All Forum Posts by: Michael K Gallagher

Wow very cool!  Now its getting legit??...is the Top Golf across from an IKEA?  Thats how they did it in Ohio I feel like.  Wherever there's a top golf, there is an IKEA.

@Jignesh Savaliya I am of the mind that a good tenant is worth their weight in gold!  I also follow the rule that if they want to stay and have been a good performing tenant, I reward that by not increasing rents.  I do like the idea @Luke Trovinger provided of keeping it to a year, but with the option to renew at perhaps a max increased amount.  That does provide you certain protections while also keeping the tenant rewarded for continuing to be a fantastic tenant.  Might also be worth having some data about the market rents in the surrounding areas to show her what the value you are bringing is.   

@Aman Shahi I am of the mind that it depends on how many deals you've done to date.  If its your first deal I think house hacking for your first experience is hands down the best way to go.  I just think the lessons happen so much faster living them first hand.  But if you are more experienced and have been around the block then I'd agree with what many people have said.  Those tertiary markets, or "adjacent to major markets" I think makes a lot of sense from a "bang for the buck" perspective.  I'm of coursed biased to my own area of central OH but there are many others. 

congrats @Jeremy Hurd glad to see people be successful from out of state here in Columbus. Great area to get in right now, will certainly be going the way of Franklinton and Old town very shortly.  

Hey @Matthew Ashe I love the attitude and the spirit.  That's a big question and hard to guide you on without a much bigger discussion.  But from my own experience I'd start with learning as much about you and yourself as you can.  That will help guide you towards tasks and active income streams that you will accel at, to propel your investment goals.  I waited a long time to put in the work to understand me, and why I am the way I am, and I wish I started 10 years ago for sure.  So much frustration could have been saved.

Good Luck!

@Saeed Hadian I would echo what a few others on here have stated.  If you know the area, and are confident in your data about what rents could be down the road...it does not really matter what they are now.  Real Estate is a long term game, so look at it from a couple years down the road after a few lease cycles.  Is there something about the property depressing the rents?  If not It could still be a good deal. Doesn't really matter what the seller is doing, its about what you will do.  

@Diane Stinebaugh I have seen the street addresses specifically as the LLC's but personally I like referencing something cheeky...mostly for me its Harry Potter locations and references...or I've heard of chess moves being used, or their is even a company I know of locally that is call "two labs" because the owner has two Labradors and thats what he liked. So my point is, if you feel like it, have some fun with it. My LLC "leadout Industries" is after the cycling term "the leadout" or the people in the front of the team leader breaking the winds and making it easier on the leader.

@Devang Patel I tend to think that investors get caught in a feedback loop about what the "right decision is", and this tends to just lead to inaction.  If you take away the "right and wrong" and simply think about what you want long term...it makes it easy to align your current decision with that long term goal.  If you want to live passively off of rental income in the future, it makes sense to hold onto your assets currently.  If you don't need that income in the future and have identified another investment vehicle that gets you closer to that passive lifestyle, perhaps in a different state...by all means go for it!  perhaps you want to cash out and throw the money into a fund like Open Door Capitol and just let someone else handle if for you...thats a great option too.  The point is to think about the end, and then simply ask yourself "what is the next best step I can take to get me closer to that goal?"

I find doing this cuts out the FOMO associated with "doing the best or most correct thing."

@Courtney Oldrin I see you are a pro member which is fantastic!  If you didn't know one of the best pro member benefits is the state specific leases and documents that BP provides.  Thats what I use here in Ohio.  I did specifically tweak the lease to meet my needs but for the most part it covers most things you should think about and is a great starting point.  If you accept pets then I'd suggest looking up a simple "pet policy" on google and using that as a template.  Just something to have in writing to clearly define what is or is not acceptable.  

As far as tools, I currently use Zillow's built in features for all the documentation.  Its $9.99 a week to advertise, and the tenant screening is free to you.  The tenants pay a 35 dollar application fee to Zillow, they run a background check, a credit check etc.  Then from there I highly recommend actually following up and validating all the information.  If they list an employer, I don't usually call that number, I google the employer, and call that public number and ask for the person of reference.  I just like to leave no way that the applicant is "faking" the info. I'd also suggest confirming the criminal background check on the county's website, and calling previous landlords, again to confirm.  If you deal with a larger PM company you will need the Applicant to fill out a release for the PM company to give you that info.  Then normally most big companies want you to provide a "questionnaire" of sorts.  Again this can be found anywhere on Google, but if you are having trouble, shoot me a DM I'm happy to to provide the one I use.   

Then I also Like Zillow because you can use their lease and document signing feature included in the portal to electronically provide and sign the lease, as well as get your deposit and payments electronically.  I know there are other platforms out there that do the same thing...I've just always used Zillow and have had a great experience with it so far.

Again, if you need any examples of documents or templates I'm happy to provide them!   

Hey @Carolína Ortega welcome and congrats on the early success! I'm not a CPA or Tax person so do your own Due Diligence on this one, but I myself have set up an LLC and filed for S-Corp Status. Then your brokerage would just pay your LLC rather than you. Essentially if you use something like Quick books online, or something similar it allows you to pay yourself a "reasonable salary" which you'll want to do some digging into your area of what that salary is. But then essentially you pay yourself that income in a W2 type way where the SS, Unemployment etc is only applied to that salary portion. The rest of your income you can take as a "distribution" which essentially means it is considered business income which only has income tax applied. So its a good way to cut out a significant amount of "FICA" taxes.

Other than that I'd say the biggest things is to keep careful track of miles, thats a big deduction that does not come into play so much when applying for loans (at least I'm told by other agents/lenders).  Again Quick Books Online has a pretty nice app that can do this automatically for you.  

Good luck and congrats again on the early success!