All Forum Posts by: Mike R.

All,

curious if we have any owners of multi family properties subject to rent control and if so how is that working out from an investment standpoint?  any advice for MF investors?  Clearly there are investors in NYC and San Fran that still own and operate properties so they must be making money somehow!??!!?!  Any thoughts would be appreciated!  Thank you! 

yes, never misrepresnt about any insurance (home, rental, health, life,etc)   insurance companies share a database with that info and it will be nearly impossible to get insurance if you are not completely honest.

We use state farm for all our personal and biz insurance and while they are not the cheapest by any stretch of the imagination, they will cover a claim and not drop your coverage for a claim.   We had a huge claim on our home due to a flood caused by the ice maker.  State farm was a dream to work with.  No hassles at all.  Yes our deductible increased but I'm good with that.

We always would use the large carriers farmers, state farm, alstate, because we feel more confident they stand behind the product when you need it the,most

I agree with Brandon.  Personally, I suspect the time to invest in multi family is behind us for now (wait till next recession) 5 or 6 % cap rates and you have work to do and taxes to pay doesn't sound that interesting when I can get near 5% yields on high yield muni bonds-no taxes and no work.

Consider Kitsap county/Bremerton/port orchard for better deals though even there prices have increased meaningfully.

@John Underwood

John, you might want to check with wells fargo...they just told us of the new policy this weekend.  not sure when it goes into affect.  

@Caleb Heimsoth

Caleb, wouldn't the tenant still have to go to our bank to deposit the money order?  isnt that the same thing as depositing cash??

Hi all and thank you for your time!

We just found out that several of the large banks (Chase, Wellsfargo, etc) have or are about to implement new policies that basically say they will no longer take cash for deposit into 3rd party accounts.  

we do not take checks for rent and have had tenants deposit rent directly into our accounts either via wire or cash deposit in a local branch of our bank.  Cash is now off the table so we are looking for alternatives.  Any ideas?

Hi and thank you for your replies!

Curious how you address letters received from the tax assessor (for us it is a county assessor) asking (demanding?) that we send P&L data for the property.  clearly they are attempting to determine what the place is worth and i highly doubt it would be to decrease our taxes.  Personally, i do not believe it is any of their business what our P&L looks like even if they claim to use the income-method to determine value.  

Do you send data?  if so, what data do you send?  do you simply ignore the letter?

worst we had was a great tenant committed suicide in the unit..nicest person and just a really sad situation.  

Hi all and thank you for your replies,

we own several multifamily properties (duplexes and six units) with a buy & hold approach.  All have been cash flow positive since day one and, given they are all in the pacific northwest, has enjoyed significant price appreciation (1x-2x on all of them since '08).  

now the problem, i am concerned about a recession (i bet either by end of '18 or in '19) and longer term i am concerned about 1) public unfunded pension liabilities 2) interest payments on US debt 3) impact that automation will have on employment/renters...basically longer term i am worried about a S^%$ Hitting the Fan scenario.  So my question is, what level of net cash flow (net of all expenses, debt payments, 3-5% rent reserves) is recession proof?  is it $300 per door/month?  $500?  you can assume we have adequate reserves to cover 6 months of expenses.

we do own in port orchard, bremerton, gig harbor.  our bremerton prop has several Navy and department of defense tenants as well as locals.  only had one bad tenant and that was inherited from the prior owner.  good people (do your screening) who are working hard to make a living are the types of folks we have come across.  

i would NEVER EVER invest in Seattle.  The politics is VERY UNFRIENDLY to landlords.  Look at Kitsap county (Bremerton, Port Orchard, Silverdale) as the new high speed ferry out of Bremerton is likely a game changer (commute into seattle from bremerton is 30 MINUTES!!!).