All Forum Posts by: Ralph R.

@Michael Heisterkamp the whole idea behind a net work is having a place to land. If my realtor dies tomorrow I’ll not fall to far before I find a place to land same with the PM, same with my insurance agent same with my partner, same with my banker. Point is your better off with people you know and trust. Before real estate it was a butcher shop. Same suppliers, same service for the meat cutting tools, same book keeper, same clientele etc. before that it was a welding business. Same suppliers, same insurance company, and on and on. Probably 40 years in buisness all together. Did I fire any? Yeah did I ever change you bet. But a guy that bounces around between agents and PM’s etc will always wonder if his agent is ripping him off, worry that somebody else got “his deal” and have a poor reputation with whoever he’s doing business with. I’ve found a way to avoid all that BS that’s all. RR

@michael 

@Michael Heisterkamp.  Actually I have a pretty good business built up including storage units, part interest in a campground, and lots of Rental properties. When I say if you have a good Realtor stick with him I speak from experience. About 15 years of it. You need to understand the realtor does not always bring the deal to you. You gotta Root them out on your own sometimes. Sometimes he finds the deals sometimes you do. The realtor is only going to have as much time for you as you have for him. If you only use him a little bit he’s only going to help you a little bit or maybe not at all. After all there’s more buyers and sellers than there are realtors.     He’s going to win that game. If  he makes a sale he gets paid the same no matter if you are involved or not. Sounds to me like you need to re-evaluate a little bit. After all we both know you don’t get big by acting small. Bouncing around with no loyalties to anybody will soon catch up to you.  Real estate is a people business.  It matters how you treat them if you want success   RR

@Kishor Y. I think you did the right thing!! RR

@Thomas Harr. If it’s going up in value why would you sell it?? That’s like throwing your cards in when your holding a royal flush. Why settle for $10k today when you can get 20k next year?? RR.

@Cory Lucas. Don’t waste your time. Spend your time looking for property analyzing them and buying them. If this realtor is good than use him if not than don’t. Real estate is business. He knows that. The realtor I use doesn’t always find my properties I usually do. If he’s got something good he will call but his job is to submit offers, talk to seller agents, set up walk through’s, ETC. I do not buy or sell in his area without him. I have different agents in different cities. But I use the same ones in their respective towns. Whether I buy or sell. If another agent has a listing than I have my agent deal with them. I would never talk to another agent directly about a property. But there’s other agents that know I’m investing in most of my areas. Just because you tell a realtor your an investor looking for X investment he will forget that quickly. Buy a couple properties and word gets around. You can walk the walk and talk the talk but the proof is following through. Then people will know your around. RR

@Mark Ainley @Ryan Linskey. My wife works for a PM as the cleaning lady between tenants. She cleans hundreds of units a year but gets only one 1099. The cost for her 1099 divided by all the landlords she cleans for in a year would be pennies. This same PM manages 2/3rds of my units and I get a 1099 from him as well. My check to him based on $50 per property for 4 or 5 1099’s would be enough to end our relationship. Especially when one 1099 is for me. The management program he uses figures the 1099’s for him and I’m sure there is a cost for this. The thing is it’s his obligation to meet his tax requirements and their associated expense. He will have the same number of 1099’s with or without the OP’s 3 units. I’m not seeing where it’s my financial obligation to help the PM meet his legal tax responsibility. After all the PM works for me for a contracted 10%. We all know that a rental that cash flows 10% after all expenses is a pretty good rental. Most PM’s get that guaranteed. We the owner may or may not get that. I’m am a huge proponent of using a good PM and advise many new investors on BP to seek PM’s for their first properties if only to learn the do’s and Donts of managing their investments. Many people discourage the use of a PM due to the cost. Many PM’s charge lease up fees, keep late fees, and some want the landlords to list them as co beneficiaries on their liability insurance. Some even up charge maintence. This cuts the land lords liability benefit in half. There is a point where the cost of the PM will prohibit the use of one, forcing the investor to self manage or hire it in house. IMHO. RR

@Julie Marquez. First off the repair was done in 2016. It should have been corrected long before now. Always remember your first loss is your best loss. End your lease and fix that window now, and fix it right. Replace it if necessary. In winter in Alaska we could put in a whole new window in winter if it really needed to be done. Not cheap maybe, but that water is going to ruin other things. Second you need to examine your management style. This guy is late pay, lies to you, and now wants lower rent. This is because you allow it. He probably wouldn’t be in that unit if you would have been tougher on him when he was late with the rent. Now you have him to deal with him plus the window. Your now facing vacancy, an overdo repair, and getting rid of a sour tenant. All at the same time. If you keep this tenant you avoid the vacancy and face late rent from now on. Likely he will sooner or later not pay one month and will not ever be able to catch up. You will then have the vacancy on top of lost rent. Take this opportunity to take your best loss. Your about to take a bath take it now while the water is still warm and before your loss is worse. I would take a hard look at the results my current management style is affording me and consider outsourcing management or changing my management style. You managed yourself into this position, now you gotta manage yourself out of it. The goal here is to cut your losses and get back on level ground. RR

@Dave Skow yeah I mentioned that. The best part of that is if it all goes up in smoke her credit doesn’t get ruined. RR

@Chris Mason. I never thought of it from the lenders view. I’m always scrambling to find a way to make something work. Ironic that you mentioned the car. I even cash out re- fied my car once to get the down payment for a property. Your right tho i think people view the lender as being a necessary evil rather than on their side. I always view the lender as a part of my net work or team. I use the same ones all the time, and try to cooperate or take their suggestions when ever they make them. You guys are AWSOME! RR