All Forum Posts by: Cuong Le

Hi Shari. You did meet the dog and the previous landlord had no issues so you should be good. If you do, you have the security deposits to take care of any damages.

Go ahead and ask your insurance company to provide you their list just to make sure and keep this in mind for the next tenant.

@Jon Holdman is right. 6 months rent is more conservative and is a great tip to follow. Even though we fixed everything, we had a sewer line issue a few months after the tenant moved in. That was about $2800 lesson that you need to have reserves for issues like this. Luckily we had enough to take care of it without issues.

Hi @Ken Fricke and welcome to BP! Sounds like you are off to a great start obtaining properties. Listen to the podcasts if you haven't already done so. #33 and 37 are good ones to start off with.

For the comps, ask an agent for them during your evaluation. Of course, if you are an agent, you can access the power of the MLS to get the numbers you need.

Comparables (comps) will be different who ever you ask but they should all be very close. Try not to use more then 6 months of comps. We use 5 because the time you close a month later, the numbers would be more relevant. Try to keep the comps within .25 mile, 250 SF and built within 5 years of the subject property.

Another tip is when you get a verbal acceptance, ask an appraiser to do a quick desktop for you. The appraiser pulls comps without visiting the property and uses what you plan to do to the house to give you a desktop appraisal. Lenders won't use this number but at least it confirms your ARV that you came up with during your evaluation. It is a cheap check ($100) and is an approximate number you can expect when the real appraisal comes in.

If the desktop is way off, this would give you an opportunity to back out without finding later when it is too late. Hope this helps. See you around!

@Barry Harsa we had the same question when we started but @Bill Gulley is correct. When you go through the mortgage process, whether traditional financing or hard money, they would ask to see at least 3 months reserve for PITI.

There is no set dollar amount and it really depends on your comfort level. Ask your self if the amount you want to save will cover your closing costs, fronting the rehab costs until you can draw this money from your hard money, vacancy and surprise repairs (which should be minimal since you fixed everything during your rehab).

Hi @Angela Hunter and welcome to BP! Listen to all the podcasts as much as you can. You can get lots of great info on there as well. Podcast 33 and 37 are great!

Get engaged, ask questions and have fun. We'll see you around.

that is awesome @Sebastian Gast that you have a few properties under your belt. Welcome to BP as well as to Houston! Hope you can share your experience with us and any tips you may have. Get engaged and you will learn a lot. What are you doing to get more involved with MF?

hi @Warren K. and welcome to BP! Glad you are here and you are at the right place. We too are new and learned so much from the podcast and the forums. Listen to podcast 33 and 37 as soon as you get the chance. Get engaged and we will see you around!

hi @Cameron Colgan and welcome to BP! Be sure to read biggerpockets.com/ubg and listen to the podcasts to really get you going. My favorite is podcast 33 and 37. Stay engaged and ask lots of questions. Best of luck and we will see you around.

welcome @Mike Gallagher to BP! We need more people with experience like you to help us newbies like me. Let us know how your project turned out!

awesome! You got it to work perfectly. Glad I could help

@Jake Toney.