All Forum Posts by: Nate Smoyer

 @Kevin Bledsoe - Thank you for this great reply. Looking into some of these resources. I'm scheduled to close on Friday, so still pulling things together, but very excited for this new challenge.

BTW, I'm in PA quite often. I'm originally from Pottstown and travel through Lancaster each time I visit. Gotta grab some scrapple from Shady Maple to bring back to Chicago each time! Next time I'm around, if you're game, I'd love to see one of your facilities if that's an option.

Cheers!

@Austin Largusa - great question. 

Of course, you could use Avail.co or Cozy to execute a standard rental lease. I suppose in theory you could do a lease option through either tool as well. Two items

* Avail standard leases won't provide the legal coverage for this sort of contract, so you'll either have to type one entirely into the signature platform or take it offline. I'm not familiar enough with Cozy lease agreements to comment on theirs.

* Of course it should go without saying, consult a lawyer for guidance on your agreement the renter/buyer.

All that being said, congrats on your new property. Cheers for a smooth closing!

@Anthony Angotti - It took me time, but finding a deal that made sense for me was the hardest part. Once I learn the business well, I’ll be back on the hunt for a larger facility next year. You find a seller, don’t hesitate to hit me up. Partnering is a great way to get started.

@Travis Wilkes - thanks! Definitely have considered need for remote management. I currently self manage rental property in Washington state from Chicago. Can be challenging at times, but having a “team” is the key.

@Zach Quick

No boots on the ground yet. The seller has been very helpful in giving me copies of contacts. I’m looking at 6storage, but I’ll likely just use Avail (since that’s where I work and it’ll do all I need, though it’s designed for resi, not storage).

I hope you’re wrong and I won’t be driving there a ton! Ha. Although, this is totally something I considered before going for the deal and know I’ll have some learning curves ahead of me.

Appreciate the questions!

 Super helpful, Henry. Thank you!

I’m under contract to purchase my first storage facility.

It’s an out of state deal, though just a few hour drive away.

I’m thinking through all I’ll need to keep in mind and want to consider prior to closing. This facility has some immediate opportunities to improve bottom line. I’m confident value can be increased, but not totally confident in operations/management.

Anyone else doing out of state storage and have any advice of important items to do/not so?

Appreciate it advance.

Also, I’ll share details of the deal once I close.

Cheers!

@Charles Frankenhoff - hey!

Those are good services. If I can, may I recommend you take a look at Avail? Avail will not only do the background, credit, and eviction checks, but also asks the tenant to provide landlord references and completes the reference checks for you. Once you've screened a tenant you want to keep, you can then set up and sign the lease in the same platform. 

So it eliminates going back and forth from different tools and won't cost you anything to use it. Avail is on the Tools and Resources page of BiggerPockets if you're interested in learning more. https://www.biggerpockets.com/tools/landlord-resources

Best of luck!

**Full disclosure, I do work at Avail, but I was a customer first. :D)

Hey @Ryan Nastase!

Congrats on closing on your first rental. That's a very exciting accomplishment!

And thanks for considering Avail. It's important you find the right tool for you, for sure. One of the extra layers to our screening process is residence history. Alongside the screening, Avail will work to contact previous landlords for you and confirm the tenant's stated history.

And of course, to help with your listings question, hitting all the top sites is going to be your best bet. Think Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Zumper, Realtor, Apartments. Avail syndicates to each, but you can post directly to them if you prefer. I HIGHLY recommend you take the extra time and possibly even hire a photographer to get great photos of the unit vacant. This will come in handy down the line for having good photos in the future. 

Let me know if there's anything I can help with. All the best!