All Forum Posts by: Mia G.

Thanks @PJ Cummings! Yes I am thinking about starting up the meetings again. @Raul HernandezI have properties in Aurora and am extremely familiar with the multifamily market in the Naperville/Aurora area so feel free to send me a DM with any questions you have! 

@Toby Johnson I'm currently going through something similar and just learning as I go. The first thing you should do is reach out to a business attorney. They'll be able to guide you on business structure, forming an LLC or other entity, etc. I see you're a real estate agent so I'm sure you've worked with RE attorneys, and they should be able to recommend good business attorneys to contact.

Hi @Loic Yarde! I am an investor in Aurora, but I have small multi-family properties and haven't done any developments. What kind of projects do you do?

I don't personally have any vacation rental properties.. I've always had mixed feelings about them. For one, any type of beachfront vacation area has super busy times of year where occupancy and profits are very high, and slower times of year where profits and occupancy rates are lower. There will also be a lot of competition in the more popular vacation areas. Secondly, depending on the location, you may need hurricane insurance which can be extremely expensive (in FL, SC, etc.). One reason that I would by a beachfront property is if it were a small multi unit that I can use for a rental as well as a place for  myself to stay when I vacation there. Check out this site: https://www.airdna.co/. It has detailed market data for vacation rentals for pretty much everywhere, including average nightly rates and occupancy rates, and it breaks it down by month. Hope this helps!

This is a townhome, correct? Numbers seem to look good. Personally, I look for cash flow of $200 per door minimum and it looks like this exceeds that. Just make sure you don't forget about any potential monthly expenses if applicable; HOA fees, lawncare, any utilities that need to be paid by the owner and not the tenant, etc. Is that a typical rent for that size property in that area? 

@Jason Schlieger I think just having a standard ratio makes the most sense. If there are multiple tenants, they should all be signing the lease and all be held liable for any unpaid rent or damage to the property. If two roommates decide to split up the rent between themselves, they can but it's not your problem if one person pays and the other doesn't. I wouldn't accept any partial payments either. Make sure they know it is to be paid in full every month or they are both held liable. Also, it's not necessary to put the income requirements in your listing, but it sure does help people who don't qualify to weed themselves out and not waste your time. That being said, you have to judge all applications based on the same requirements so you can't change them from applicant to applicant.

@Vincent Cataldo I think it's highly dependent on the location of the property. For example, if you buy in an area with average appreciation and higher rents, it might make more sense to rehab it then rent it out. You could also refinance at some point and pull out all or most of the cash you put in. If you're in an area with higher property values and appreciation and the numbers would make more sense to flip it, then you have that option as well. Keep in mind, you'll pay taxes on the profits of a flip so make sure to work that into your numbers if that is the route you choose. On the other hand, if you choose to keep it as a rental, the money pulled out of a refinance (I believe) would be tax free. I'm not 100% sure though so make sure to confirm with an accountant.

@Jason Schlieger What I typically do (and is most common) is combining income for all applicants, so anyone over 18 who has applied and intends to live in the property need to have a combined monthly income of 3x the rent. I do the same thing with credit. For example, if I have a couple applying for a unit, they both need to fill out an application and credit/background check and I need at least one of them to meet my credit requirements. I hope this helps.

Can I deny a tenant based on things I find on their social media pages? For example, I visited the Facebook page of one applicant and her most recent post is asking where she can get fake pay stubs made. On another applicants page, I came across some very hateful comments about a certain subset of our population. So what I'm asking is, can I use these things in particular to deny the tenant or would it technically have to be based on credit or income?

Hi @Usman Chaudhary. Personally, I have been focusing solely on finding off-market deals. The good properties don't last long on the MLS these days, and you'll probably end up in a bidding war for them anyway.