All Forum Posts by: Michael Haynes

Gustavo you always need to take a witness with you when you are dealing with a beligerant Tenant. Be ready to call the Police if they start a push and shove. For real. This is no time to fool around with Tenants. 

Hello Gustavo, No one is telling you to know the Rules for Eviction. The day your Tenant is Late on the Rent you need to start Eviction Notice. In Florida you put up a Three Day Notice on the Door or pay a Service Agent to try to get Personal Service. Don't wait! If your Tenant wants to object to pay the Increase in Rent you decide to begin Eviction with the Notice so that they know you are playing for real. Then, if they still refuse to the increase in Rent and they have been Notified that they have to move, ask them if you can pay to have them move. One months Rent etc. Whatever it takes to get them to go TODAY! Don't wait. 

Hello again Nikki Grassman in Dunedin. Going over your numbers, I have a problem with the, "bought in 2015, with a mortgage rate at 3.25%" and "I still owe $170K." In July 2021 I paid $175,000 Cash for my 1500 sq.ft. Townhome with garage, in Valrico. It's a small, gated Community with pool on top of a hill. Can't Flood. It was the start of Covid and a year later my Townhome was worth $320,000. In 2022 the HOA money paid to put on a Million Dollar roof on all 20 units. In 2023 the HOA money refinished the pool. The HOA money is now finishing to paint all the units. We have had no Special Assessments and the HOA fee only went up $30 to $270 a month. They started building in 2016 and are like new. What happened to your Home with a Pool value?

One of the reasons there are not a lot of properties on the Market is because nobody wants to give up their 3.25% Mortgages. I see why you look to do a HELOC, but your value stated does not warrant it. Your still big-time in Debt.

Do you know Dave Ramsey? The "I'm DEBT FREE!" guy? You need to go over his 7 Baby Step Plan and see where you are at before you Plan to get into more DEBT to buy a 4 Plex. Also, the worst thing that can be done is for the Owner to live with the Tenants. House Hack the 4 Plex and do what with your pool home?

You heard about a Freddie/Fannie program that makes it easy to get into more DEBT. Freddie and Fannie have websites to research for the details. You need to learn how to use Zillow for you Searches and Google Map to get a look at the neighborhoods, so you don't have to drive there to see the area. When doing any type of Investing the main concern is Controlling your Risk. The more DEBT, the more RISK. 

You are talking like you really believe that Real Estate Investing leads to Big Money. You have to do the numbers on any Investment and then realize that the numbers always lie. The Business and Real Estate Cycles change everything in a day if they go bad.

Hello Naren Roy in Tampa? Do you live in Florida? It would help to know at least the Zip Code to see where the "Turnkey" STR property might be. You do know that the rules for STR's are changing every day? NY shut down all Airbnb. Would the property still be able to break even as a Long Term Rental if you had to shut down because your HOA decided they would no longer allow STR's? You know that Governor DeSantis made it law that all properties have to pay for Flood Insurance? You say it is a Flood Zone property, but, you did not say if it is an A, B or C Flood Zone. Is there Parking for six SUV's and Trucks if you rent to a big family with friends for the week? Do you own your own Home? If not look at the IRS rules for First Time Home Buyers. I see a lot of Newbie BP members looking to "Invest" in RE before they even own their first Home. If the Market Crashed, would you be able to live in your STR to save your Investment? Do you know that there are 2500 STR's in Austin, TX. for sale because the place is flooded with them and the Market values are in a Downtrend? There are lots more to consider, like what is the health of your HOA and does the building need a new roof etc. to qualify for Homeowner's Insurance, with enough HOA fees in the bank to pay for a Million Dollar repair? I live in a small, gated, Community on a Hill to avoid Flood Insurance. We had the million dollar roof replacement last year. This year the pool was refurbished and the buildings are all being painted and paid for by the HOA fee savings without any Special Assessments. Get it?

Hello Dustin Chamness in Orlando. You were Whole selling while on active duty? Does that mean you were the Whole seller or buying to Flip? Sounds like you are a Go Getter moving forward. When I started buying Duplexes and Houses in S. Tampa 35 years ago, I was working on Oil Tankers and studying Stock Investing. When I would get off the ships I had recommended to me an older Businessman/Broker who would find properties for me. Bill Davidson told me that the best Title Company in Tampa was Stewart Title of Tampa on Cypress St. The reason was that they were Title and the Underwriter Company. So, if you had a problem with the Title later on, you would not be dealing with the Underwriter in NY or Chicago to get a solution. I have known young guys in Tampa who have tried to start a Title Company and depending things like the 2008 Collapse, they shut things down when there was stress in the Market. On one of the houses I sold in S. Tampa, the young lady started out with a very sketchy lawyer outside of Tampa in Riverview who said he also was the Title Company and did not have a secretary or more than an answering machine to try to get details done for the sale. I convinced her to use Stewart Title because of the professionalism and access near downtown Tampa. When I talk to younger Agents they know nothing about this important factor for a smooth sale. 

Hello Liam Maher in Miami. Nick at ReventureConsulting.com has all this and lots more targeted data with his free youtube videos. You can go to his site and get studies of city by city for anything you might think of to make Money with Real Estate Investing. "Regentrification" to me is when a City, Mayor's Devenlopment Council, offers Tax breaks etc. for Builders to build "affordable housing" in the run down neighborhoods where I would never want to own anything. I had Rentals in S. Tampa for 30 years. I always figured the East side of the I275 Hwy was "the War Zone." Tampa has been in a Gold Rush building boom for twenty years and the last areas to "Gentrify" are now on the East side of I275. It started with the "heartbreaking" single family houses, full of run down yards, overgrown trees, ceramic sewer pipes, leaking galvanized water pipes and Cochroaches throughout. We took them as Fixer-uppers and made them liveable to raise the Rents and try to make $100 a month in positive Cash Flow. Then, the builders came from all over the country as South Tampa became the number One place in the US to buy Tear Down wooden houses to build Two Story Block houses and Townhomes, with 80% building square footage to lot size. The last two years the City Planners have decided to allow Three Story Buildings. The I275 Hwy. received the 25 year Development Money from the Feds to turn that into 12 lane highways. Downtown exploded with 30 story Towers as the Mayor did all she could to turn that into a Concrete Jungle where everybody can work online from their expensive apartments and walk to all the stores and fancy restaurants. "Gentrification" made Tampa and the surrounding areas much better places to live. But, for all the Minimum Wage Slaves that work in the Retail and Service businesses, it made the Rents double and triple at a time of Inflated gas, food, medicine to where my old tenants call me begging for help to find a place to move to. It's good for some and bad for others. 

Hello Belen Gamarra from NJ. I wish someone would look at your numbers and tell you the truth. You don't have enough to even consider buying a property. In Florida you could get a Doublewide Trailer or a 3/2 Manufactured Home. Most of the advice you will get from the BP members is from the position of their having all their "Ducks" in a row and being able to buy a property. You need to go to a Bank and try to get Qualified for a Loan. That should give you a dose of the truth. Next you need to understand that it is backwards to Rent your Home and Buy an Investment property to Rent. You should learn the IRS rules for a First Time Home Buyer. You can live in your Home for 2 out of 5 years and then sell it for up to $250,000 profit, Tax-free. That is the safest and easiest thing to do. Learn about the HUD.com site and all the ways to get low down payments with their listings. Learn how to use Zillow to do Searches in all the States that you maybe think to move to. Start with Land to know the price of vacant lots in an area where you think you could buy a property. Prices are inflated to the Max right now in most States. You don't need to study more about Real Estate. You need to understand how to find Value and see if you actually qualify to buy a property. I had Rental Duplexes and Houses in S. Tampa, Florida for thirty years and all of them were bought with Owner Financing. $10,000 Down with a year or more to fix them up and raise the Rents to qualify for a 30 year Mortgage. The person you need to study with is Dave Ramsey. You need to do his "7 Baby Steps." By the time you get through them, you will have saved up more Down Payment Money. Watch Grant Cardone's youtube video, "The Worst Investment You'll Ever Make."

Hello Peter Martinson in Philadelphia. This is what drives me crazy about BP and Newbie's thinking that they can Buy a Single Family Home and make Money. You can't! Especially, with a family and two working and owing DEBT. If, you have never owned a Home then you need to read the IRS rules for First Time Home Buyer. You can Buy your first Home and live in it for 2 out of 5 years to Sell for up to $250,000 Tax-free. What are you going to do? Rent your Residence and Buy an Investment nightmare with "Tenants?" That's putting the Cart ahead of the Horse = Smart people doing Stupid things. The easiest and safest way to start in Real Estate is to buy your first Home. Then, you find a fixer-upper house to Rent. When you Sell your Residence Tax-free, you move into your Rental and do it again. Now, you were impressed by Robert Kiyosaki and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Do you know he made it up? There never was a "Rich Dad." Robert's Method is to encourage you to go deeply into Debt by using "Other's Peoples Money" to invest in Real Estate. If you wanted to try to do that, the first lesson is to talk to your Banker and see if you can qualify for a Loan. The second step is to watch Grant Cardone's youtube video, "The Worst Investment You'll Ever Make." From what you described as your situation you need to start your study with David Ramsey! Google "David Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps." I had Rentals in S. Tampa, Florida for 30 years. I prepared to buy my Portfolio of Rentals to retire off of Oil Tankers for ten years. I traded Mutual Funds with some of the money off the ships and made $100,000. I sold my four Commercial lots in S. Tampa four years ago and paid all Cash for my Townhome in Valrico, outside of Tampa, to get away from the mess and crime. It took me a year to find the perfect property with Searches on Zillow etc. I bought just before the Covid and in one year my $175,000 went up in value to $320,000. But, I am experienced and studied and familiar with my State. I know how to use the computer to Search for my own Deals and Google Map to save me the time to drive over to inspect the neighborhood and outside conditions of the property etc. Do your know how to play Monopoly? Try to learn with that game and realize that Real Estate Investing is really a big game of Monopoly. You buy Single Family Houses. Sell them to Buy Duplexes, Triplexes or Quads. Then, you move up to Commercial Investing and do small or large Apartment buildings etc. It is a long and not so easy JOB if you are a single Investor. You need a Team. What's that? Can you support a Business with ten guys to work for you? How big do you want to get? I don't see this in your situation. Be very careful. The minute you say you have enough Down Payment Money to buy a house, you will have every Real Estate Agent on BP offering to help you spend your money. 

Hello Etienne Santos in NY. Do you know the IRS rule for First Time Home Buyers? You can Homestead your First Home in Florida for 2 out of 5 years and Sell it for $250,000 Tax-free. In the meantime you find another to Rent until you Sell your Home and just move into your Rental and do it again. BP encourages Newbie's to "Invest" in Rentals etc. when you don't own your First Home and you are just renting. That's misleading. Do you know Miami Beach? What a mess. I gave up on going to South Beach 20 years ago when they started charging for parking. Same problem with St. Petersburg etc. Traffic you don't want to get stuck in and no easy parking. Did you see the Champlain Condo Tower collapse in Surfside? That was because Architect had illegal plans, the Builder built columns not sufficient to support the underground parking area and the Inspectors were all corrupt. Maintenance was deferred criminally to the max. The result for all the other Towers will be huge, Special Assessments for tens of thousands of dollars for each Owner to fix the roofs as a minimum. Go to one of the RE sites like Realtor.com with your choice for a property and check the amounts and types of crimes in that area. Miami to Ft. Lauderdale are full of crime and traffic. You mentioned the new costs for Condo and HOA fees and the Home Owner's Insurance and now it is required to have Flood Insurance etc. When I started with Rentals 30 years ago, the rule was if it is cheaper to Rent rather than Own. I figure it is much cheaper to Rent an apartment in the Towers anywhere in Florida than it is to Own at this time. If you have Insurance for your belongings and don't park your car in the underground parking during a Hurricane, then, live on the beach. You are talking about South Beach living and STR the time when you are in NY, but, do you know the Rules? Tampa is the Party Town for Tampa Bay. St. Petersburg to Clearwater are the Beach communities. Pensacola is like South Tampa where all the Storm Drains and Water Pipes are 100 years old and all the streets have to be torn up to replace everything as a 20 year project where they raise Taxes and Fees and create endless barricades on the streets with no one working. I moved to Valrico, outside of Tampa to get away from the mess and my Tenants in an area that is like all new homes in rolling, green hills. The biggest crimes here are Shop Lifting. You Home is not an Investment, unless you know the Business and Real Estate Cycle you are in. Go watch Grant Cardone's youtube video, "The Worst Investiment You'll Ever Make."

Hello Michael Baum in WA. We are getting off the subject. Katie Miller asked how an Absentee Owner of an HOA property can send a proxy voter for HOA meetings. I am paid all Cash for my Townhome with an HOA and my experience is that if you are not painting the buildings or fixing the pool or replacing the roof or some major maintenance project, then it does not matter if you attend the monthly meetings. How to find someone who lives in your HOA when you don't live there? Do you see my point? You don't know anyone to ask to be your Proxy. The nice thing about my small gated Community is that I don't have to know or talk to anyone as long as the Status Quo remains the same. Get it? That's all.