All Forum Posts by: Michele G.

Looking at places in Redford and Westland. Are there parts of those cities we want to stay away from?

How much do you have/are you willing to spend on the bathroom? What does the rest of the house look like? Are you looking for a quick/cheap fix to get it rented ASAP or are you looking to add value to the property?

I would not recommend texting. I have gotten random texts from people asking to buy my properties. I immediately put them on my “I will never contact them if I want to sell” list. Maybe some people are ok with that, but I did not appreciate having a random person contact me on my cell.

Lane Kawaoka I would love to connect with you. I am at the phase of my investing cycle that you just described. I have 3 high equity/low mortgage properties in CA. I would love to scale 2 of them into bigger investments. My ultimate goal is mid size (25-50 unit) apartment buildings.

It depends on the municipality. Here they calculate all below ground square footage separate from above ground sf regardless of whether it has the proper egress or if it is finished. I read your info to mean that the house is 1674 total living area not including the basement. The basement footprint is 1256sf. Not all of the basement is finished. Usually the area where the mechanicals are housed and any storage areas are not finished. People may put a wall around them to hide them, but the area itself is not finished. In my house we have a finished bedroom and bath - drywall, carpet, etc. However legally I can not list my house including those in the bedroom and bathroom count. So the listing would note it in the description.

Maybe I’m not understanding things correctly, but wouldn’t the risk of a major fire coming through again be lower since much of the old kindling has now been burned?

You’re example is correct. Then you would divide the $3600 by 12 to get the monthly amount to include in your rent calculation. Yes 8.333% is one month’s rent. I can turn my properties around in 1-2 weeks max so I don’t use 8.33%. It may take longer the next time they turn over since the tenants have been there for 6-8 years. That’s where the reserves I’ve been accumulating will come in handy. At this point my target vacancy reserve has been met so that is extra cash flow.

The percentages are from monthly rent. If your rent is $1000/mo a 5% vacancy reserve would be $50/mo. The longest we had a vacancy was 2 months & that was in the middle of the housing crash. We lowered our rent a little bit and got it rented pretty quickly. We had several people come and go during that time in our various properties as they were struggling to make ends meet, but most vacancies got filled within a couple of weeks.

I calculate either 2 weeks or 5% vacancy for mine. That covers lost rent due to down time as I do repairs, paint, etc in between tenants. My tenants have been in my properties a long time so I have been able to bank that money as extra profit. I keep 1 month’s rent in reserves per property for my peace of mind.

Welcome! Congrats. I think Redford is a great investment area. I don’t have a local property manager to recommend, but I would ask your agent for referrals. They might know someone. If not, try calling other agents and asking if they have suggestions. Redford isn’t too far from you if you had to self manage until you found someone.