All Forum Posts by: Natalie Schanne

Kyle Allen - Congratulations. Hire an agent. Post the house both for sale and for rent (maybe at $1300-1400). See what kind of response you get from the market. It's a hot for-sale market where I'm at and a beautifully fixed up home is always appreciated. You're 100% right that tenants will damage your rental, especially if you're not in an A class neighborhood. Make sure your security deposit is max allowed and screen well if you take on a tenant. PS - What are your lessons learned for flipping a home faster? 9 months seems like a long time to hold your property vacant.

Joseph L. - Google discount listing services. They will usually have a $500-$1000 package to list your house for 6 months. You may have to do your own photos, writeup, lockbox, etc. If you post on MLS, you have to specify the $$ or % you'll pay the buyers agent (2-3% usually) or you aren't cooperating with brokers and either you can't list it on MLS or nobody will show it. So likely you'll pay a fixed fee plus 2-3% at the very least. Brokerage fees are negotiable. Some agents pay high monthly fees but keep nearly 100% of the commission, and may have more flexibility to charge you a fixed price or offer limited services for a lower rate. You can always craigslist your property, but you may get lowball offers.

Christine Swaidan - Hire a translator - Learn if they paid a sec dep to the original tenants equal to what you're holding - make them and original tenants sign agreement that security deposit you're holding is now in new tenants name. Or - send original tenants a note that their security deposit is forfeit for breaking the lease. - Ask new tenants to pay you a security deposit. (Should have done this during rental agreement signing).

Inga C. - I'm not a CPA but this is my understanding: - If you own the house on the deed and you didn't establish primary residency for 2 years for yourself personally, you cannot sell and claim any 250k IRS capital gains tax deductions on your tax return. If you wanted her to get the primary residency, she should have been on the deed/title 2 years ago. - If you choose to sell the property, you can gift your daughter the proceeds. You don't need to transfer the title except to the new buyer. You will pay tax on your tax return. - Your condo basis for capital gains is sale price - closing costs (6-10%) - purchase price + any capital improvements (new appliances) + depreciation recapture (if you depreciated it any, else ignore). So $70 - $7k - 50k + home imps = $13k gain on sale or so taxable at capital gains according to your regular income tax bracket (15-25%). Then gift her the remaining money tax free.

Tony Marcelle - it tells me in MLS as an agent if a settlement was cash or type of financing. I'd have to cross reference with current property owner to get address data. It's a lot of work. Just post you're looking for cash buyers in x area and collect people's emails and phone numbers. Ask around at your REIA. They're everywhere if you have a good deal.

Jake Walroth - Congratulations on your purchase! I recommend you get a long term tenant in the other half of the duplex for income stability. (You get a security deposit, utilities in his name, etc.) It could be too much hassle to flip guests midweek unless you're home. Assuming you live in the other half and want to try it... test marketing your own unit for Airbnb guests while you're away. See if you get booking requests. Install key code locks. Figure out your calendar. Figure out your price point. Figure out how much you want to clean up and lock away your stuff in your own house. I rent rooms to people in my house. My Airbnb-found summer rental tenants (1-3 months) have been more demanding while paying approx the same price as the people I find on craigslist. I also didn't get a sec dep. I prefer when my house is only people with 1 year leases.

@Michael Doherty - Keep your job and licenses. Join your local REIA. Find investors who might want to partner on a small multifamily apartment (5-30 units) or use your w2 to buy a duplex-quad by yourself and rent out the other units in the home. (Or a large house and rent out bedrooms to roommates). You'll learn the ropes of investing while wealth building.

Jesse Holshouser - who toured the house with you? You should usually use that agent unless you saw it during an open house or you haven't seen the inside officially. It can go either way. I always recommend you get a buyers agent who can tour you through comparable properties and show you historic sales prices before the buyers agent writes up your offer. This agent will also advocate for your side and negotiate on your behalf with the seller and sellers agent, using all of her accumulated expertise to help you save money. (Sellers concessions for repairs, etc.) If you approach me as the listing agent to make an offer, I'll make you sign a dual agency agreement that I will facilitate the transaction but can't really represent your interests or negotiate for you. I can simply convey what you say. You offer $100k. I'll tell you seller counters at $120k, what do you want to do? I won't advise you on whether it's worth the price or encourage you to keep looking at other options. I can not encourage you to ask the seller for repair concessions, but will convey your request if you make it. This strategy works best for experienced investors who might want to incentivize the listing agent, HOPING it'll make the deal happen. In this case, the agent gets 100% of the commission instead of 50%. 6k on 100k vs 3k. However, there's no guarantee and certainly no promise that it'll turn out in your favor as a buyer. In fact you sign a statement that you understand that the agent you've 'hired' cannot work both in the seller's and the buyer's best fiduciary interests. If you use another agent in the same office as the listing agent, you still have to sign this dual agency agreement.

Scott F. - I use a Schlage digital lock, keypad and lever, from 2009. In 8 years, I've replaced the D battery 2 times (every 3 years) and it lets you know weeks in advance (red light after entry) when it's going to die. In the last year, 2 of my 10 buttons have lost their protective covers (sort of like a clear plastic sticker on top of the writing) and the writing has started to wear. (My 0 looks like a u). I called Schlage to ask for replacement button stickers and they offered to send me a new keypad for free. Nice customer support. It's like this one. Cost $90-150. http://www.schlage.com/en/home/products/FE595PLYFFFFLA.html I saw a Schlage Camelot model / deadbolt twist for the first time on a short sale property recently and it took me about 12 tries with the right code to figure out how to open it. (It twisted easily but nothing happened). However, it seemed like it would also work very well.

Michael Doherty - How much does your current job involve 'hustling,' meeting people for lunch/coffee and 'cold' calling? Is your LinkedIn list over 1000 people? Do you enjoy connecting with 10+ new people a day? Commercial RE brokers making six figures are masters of relationships and their networks. They understand the ins and outs of building financials, tenant improvements, and negotiation. Bigger names like CBRE, Cushman and Wakefield, JLL, etc. usually win the listing contracts for large commercial complexes (office buildings) where a single lease can make you $50-100k. Lease or purchase negotiations can take 6-12 months before you get paid and can die midway for any reason. Unless you have or can quickly form relationships with decision makers at large companies or owners of properties, it's hard to make very much money. Especially in your first 2 years.