All Forum Posts by: Michael Beeman

Hi @Account Closed,

I am not sure the particular state matters as much as finding the right deal, and the right property manager. Both are very difficult tasks, but lucky for you BiggerPockets has a lot of great information on how to screen property managers and how to screen your deals. As far as location goes, there is certainly a difference from one place to the next. but that's probably not going to be as important as learning how to find the right deal, and the right property manager. If you can't come back to look things over closely; I've been told that there are some turnkey providers out there that are pretty good. But, I have never used them either; and it would be very important to screen them as well.

@Ryan Sajdera

We are putting on a new roof on our 3plex this week. We are going with Steel, 29gauge it was a little higher than shingles. But, it lasts longer. Which over the life of the property, reduces CapEx. I think our costs when we went with steel over shingles was, 8500 vs. 6200. But the steel roofs are supposed to be good for 15-20 years before they even need any maintenance. And with proper maintenance, they should last 50 years. I hope that helps.

@Angela Hansen

Thanks. Good luck getting organized.  I love the idea of putting things in order of importance! I especially enjoy the "One Thing" policy of finding the one thing that would move you closer to your goals that day, and trying to do that first. I try to do one thing for each business. You can do it! I look forward to hearing about how your project starts. If you wanna hear how I got started in Real Estate, I would enjoy having you read my first blog entry I wrote this week, and letting me know what you think. I think you can find it on my profile page. I hope you write some blogs about your experiences as well. 

@Angela Hansen   I have found that building a TO DO list is great!!  I love the ONE BIG thing for each business, bc even if I run out of time on the other stuff. I know that, the ONE BIG thing for each business is accomplished. I have also changed my entire morning schedule to being the exact same every day (on weekends i do start it a couple hrs later) But I have to be at work at 7am, so my morning goes like this..

4am wake up

Coffee

check weather/news/social media for about 30 mins.

430. Update TO DO list. Continue with Coffee and Water. 

5am Start listening to music or a book and stretch while drinking water.

515-545  Some kind of exercise. Usually weight lifting, but in the summer i enjoy jogging as well.

545-620  Shower, get ready for work.

620-640  microwave a breakfast sandwich, warm up my truck.. head to work by 640....

It's routine. I start out every day getting a lot done and a plan for the rest of the day..I really love the idea of getting up 3 hrs before you have to be at work..  I use the 5-4-3-2-1  countdown mind trick when i need to switch tasks, or wake up, and i don't really want to. I have found that trick works best for me. After a while it just becomes habit, and you get a lot done.

@Angela Hansen  

Sorry it took a while to get back to you. We are in the middle of a rehab and found some burst pipes under the house, so I had a busy day yesterday.  I think I can get it all fixed for under $500. So, that's good..

Organization.  Quickbooks is great. A simple online course will get you most of the way there. I would just say, save and label your receipts and I like to upload my receipts using CamScanner into a Google Docs file that I share with one of my minority partner's who spends about 15 mins a day inputting the data into Quickbooks. The main thing I do to keep organized is I spend 20-30 mins building a TO DO List every morning that includes things for both of my businesses. Today my TO DO list looks like this.

To Do List.

Every Day -

Check Email

Check Voice Mail/Text messages for notes

Update Notes Beeman & Sons Inc.

Update Notes Praire Grass Enterprises

TODAY

MY ONE THING Prairie Grass Enterprises - Get decision made on purchase of old duplex!!

MY ONE THING Beeman & Sons - Call Floyd Drake back, Close the deal, write contract.

1. Lift weights. Chest Day.
2. Listen to 2 podcasts or 2 chapters In Property Management book
3. get the foyer drywall hung at the Casey 3-plex
4. Get a measurement of kitchen for floor plans.
5. Get final quote back from the roofer.
6. Meet with Jeremiah at 545pm
7. Finish upstairs Apartment painting.
8. Get 3000 ft of vynl flooring (Jacob knows what kind)

@Paris Akins

Yes, it is very hard. If you are not wanting to file an eviction. I would recommend a cash for keys possibility with the girlfriend. Just hold up $200 cash in front of her face and say if you have your place cleaned out and cleaned up in 48 hours and hand me the keys, I'll give you $200. It works. Then get your place fixed up a little better, and rent it back out, but this time screen a little better.  Good Luck!! I hope it all goes well!

@Angela Hansen

You will find that many contractors.. Especially the really poor ones, don't run their business very well.. 

Good Luck!!  I have spent a decent amount of time, organizing and being my own General Contractor. Because I generally save 15-20% on a project. Just screen your contractors like you screen your tenants. It looks like you are starting to get the hang of that. Good luck!

@Ryan Howard

If the grandfather has already lost control. I would guess that it's in some sort of tax situation and giving the grandfather money will not work at this point. I'm not sure of the laws in your state, but If you are serious about purchasing it; it's time to sit down with a good local real estate attorney for a "free" or "half-priced" consultation. Lay out the situation, and they should give you the pros and cons, and just follow your instinct at that point. 

My best guess, and you may not wanna hear this.. There is one of 2 things going on here. 

1. Your friend may have rethought his situation; and decided he would rather be a possible heir to the location than to see it sold. 

2. It has some sort of tax lien or judgement against it. Since the grandfather is still alive, I would say it's unlikely that the lien is anything but tax. I do however know that, in our state, the state will put a lien on property, after death for any medicaid or medicare costs that happen in old age if the person was not covered by private insurance. 

@Angela Hansen

Is this the only contractor you can work with?  I know that we are doing a 40k rehab right now, which includes a metal roof, etc and our Contractor didn't require anything up front. In fact, I have 3 different contractors that I'm working with on this project. Construction, electric, and plumbing. None have required money up front. In my mind, handing a contractor 10k dollars before anything was done, would be a little crazy.. You'd probably be fine, if you know your contractor well. 

Another Idea that popped in my head was, have you discussed your situation with your HML? I'm not sure who you are going through, but some lenders can bend the rules a little. For instance if you got them to do 6 or 7k down and then you negotiated with the contractor to that 6 or 7k dollar number to get started. It could still all work out.

I hope those are some ideas that could help.

@Shaheed Crier

You do not have enough information. You calculate an apartment building very simply. You calculate it by taking NOI (Net Operating Income) divided by cap rate. For Example.

If we found that your building expenses (which include maintenance, property tax, lawn care, snow removal, Capital Expenditures, basically every cost except the loan, and expenses usually run between 50-60%) were $49,900. and we used the Net Operating Income of $40,000/.0522=$766,283 as the value of the building. 

Now, this number is not accurate, because like I said, their is no accurate listing of expenses above.