All Forum Posts by: Neil Hauger

Eric Jones thanks for the recent post on ALE. I have had three calls from three different agents of ALE. looks like I’m negotiating for an 8 mo lease. 4 more months on month to month option to extend. Then must renegotiate a new lease term  I told them.  I wanted to avoid winter turn over and they seemed ok with that.  

$500/ mo premium above my asking rent. Plus one Mo deposit.  I’m also asking for renters insurance. One month deposit and written clarification of who will pay for damage and organize the repairs. One of the agents told me the story of how they were displaced and even a family pic. I looked it up. Appears to be a legit story. 

So far so good. 

Something to consider is purchasing vacant land. There are ways to “fix and flip” for small profits with no issues of renters. Small little wins can add up and there are a lot less issues. And virtually no competition. The process is identical to residential flipping but specific to land. For example buy a 20-40 ac parcel that is wild and undeveloped. I Can often buy these for .70 on the dollar for clean cash deals leaving room for upgrades. I find these for clients. Improvements that can make it worth more are mowed trails, water holes, tree stands, mineral sites, food plots. Your focused on hunters who are looking for property to purchase under $100k. These fixes cost less than $5000 depending on if u hire out or do it yourself. I advise my clients on these fix and flips all the time.

Update! So I finished my second full year. Sold 33 properties and a total gross sales of 6.2 Million. My W2 put me at about 189,000 for the year. My marketing was around $15,000 of which the first $6000 was reimbursed. I tell these details so that someone else can get an idea of what is possible. RE has such a low barrier of entry. I use a tool called OnX Hunt App that tells me property lines and is accurate to about 3m. Helps me find boundaries. I do a lot of social media marketing in Facebook. You can find me there under my name and Land Specialist tacked on. I started to do selfie interview and FB LIVE posts while walking the land and have developed quite a few followers. Recently, I started to film with my iPhone while I took clients on a tour. We walk or drive my Gator which I also bought last year. Helps me get around much easier. The vids are edited using iMovie. Very simple. The clients can then see the post and share it with their network. Spreads the word! I also got a Drone and a Part 107 license. Flying drones and filming adds a special element to the listing and sets me apart from the competition. Most often I sell both sides of the deal. After my broker cut I take about $5200 for every $100,000 in sales. Much less completion in land sales. And a lot of land to sell. More updates later!

Thanks for the lead John. Th day I posted my manager approved the lease transfer! On to the sale.

I’m an owner of a small business in woodbury mn. I have a deal to sell the business after 4 yrs of good standing in the space. In order to get the lease I had to sign a lease guarantee which expires 2021. In order to get out of the lease I am told I need to find a new guarantor. I found a candidate that appears qualified (did a financial background check). But no response from the land lord after 4 months of repeated calls. This transfer is holding up the process as the owners won’t respond. Question: in minnesota, can the owners require a lease guarantor? Upon sale of a business, can the owners hold the original lease guarantor if a suitable transferee was found? Can anyone recommend a lawyer in Minn to advise me? ThankS.

1. Tenants are not friends. They are tenants and this is a business. Treat as such. 2. Have a screening process. Follow it. I have all prospective tenants pay for a background check as part of the application process once I feel they may b suitable. The process of telling them you will check up filters many out. 3. Do not be absentee. I walk around my properties often. 4. I sit with my tenants the first day they walk in and give them a run down on the rules. Have them initial the rules so it’s clear they know them. 5. Explain to them my rent payment policy. I explain to them the exact day that rent is due which for me is the first of the month. Not the second, not the fifth, the first without exception. We now use an app to have them pay their rent. 6. I also explain to them what they can expect from me. Such as, if there’s a leak in a sink, or toilet, they are to call me immediately and I will respond immediately. And I always respond immediately, I am a text away. 7. Another mistake I used to make is not explaining that they are an active tenant. Just because they are renters doesn’t mean that they don’t have to take care of the place. I let them know that I maintain a high level of maintenance because they pay For a quality place. Almost without fail my 10 and say wow, my other landlord was not like this. He never did anything and I never saw him. So if I boil this all down, you need to be an active landlord in your investment. Manage your investment do not be absentee.

Btw. I agree the millionaire RE agent is a good book. Didn’t care for the format but lots of good stuff. Leads listings leverage are the keys to success in RE sales. You have to get to full time if you hope to make a good income in my opinion. Find was to get in front of people. I do 3-4 regional and state level trade shows and this year I am speaking at one! Really putting myself out there. The more I tell the bigger and expert I seem to position my self as and the listings come in. Got three today as a matter of fact.

I’m a Full time agent. I will send out 53,000 post cards this year to 5 counties. I buy a list of land owners ( I’m a land specialist). I send two counties a month. I also do a lot of advertising on Facebook. I spend maybe 30 min or more a day on FB posting. Education/ entertainment/ sales sales sales. That’s my system. I also have a 6 inch color ad in a newspaper Running 13 times this year. I can post that to social media as well. I also advertise and post on Instagram although not very often. I focus on getting listings. I’ve been doing this consistently for 3,yrs. I sold 1.5 million in 8 months in 2015. 3.2m total in 2016 and 6.2m in 2017. Post cards are by far the best lead generator.

I would agree with Ryan D. Communication is the simplest skill and the most over looked in about any endeavor. Simply talking to people is the best thinks you can do. Be present and active with both tenants and owners. Don’t be a List it and leave it manager. Take time to present options for solutions vs making one call and saying Ing “ it will cost $$$”. Service customer owners. Don’t just work for Them. Keep good records. Develop sound systems for listing, back ground checks, walk throughs, maintenance etc. good luck!

I’m glad to start and write a few pieces. I’ll give it a try. Might not be as sexy as some of the residential blogs! Topic ideas? I just got pulled into a legal issue so I suppose I can just relate what is happening currently in my land sales world. My first blog. I’ll take a crack at it today.