All Forum Posts by: Nate R.

Thanks for all the responses. We decided to hire a PM who is local to this market (San Antonio) and who has great reviews. I just started a new job, and my wife is busy with work. I was looking at what it would take to get this thing rented and decided it just wasn't something we wanted to spend weekends working on. 

Also we considered just using the leasing service. I was thinking about what it means to manage properties ourselves. Basically, we'd be starting a business. It would involve creating systems for leasing, make-readies, move-outs, work orders, etc., then scaling those systems to handle more doors.  Neither of us are ready to start a business while we are working full-time jobs.

Hopefully this should free up our time for other things including putting together more deals.

We might end up doing this. My wife's parents manage their own properties but use a realtor friend to do all the screening and he also helps coordinate repairs.

He's offered to help me by being there with me at the open house. He didn't offer to just do it for me. There's a big difference. Part of the program is teaching proper tenant screening techniques and he wants me to see how easy it is. 

Part of me wants to learn how to do it. It would give me a sense of accomplishment to get it rented and manage it effectively. The landlords I know say there is very little work involved in SFH's.

Maybe after the first couple then go with a PM to scale.

That's a good way of framing the question. Definitely to be an investor. My intention was to build up a rental portfolio to get some immediate cashflow, plus build equity to eventually trade up to multifamily.

It was never my intention to be a landlord, but I am sort of being pushed into this direction. They teach to self-manage but I know other members do hire PM's.

We have a team of vetted contractors (some of which offer discounted rates) from the mentoring and education group we belong to.

My mentor offers help every step of the way and has even offered to come to an open house and help me get it rented.

My agent says he will drive by periodically to check the exterior of the house.

Was thinking also we'd get an HVAC company to come out twice a year to service the AC.

It's a good thing, but it's only bringing 1200 jobs. They are not great jobs. Look on BLS at the net job creation y.o.y. in Cleveland metro area and this is a drop in the bucket.

It might be good for the specific neighborhood where it will be located. 

We bought a recently remodeled home (our first investment property) and are about to start getting it ready to rent. We haven't yet handed over the keys to the PM and my mentor is encouraging me to self-manage. 

The problem is the house is a long drive (1.5 to 2 hours depending on traffic) away. 

We'd need to make at least two more trips to get it rented - one to put a sign in the yard and one to hold an open house. Lockbox is on the door so our handyman can take care of a few repairs without us being there.

It seems like it should take very little ongoing effort if we lease to a good tenant, so paying a PM might not be worth it. My wife is scared of what could go wrong so hiring a PM could give her some assurance. 

How do I decide what's right for us? It will dramatically reduce our COC returns but save us a lot of time to use someone else to lease it. Maybe the best option is to use a leasing-only service and do the PM ourselves.

Your strategy makes sense. Using the LOC's can give you the liquidity that you need to make cash offers. It sounds like you plan to cash-out refinance into a traditional mortgage and pay off the lines of credit.

A potential downside is they are bank loans and can be called at any time. If for some reason capital markets freeze up, you might find yourself in a bind.

Good job, though, on putting together a deal remotely. It's something I've thought about doing, but I have some fears about buying OOS. 

One question: what did you do about items in the inspection? The typical inspection report usually includes a laundry list of issues, especially in older properties. Did you get price concessions? Did you have to find contractors to get estimates? 

This is a great list, but I thought I should add REIT's and syndications, as passive vehicles for participating in just about any sector of real estate, such as multi-family commercial, offices, self-storage, senior housing and land development. It's entirely possible to remain completely hands-off as a RE investor!