All Forum Posts by: Megan T.

I am currently selling my home in Delray Beach. It is a 3x2 pool home, not in an HOA and no rental restrictions. It has been a long term rental for the last two years. New roof (2021) and hurricane impact widows to help with insurance

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2522-Ella-St-Delray-Beach-FL-33444/46775032_zpid/?view=public

Please let me know if you have any questions

When looking for a quality tenant, the two most important things are 

1. Paying rent on time - vetted through income verification and credit check

2. Not destroying your house - vetted through references, preferably prior landlord references and criminal background check

Distant third, and only after the first two are met, is length of tenancy. It is always better to have a good tenant in place for years and years rather than 12 months. This is also on you to be a good landlord and charge market rents.

Hi @Kincaid Ryken! Awesome job getting started so young in this industry. Rather than another book recommendation, I would recommend you find a mentor in your area and try to secure an internship. You can read a lot about real estate, but the best way to learn is by doing. Try going to a local REI meet up and talking to some local investors. Offering to intern for free is a great way to get your foot in the door and gain some knowledge

Hi William! I work with @Kyle Funnell to buy rentals in West Palm & Delray. He is a great agent who really understands rental properties

I personally have never charged pet rent. As a pet owner myself, I always hated the idea of being charged it, so I never charge my tenants for it. Personal preference

If this is your first time managing a property, definitely read Brandon Turners book on managing rental properties. It was a huge help for me the first time and it comes with a lot of the forms you will be using as a manager. I still refer to this book when I have management questions

Remember, nobody looks at the lease when things are going well, it is only used when things are going wrong, so build in a lot of protection for yourself and add in language for any common rental problems (deposit return, pet restrictions, notifying you of any problems, move outs, renewals, etc.)

Pet fees, we charge $250 per pet (up to 2 pets), non-refundable. Important to call it a fee when it is non-refundable and a deposit if it is refundable

Rent collections in the 90%+ range is a bit more than anecdotal. NHMC (National Multifamily Housing Council) is showing rent collections of 91.7%, 93.3%, and 94.2% in April, May & June 2020 across 11 million apartments

Source: NMHC

However, I do think the end of the $600 unemployment as well as the PPP loans is going to have a major impact on these figures going forward

My 2 cents is that some form of unemployment assistance is going to continue going forward. With record unemployment and in an election year, it will be tough to pitch to your voters that you cut off their assistance during this time

Dallas, Austin, Atlanta and Phoenix are all excellent, growing markets, so great choice picking those. I would also look into Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and possibly Denver as those markets share many characteristics with the ones you have selected

I would start by working with a lender to see the current loans available to you. If they are recourse or non-recourse, how pricing works on these loans, and what is currently available in the market. Like many other things in this economy, the debt markets are changing rapidly with low interest rates but additional reserves required.

I work with brokers on large multifamily transactions (100+ units), so this advice might be skewed compared to 20+ units that you are looking at (est. $10M purchase price in those markets). In the 100+ unit space, buying brokers are rare, there are only selling brokers and then companies that do all of the underwriting themselves (aka me, an acquisition analyst). Working with only one broker would be a mistake, as there are typically 2-3 big brokers in any given city. CBRE, JLL, NGKF, and Colliers in each of these markets would be a great starting point. It is true that commercial brokers are tougher to approach, they will want to see that you are really serious in buying before they spend time on you. It is important that you show them that you are ready and able to close on a transaction when they have one for you. 

If you are working with a selling broker, RUN ALL OF YOUR OWN NUMBERS! Learn how to run the numbers yourself, or hire someone to help you that has experience. Selling brokers will inflate the current NOI and will get to a cap rate that is 50-100 bps higher than the real cap rate. Especially getting into new markets, you need to learn how real estate taxes are calculated on the sale, learn what current market rents are in the area as well as current operating expenses for the comps, learn current cap rates.

For the first time since the pandemic, June rent collections in 2020 are equal to June rent collections in 2019

This is definitely a bright sign for all investors, and hopefully a second wave does not set us back in the future

Source: NMHC

As many people mentioned, saying a house will be your primary residence and then using it as a rental property instead is mortgage fraud and not recommended

Additionally, you would not be able to get a conventional loan if you used a 401k loan for your down payment. The lender will not allow any part of your down payment to be borrowed money. You could do this with hard money lenders and then refinance out later when your equity increases, but not with a conventional mortgage up-front