All Forum Posts by: Mohammed S.

Fellow BP friends,

My property manager is struggling to collect rent on time from the tenants in a small (less than 20 units) MF units. The tenants are low income but hard working, blue collar workers who work late hours and typically give cash to the property manager who collects them on site. Hence - she often is unable to collect the rents because of the late hours that some of the workers get home.

Could you recommend a practice/tool that I can use to collect rent from those who are do not own checking accounts and are wary of doing online transactions? Please advise,

The online service www.paylease.com was suggested by quite a few members

Please advise,

Thank you

Mo

@BillG - solid advice - thank you

Mo

Hi BP members,

Need your advice. 

I am in the final phases of a feasibility period for a 12 unit multi-family Class C property. The appraiser from the bank asked me to send the Inspection Report (which I had gotten done on the property at my expense) to him. I am debating whether I should do that since I dont want the content of the inspection report to color his opinion. On the other hand, I dont mind giving the appraiser an extra data point to validate his findings. My realtor discouraged me to share the inspection report.

What is the normal practice when purchasing a multi-family - is this a typical request? What are the pros and cons of sharing the inspection report?

Please let me know,

Thank you in advance for your view points.

@Nancy Neville: I couldnt agree with you more. As I am getting ready to initiate the due diligence process, I am realizing how that process is a small portion of the effort that is or will be required. As someone in BP mentioned, the real work starts once you have closed on the property. At the moment I am doing an inventory of all the systems I need to set in place prior to closing and it is a staggering list but one that will need to be tackled. Would love to hear more about your experience and I am sure there are plenty of folks on BP who would be benefit from your experience.

 Thank you @NickWeidner - i will surely follow up with Brad. 

Regards,

Mo

 Thank you @lucas. I hope to update the BP friends on how the whole process turned out. Excited and wary at the same time :-)

BP friends, (esp those familiar with the Houston area):

Could you recommend insurance companies, contractors and inspectors who you have worked? I am getting ready to initiate a Due Diligence period for a small 12 unit, Class C property (built in 1950) in South East part of Houston. 

Thank you in advance,

Mo

@Jeremy Tillotson , @Dan C. , @Nazz Wang @Doug Spartz @Javier Marchena 

 - Thank you for taking the time out to weigh in with your opinion. I will certainly follow my initial plan of hiring a inspection professional to comb through the property. I will update the BP team once I have completed the acquisition process

Best wishes for 2015

Mo

Dear BP Gurus,

What is the level of inspection investment to perform during the due diligence period for a 10 unit, Class C property that is 40+ years old in the South East part of Houston? Given the age of the property and also since this is my first time investing, I was planning on doing a comprehensive inspection with a certified professional. However, my realtor recommended the following:

"I’m just going to warn you though, since this is your first small apartment purchase, this is a Class C apartment, so it’s not like buying a residential house. You are buying the income stream. The units will not be wonderful and beautiful, otherwise it would be a Class B or higher. Inspection services notoriously pick these properties to death with every single “issue” they can find, so most buyers of these small apartments do not pay inspectors but rather walk the properties themselves and get specialist if they have concerns with a major item (a/c, roof, plumbing, those types of items).

I do like my realtor and respect his/her opinion but wanted to get your thoughts? 

Thank you and appreciate your help,

Regards,

Mo

All,

I am looking to set up my business account for my multi family RE investment company at a local regional bank. I am wondering if you had a recommendation for a regional Texas (Houston) bank that provides convenience through technology from basic (online bill pay, ) to advanced (payroll, check scan, etc).

Because of my travels, I would prefer to manage payments (to suppliers, to employees, etc) and conduct business more remotely.

I would like to avoid bigger banks such as Chase, etc

Thank you,

Mo