All Forum Posts by: Michelle Eisenberg

@Max Householder Thanks for your reply! That's really great to hear. It's definitely a balancing act to decide whether to work with a small company that might have more personal service or a larger one. I'm glad your management company has been working out for you so far. Would you be willing to share the name of the management company you are using? Although I'm leaning toward Deca, I haven't settled on it completely. I'm happy to PM you separately if that would be easier.

@David Ounanian Thanks for your reply! I'll definitely ask my agent, and see what he says. I'll likely still PM you for contacts, though. It would be helpful to know about a few, in my quest to find the best rates.

@Ciara Coleman Congratulations on buying your first property! I'm also a graduate of Wash U (undergrad and grad school). I'm now living in the California Bay Area, but planning to invest in St. Louis. I recently began working with a great real estate agent, and I'm looking primarily for single family homes and maybe a duplex in South City. Like you, I'm looking primarily for passive income from buy-and-hold rentals. 

Is the duplex you bought a fixer-upper or relatively turnkey? I'm working on trying to find a lender who can do Homestyle renovation loans so I have the option of updating kitchens/bathrooms when needed. 

I'm just starting out in real estate, too, and I'm planning to invest in St. Louis. I live in California now, but I lived in St. Louis for 10 years, so I'm pretty familiar with the area. I've found a great real estate agent now, and I'm actively looking for SFH.

One of the obstacles I've run into so far is that I'd like to find a lender who is willing to finance a Homestyle loan so that I can do some renovations. I don't plan to do anything too major on my first one (like adding bedrooms or moving walls), but it would be nice to be able to update a kitchen or bathroom. Does anyone know any local St. Louis lenders who might be willing to finance something like this? 

@Account Closed, you mentioned that you have experience in residential mortgage products--Do you know of any lenders who might offer this type of loan?

I'm also in the process of looking for a property management company. My real estate agent pointed me to Deca Property Management, and I just spoke with a representative from there this morning. I got a very good impression, but I haven't been able to find posts on Bigger Pockets that mention them. Has anyone used them as a property management company? 

@Ali Boone-I realized my previous post didn't tag you correctly, so I wanted to make sure you were able to see my response. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

@Ali Boone- Thanks for your thoughtful response. The company that I'm looking at is called Mogul Realty. They have three arms of the business--one for realty, one for construction/renovations, and one for property management. They say on their site that they are run by investors and that they will help with renovations that will increase the rent income for the property. It all sounds great, but what you said in your comment does worry me, since it would be all my money on the line. On the other hand, they have some incentive to do a good job since they'll be the ones managing it in the end and would make more money if more rent is coming in. I'm planning on contacting them today to set up a conversation with them to find out more about their services and whether it would make sense to go with them. It sounds a bit different from what you were referring to, since they would do the property management too. 

I haven't gone to see properties yet, but I've been looking on the major realty sites for a little while now getting practice running numbers. There are a few SFRs I've seen that based on the numbers, I think could be good options. One could be almost turn-key from what I'm seeing (though they may not be showing everything), but I don't think it would bring in quite enough in rents as it is right now--it would come close to breaking even after mortgage and expenses. I think with a decent renovation budget (redo floors, update kitchen, add a second bathroom), it would bring in a lot more rent and would increase the value of the home. However, that does feel risky given that I'm out of town. 

I noticed on your page that you specialize in rent-ready/turn-key properties. I'd definitely like to hear more about your experience and how you find these properties at a price that allows you to get a decent return. In the area I'm looking in, there are some rent ready properties in my price range, but not all that many that are in decent areas. Many of the updated SFRs wouldn't even quite hit the 1% rule, and after expenses (especially when including property management), I don't think they'd even break even). I'd be happy to talk more over private messages, if you'd prefer, because I'd definitely like to hear more about your experience.

 That's a really good question, and one that I've been thinking about a lot. A worry I have, given that I'm investing from out of state, is that if I want to take on a property that needs some fixing up, it would be difficult to oversee that process. I wouldn't want to find out later that I ended up spending much more than necessarily or that something went badly wrong because I couldn't be there on the ground throughout the process. On the other hand, most of what I've been hearing on the Bigger Pockets podcast and a lot of what I've read in books seems to suggest that adding value to a property through buying a distressed property and making it nicer is the best way to get a good return on investment. In addition, in the price range I'm looking at, most of the properties would likely need at least cosmetic improvements.

I did see one property management company in St. Louis (and there could be others I haven't seen) that also offers renovation services. That seems like it could be a good compromise, but I'd still have to feel comfortable trusting them with the renovation.

Do you (or anyone else) have any thoughts about this? 

I really appreciate your offer. I'd love to hear more about your experience with SFR, since it seems pretty likely that's where I'll start out given my budget.

You actually brought up a question I've been wondering about. If I decide to invest in a SFR, does it still make the most sense to choose an agent who works with a lot of investors, or will they only be interested in working with me if I want to invest in multifamily?

@Derek Crawford- Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely give it a try. I tried searching the forums as well, but I need to do a bit more digging there too. It's an interesting idea to just express interest in a property on Zillow. I thought of doing that, but I worried that I'd get too much spam and that it would be hard to sort through to find someone who would be good to work with. It's good to hear that you had luck doing that.

@Jeremy Paschedag- Thanks for the caution. I agree that I would definitely want to do a walk through before buying, especially as I'm first getting into this and don't have a lot of money to spare if things go seriously wrong. I'd imagine that sellers often wouldn't put "as is" if there wasn't anything worrying about the property. 

It's really helpful to know that it's common for brokerages to have property management arms. That makes me feel better about some of the property management companies I've been researching.