All Forum Posts by: Megan Silver

I’m a real estate investor in Tallahassee, but I’m selling off some properties right now. One of which is a quad and an awesome investment I’m sad to part with, but we’re pulling money out to buy a [very fun] second home. I can’t message directly because I’m not Pro on BP, but I’m selling through Christie Perkins of Coldwell Banker, who is the most knowledgeable person I know about the Tallahassee rental market and real estate in general in this city. Reach out to her about any properties she’s selling that would be good rentals. Ask about Megan’s quad if you want to hear about what I’m selling. One unit of the quad is vacant and it can 100% be house hacked if you really want to get into rentals easily. If you can DM me I’m happy to chat, but I’d rather not put my contact info on the forum. Best of luck with your future investments!

Our next event will again be at *La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant on Tuesday, July 10th, at 5:30pm.* Because of such a huge turnout, we will be in the back room so that we can mingle a bit more easily. 

I've asked for a few different tables with extra seats at each of them so that you can come and go between tables and get a chance to chat with everyone if you'd like. Feel free to stand and chat, sit and eat, or bounce around between discussions. We had a lot of interesting topics come up at the last meeting and I'm excited to hear more from everyone!

Since I don't have Pro, I'm hoping someone else can set up the event on BP so that we can reach as many people again. (Tim, who created this event, is out of town for the next meeting, but he'll join us again next time!)

Sorry I missed your post @Khara Brown , but the event is general networking. Everyone is welcome to ask questions or share their experiences. I have some specific questions in mind that I wanted to bring up with other locals about a deal I'm looking into that will likely prompt some interesting discussions.
 

We're hoping to have a variety of people attend (wholesalers, flippers, buy-and-holders, etc.) so that these meetings can be helpful to newbies and people who have been investing for a while.

Excited to see everyone tomorrow! Glad we can have an event like this in Tallahassee! Feel free to invite others that you know who are interested in real estate investing. There will not be any sales pitches or anything, just some networking and sharing about our experiences in the local market. See you there!

I can put a little sign on our table that says "Tallahassee Real Estate Meet Up."

One of the most frustrating parts of landlording for me is showing each property 20+ times before I get a lease signed. Even when I price a unit well, I find that the people who come see it seem genuinely interested and then just slowly disappear and I never hear back after the first followup.

The strategies I've started using are:

-scheduling open-house style showings during a specific window of time so I don't have to make 8 separate appointments

-sending reminders to each person who expressed interest before a showing (even if they weren't sure they could make it)

-follow up with tenants that I really liked or who expressed the most interest

I'm interested to hear from others on the forum what kind of tips and tricks you have to get tenants to seal the deal. Does anyone offer a "sign this week and get a discount on the first month" or any other kind of bonus to get a great tenant to sign right away? Do you have any specific tips for handling showings when places are tenant occupied? Do you take them on a well-scripted tour, or just let them browse? How many showings do you do before you get an applicant and a signed lease?

I feel like if I perfect the strategy for showing units and communicating with potential tenants it will save me so much time and many many drives out to each property - and most importantly, cut down on vacancy.

Maybe it's because I've never been to a RE meetup before (or because as an attorney, the only networking events I'm familiar with are at bars), but wouldn't it be more fun if we got people together at somewhere with lots of seating like BJ's Restaurant or La Fiesta and grabbed a big table and had some appetizers and drinks? Since it's more of a meet & greet type of thing where we can all discuss our own RE experiences than a presentation we don't really need a conference room, just a location that can seat big groups together.

The past couple places I've closed on were places that we made an offer on within 1-2 days of it being listed. The best deals don't last. You can also look at the properties that have been listed for a while and see if the seller will accept an offer with a lower price that makes the deal worth it for you. Don't be afraid of getting rejected for submitting low offers - or for asking for a discount when an inspection turns up problems.

When I first started investing in real estate I was only looking for "unicorns" that had tremendous cash flow and were in perfect condition. I am pleased to say that with some luck I found at least one or two of those - but only because I was looking constantly. I want to expand more now, and I don't really feel like I have the time to wait for those once-in-a-lifetime properties. I'm much more interested now in building up a sizable portfolio of units that will rent out quickly and cover all of their own expenses (mortgage, repairs/maintenance, cap ex, taxes, insurance, property management, - literally everything) even if I don't see immediate profits like I've gotten on other properties.

If I was looking to get out of my day job quickly, I'd need to focus on cash flow and immediate profits more than I do, but right now I'm happy knowing that the majority of the units I have will be paid off in the next 15 years and the numbers will look much better then. So, to answer your question: Right now, I'm probably just happier with worse deals than you are.

As far as all of the apartments, I tend to look for rentals that are versatile properties that appeal to both students and non-students. Because of the massive influx of student housing developments, I'm trying not to put all my eggs in the student rentals basket. The more diverse a property is from my existing units, the more interested I am.

@Mike Conner, if you're interested in getting some people together for a Tallahassee investor meet-up, I'd be happy to join. (I'd like to vote for a Friday evening if possible because I'm positively swamped this time of year and Friday's somehow don't fill up as quickly.)

Hey! I'm also located in Tallahassee and I'm curious about how this deal worked out! I am under contract for my first big multifamily/seller financing deal myself.

Aren't the $200* per month for cap ex and 10% I take out for repairs sufficient to cover those expenses? I've built in 8% for vacancy (just in case, though that seems high for the area - lots of long term tenants), 10% for property management (in case I choose to use it), 1% of the value of the property for taxes annually, and insurance rates based on quotes I've received. There are no HOA expenses with this property but I would have included those too. Only after all of those things does the property negatively cash flow. Technically on a normal month I'd be bringing in a few hundred dollars more than my expenses, but with all of the typical expenses, there isn't too much left. If I can be sure I've covered all of that, I'm happy even if I'm not technically making a cash profit because any money I take in during 12 months of no big fixes will be wiped out eventually.

*The cap ex is only so low because there is no garage, fireplace, pool, washer, dryer, garbage disposal, the windows are small and single pane, only one door per unit, no real landscaping to upkeep, they are entirely brick,  and there’s a metal roof.