rent based on auto-payments.

I feel uncomfortable not being able to reach her. Is she traveling? Dead? Fine but won't talk to me? Also I'd like to resolve the minor issue, but it's not pressing.

How should I proceed? Do nothing? Hire a person (manager?) to pay a visit? Any other ideas or advice?

Thanks!

Joking aside - and I wasn't really joking - if the house is yours you can sell it. As @Scott Wolf mentioned, take a look through the loan docs to see if it says anything in there about a pre-payment penalty.

Is this just a regular house purchased in your name with a regular loan?

By the way, since you're young, have no money or experience, and want to get started in RE - let me give you something more constructive that you CAN do: Go work for someone, or even volunteer, in the business. A loan broker, RE agent, or whatever. Someone actually making money day in and day out (probably not another wholesaler). Maybe you can take pictures of properties for them, or something like that.

Besides piling on to tell you it's overpriced, I'll key on one specific mistake you made twice: A small rent decrease. Don't do that after having ten showings with no bites.

This has nothing at all to do with pictures. You'd had a lot of people go there, look at it, and leave. Lower the rent a BUNCH next time. Like maybe down to $1000. You can always adjust it back up a bit next year. And you may be surprised to find that the lower rent isn't actually below market for the place.