All Forum Posts by: Michael Rowland

Some real good responses here. My thoughts are below, many have been brought up already.

1) Is there language about the fireplace in the lease? Is it included as a fixture? If so, then it most likely your responsibility to keep it in working order.

2) In my standard lease, I have a clause strictly prohibiting the tenant from authorizing any maintenance work without my written approval. Might be something you want to add for future reference.

3) Is this a good tenant? If so, just paying the cost and having him sign an addendum to not authorize work in the future is a lot cheaper than a vacancy.

4) Were you going to fix it anyway? If so, then let it go, man...

I have typically used this same model. I bought properties with cash (all distressed and well below market) and now have the rental income as cash flow (after Taxes, Ins, etc). I could certainly cash in on the equity and purchase more, but it decreases my cash flow per property and complicates my business. Right now, I work full time and manage my properties on the side. So a balanced and conservative approach works for my current lifestyle. Once I have enough properties to utilize the BRRR and invest full time as a primary profession, I will do so. But until then (ideally within the next 5 years), I will continue my cash purchase, rehab/hold strategy.

Would be interested in others thoughts on that though.

I'm a newbie, so my apologies if my question is out of line, but i'm honestly intrigued by this comment. As a commercial lender (non mortgage) myself, I understand your frustration from "shoppers", but how can a lender legally blacklist an applicant? I cant imagine this being legal, but even if it was, you would be opening your firm up to major potential litigation.

Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, every applicant can require a written explanation for why they were offered less favorable terms or denied. The creditor must tell you the specific reason for the rejection or that you are entitled to learn the reason if you ask within 60 days. An acceptable reason might be: “your income was too low” or “you haven’t been employed long enough.” An unacceptable reason might be “you didn’t meet our minimum standards.” That information isn’t specific enough, and "we didn't like that you shopped us" is definitely a red flag. While this might not come back to bite you, I would think that if an investor was savvy enough to shop all of the lenders in town, then they might be savvy enough to litigate if they realized that they had colluded against or "blacklisted".

Slow playing an applicant, offering generic rates or even being slow to return calls/answer questions are one thing... blacklisting an applicant seems like something completely different.

Hi David. Thanks for the warm welcome. The really funny thing is that my folks live in a bordering town to South Bend... called Niles, MI.

Hi, my name is Michael and I currently live in Buffalo, NY, but am looking to relocate my wife and I back to South Bend, IN (where our families live) within 1-2 years. I am currently a VP at a bank and manage the Northeastern United States.

I have owned my own home and come from a family with rental properties that they would eventually be open to me purchasing some of them. With my short term situation of living in Buffalo, I am looking to invest the equity from my former home into my first income property.

I'm looking forward to learning from everyone here and appreciate any help along the way.