All Forum Posts by: Michael E.

Hi Lev,

I've never done section 8 but your best place to start is going to be the Saginaw Housing Commission. Based on their website the standard payment for a 3-bed is $1,423 but that seems really high to me. I would expect $850-$950 to be the market average for that zip code but if your property looks good, you could get more. The link above has info for landlords wanting to be part of the program.

If you are planning on self-managing, do you have a list of people lined up for when you need them? Also, do you know what paperwork you will need to submit to the city? Even if you don't do section 8, you will still need to pass a rental inspection with the city.

Hope that helps,

Michael

Hi @Andrew Rellinger,

Based on the information you provided, the "make or break" for this rental is not going to be where or not you change out the carpet. It will hinge on your tenant selection. Selecting the best applicant available should be your top priority. If you can find a high quality tenant, keep them.

Good luck,

Day one was great! Can't wait for tomorrow.

Quote from @Courtney Murphy:

Hello BP Community,

I am curious how people estimate rehab costs on an auctioned house that you aren't able to see ahead of time.

 Hi Courtney,

I hate to sound like I'm just plugging BP books but I just finished Bidding to Buy and this was one of the topics discussed. I thought it gave a great overview and a solid step by step plan I could follow. Now I just need to learn how to apply those steps to my local area and then practice. (As in, how to I actually search records at my local "Register of Deeds" office.)

The short answer to your question is, observe as much as you can from the outside and then take you best guess.

It is also possible to find out more/other information while doing your research on the property but there is no telling if that will help with the budget estimate. If you have already done a rehab or two (or more), you could try using that as a baseline, if you think the auction property will need similar work. You could also add/subtract from that if you believe it needs more or less work.

Having said all that, estimating rehabs in general, is one of the toughest parts of real estate investing until you have some experience doing it or a good contractor on your team. If you are already working with a contractor it might be worth paying them to look at a property with you. Then they can give you an estimate based on what they saw.

Hope you found this information helpful and good luck.

Quote from @Devron Goodwine:

How do you determine if you'll allows pets in your rental property?  And what's the worst experience anyone has had when allowing pets in your rental property? 

 Hi @Devron Goodwine,

Its been awhile since we talked. I hope that 3 unit is going well for you. 

As mentioned by others, different states/areas have different laws. I'm not sure about "pet rent" but Michigan law considers anything that is refundable (no mater what you might call it) as a security deposit and also limits the security deposit to one and a half times the rent.  So if the rent is $800, the total of all of your refundable deposits cannot be more then $1200. It doesn't matter how many different deposits you have, if it is refundable, the total can't be more the one and a half times rent.

I have seen some landlords in the Detroit area breaking this law. For example, by advertising a unit with rent at $600 and a security deposit of $1,200 and they seem to be getting away with it. But, I would not recommend it.

LANDLORD AND TENANT RELATIONSHIPS Act 348 of 1972

http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-554-601

http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-554-602

 By David Osborne's guide did you mean the book Bidding to Buy?

I recently finished this book and watched an auction just a couple of days ago. It was rather uneventful. Of the 15 or so people there, about half were also there just to watch. The "trustee", a police officer in uniform, read, one at a time, the address and opening bid for 6 properties that he had on a paper list. No one bid on any of the properties. The whole thing was done in less then 10 minutes. At the end, the officer began letting people take a picture of the paper list, so I did as well.

When I got home I looked up all 6 of the properties. A couple of them seemed like they would have been a great deal for the price. However, being completely new to this and having done absolutely no other research yet, I couldn't even guess as to why no one bid on them. I'm going to try to follow what happens to those properties as well as use them as practice for my research.

They are holding another auction this Friday and I'm planning on going.

I hope this information has been of some help to you and good luck.

Quote from @Devron Goodwine:

Quote from @Michael E.:

Hi @Devron Goodwine. Most of the posts about Saginaw are 5-10 years old (or more) but I'm in Saginaw. I don't have a rental in Saginaw but I'd love to connect with you.

 What would u be looking for if you were to invest in Saginaw? 

 Probably the same as you. Something on the west side that is 2-4 units and a bit of a fixer upper but not too much. There have been a couple of duplexes for sale in the township but they were way outside my price range. The last one I saw was $275k and went pending in less then 2 weeks.

 That's awesome. Sounds like it's going to cash flow nicely. What areas of Saginaw are you looking at for a duplex/4plex and how big of a project? I can keep an eye out for you. 

Hi Devron,
I don't have a rental in Saginaw but I do have 2 in Metro Detroit. I was thinking about buying in Saginaw for my next rental but it's going to be a while before I'm ready to buy another property. I need to finish taking care of all the deferred maintenance on my current properties first.

How are things going on the house you are working on?

Quote from @Justin Thind:

Hi everyone, just joined the community here. Looking to get started in real estate investing asap. Began the process last month and have been analyzing deals and even put in an offer today. Still, I'm not entirely confident in my vision/direction....

 Hi Justin,

You discussed a lot of different options you have and I think all of them could work. However, as to which one is best, I think that will depend on the deals you can find. My agent @Nick Harris did a great job helping me find what I was looking for, which was small multifamily. @Joe Hammel and the Fire Reality Team know the Metro area very well and work with a lot of new investors. They would be a great place to start.

Also, if you haven't checked out all the "PRO Exclusive" stuff yet, they do have some good info and resources.

Last, you could also submit a video question to @David Greene about your dilemma and see what he has to say. 

Hope this helps and good luck!