All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I'd agree with Samantha.  If you are going to buy a multi-unit with the plan being to live there then move on w/in a few years, make sure that you like the numbers as strictly an investment.  It's tolerable to have thin margins if you are living there, but if you are not living there and the margins are thin with all four units occupied, it might not be that attractive.  

Brandon Maresma.  He's been really good to me so far.  He was recommended to me by my FL property manager.  

My opinions:

Pros:  I'm guessing all the buildings will be pretty similar if not exactly the same.  So  you'll know what maintenance to expect, and how much things cost.  Also you still have the availability of residential financing.  

Cons: More roofs to manage.  If you aren't the only owner then you have to worry about those around you being slumlords and bringing the quality of the neighborhood down.  Especially the case where there are no HOAs to impose a certain amount of decorum.  

Bump

I looked through a few of the previous forums on rat control and found a few interesting stories, but nothing regarding professional costs for the treatments.  

One of my tenants reported a rat under her sink, we had a professional come out and do an emergency check - Here are the exterminator's notes:  

 It is indeed a single rat and its access is from the crawl door being left open. It's shut ( 2 days ago). It's getting into the unit 2 under the floor of the sink, not actually in the under sink, but the void area under the floor of the sink cabinet. Kyle should put steel wool under the floor of the sink in that area and go under the structure and find the access point near that kitchen area. I did not crawl the unit.

Exterior rat stations are needed- I suggest 4 of them installed at $500 and a follow up refill in 30 days for $125. Cheaper alternatives are avail too but this is my recommended action. Please approve by replying to this email or sending a work order with authorization for $625.

I'm a bit confused as to the cost of these traps, it sounds expensive.  I expected a few snap traps and be done with it.  I'm open to any sort of guidance that can be provided, I have a conference call with the property manager Thursday.  

I think I have seen the opportunity you are discussing on Loopnet.  I have done one apartment deal (though not in Jacksonville yet) I'd be happy to talk to you a bit about some of the ins/outs I have learned.  

@Deanna McCormick You have made some very good points.  We do have drug/crime addendums in the leases.  But given the tenant wasn't home I'm a little reluctant to simply evict.  I agree that he is responsible for what happens in the unit, I have forwarded a few questions to the property manager for their clarification.  The tenant in question is now away at sea for the next six months, so at least he's out of the picture in some way now.  

@Mike Cumbie, @Brian Jordan  Luckily and I stress LUCKILY nobody was hurt.  I'd actually love nothing more than for that neighbor to move out - she is part of a hangover from the previous owner.  So far though, she hasn't indicated she'd like to move.  The tenant was actually out of town at a funeral - but that leaves open the question of why anyone else was in the unit who was not on the lease.  

@Joe Splitrock If I ended up evicting it would actually be in my favor, this property was a value add deal, and this unit is freshly renovated - the guy moved in less than 3 months ago.  But I had literally 10 units of a 16 unit building that were renovated in a small amount of time so for financial reasons, I offered the special to get the place filled ASAP.  

I really appreciate the answers you all posted, it was very helpful.  

I am hoping to get some input on the community as to how to best handle this issue:

Last week a gun was fired in a tenant's apartment, it passed through his unit and went into another unit.  Luckily nobody was hurt.  

I have not read the police report myself, but another person will be charged with the incident - so it wasn't my tenant's fault - in fact he may not have even been in the unit due to family illness.  

Per the lease, we could theoretically evict him, but since it wasn't him that caused the problem, and he will be paying for all damages, the property management company has suggested that we allow him to stay, but put on notice.  Any issue including noise and he's out.  

I'm mostly inclined to agree with them as long as he's not a danger to the rest of the building, but I'm open to what others have to say.  If it makes a difference he is a member in the armed services too.  

Related issue - to fill the building I offered a rent special $35 off rent for a year.  Given his situation I'm thinking that if it's possible, amend the lease to cancel the special for him.  (Of course discussing with the tenant as part of the process.  I haven't discussed this with the management company yet, so again I'm open to opinions here.  

Thank you ahead of time for any input and feedback it will be much appreciated.  

I had this exact situation with one of my properties.  You are assuming that the tenants are good ones and that they are paying.  I would recommend verify both - do background checks on them, and make sure you have in writing when and how they are paying rent.  This will make the lease conversation easier - either you want to keep them there, thus they sign a lease, or ask them to leave in a nice enough way to disincentive them from wrecking the place while they are there.  Think - cash for keys, or 60 day notice.  

Congrats on the closing!  I see you live in Japan, I've spent quite a bit of time there myself.  

Bigger Pockets has a great calculator called rental property analyzer that I use for all of my quick analysis.  It's a great starter tool that is excel based and thus, easy to build out more as you need more data.  But with that said, what really matters is the cash on cash return.  The question you have to ask yourself is: "Is this the best I could be doing for the amount of risk I'm taking"  

I also like to look at the cashflow of the property.  After all expenses get paid, and budgeting conservatively for things like vacancy, maintenance, reserves etc what will I actually be putting in my pocket.  

Hopefully this helps, I wish you continued success.