All Forum Posts by: Colin Reid

Thanks, Richie.

I believe she got most of them from the MLS based on criteria I gave her. Looking for 2-4 unit properties in St Pete, under a certain price point, and a few other criteria. There are a few addresses that didn't come up as active listings on the major sites (Realtor.com, Zillow, etc), so maybe there are some pocket listings there.

I searched but didn't find much on this particular use of Google Earth.

I've just begun a search for a small multifamily to house hack in the St Petersburg, FL area. I'm new to the area so I'm trying to learn my way around and apply the tools and techniques I've used for SFR investing. Today I went driving for dollars, using a list of properties my realtor sent me. I organized the list between two general areas, made a route on Google Maps, and started cruising. I was using various apps and self-made tools (mostly in Excel today) to track where I'd been, and make brief notes, memory joggers really, for each property I drove by.

When I got home, I was trying to figure out a better way. I remembered when I was in the Air Force, our intelligence people used Google Earth to organize and easily transfer information about objectives. The ability to link data from numerous sources was incredible. 

In the military, I was always a consumer of this information, so I had some learning to accomplish in order to build it. Within about 45 minutes, I had organized my list of addresses into a standardized format, saved it as a CSV file (easy to do in Excel), imported it into Google Earth, and it populated a list of properties. For each one, I can leave notes. I've started fairly simply with a standardized format of "MLS: [enter realtor.com address, or similar], BP Tool: [BP rental property calculator-linked to the analysis I've done or will do], and HOLD Tool: [linked to a file in Drop Box for the analysis tool from "HOLD," by Keller, McKissack's et al]."

Now I can easily see the locations of all the properties I'm looking at, with easy links to relevant analysis info and tools. I'm going to figure out a color coding system, perhaps with different symbols on the map as well to indicate whether it warrants further diligence, and whether I've seen it, driven past it, or only seen the listing. Looking at it on the map lets me immediately determine whether it's in or out of an area I'm interested in.

Has anyone else used Google Earth similarly? Any ideas I'm missing with it, or other tips and tricks I could try?

I listened to his podcast for a while, and kinda considered buying a house from him, under the impression it was 1) already renovated, 2) was already occupied. I never got to the point of calling, and eventually got turned off to Clayton and his wife, when they had a whole podcast eepisode fear-mongering about other, more conventional, investment classes and vehicles (i.e. stocks, 410k, etc), trying to scare people into investing with MI. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I quit listening. Glad I did.

I hope the victims get something, other than experience that is.

Hey, guys. I want to know how much money you keep available for contingencies on your SFR rentals.
I have two SFR's, with a third (current residence) to be rented within a year. With the two rentals, I've never taken a dollar out of the business, with the exception of repairs and maintenance. I don't manage them myself, and just stack up the cashflow for now. They each have about $17k saved from just cashflow. Rent check goes in, mortgage comes out, remainder sits. That comes to 18-24 months of mortgage payments for both properties, if they were vacant.

I'm looking at a possible cross-country move in a year, so I'm in cash-savings mode, and not looking to invest in property until then. At that point, I'm planning to house hack a multi-family.
The question is, how much of my roughly $34k (plus another year of cash-flow for each) do I need to keep in the properties for contingencies (cap-ex, minor maintenance, etc) and how much is available to put toward a down payment? Keep in mind, I have savings outside the business that I'll also contribute to the down payment, but this isn't about the amount I can put down, it's about how much to keep in reserve for the properties.

Thanks,

Colin

Thanks, everyone!

I figured part was barriers to entry, and in some markets it was appreciation bets. I've only invested in Texas and New Mexico, in smaller towns (30k-250k population), and helped my wife score a good deal in PA before we got married (which was expensive by my standards, but the numbers work, so whatever). I assumed there were different strategies, or at least higher prices for entry, in those super-high markets. I did't really consider tons of foreign money ignorantly flooding in, buying cash. I appreciate all the insight.

This is purely curiosity. 

We hear all the time about aspiring investors who are priced out of their local markets, experienced investors who invest far from their homes, and markets that are too expensive to work in. Markets like this exist all over the country.

Let's use San Francisco as an example.

We all know it's one of the priciest markets in the country. We often hear how it's too expensive for homeowners to even buy there, muchless invest successfully. Many people live there, and have to rent there.

So who owns all the rental units? Someone has to. And they can't all be losing money. Who are they? What are their criteria for analyzing their deals? Have they all owned their properties for decades? Do they never change hands? Is it impossible for a new investor [to the market, or to investing in general] to get into the market?

Thanks for all the input. I spoke with the PM today (the broker himself, not the assistant I usually deal with) and we decided to enforce the lease until we place a new tenant. I have not, and will not, deal directly with the tenant, only through the PM. He's dealt with this before, so I'll let him do his job.

I was initially considering going easy on them and negotiating their offer, because I am also a military member, and I've been in a similar situation. But then I remembered that I continued my lease month-to-month when I decided to look for a home to purchase. Contracts are contracts, and especially since the letter I received admitted that they didn't read the lease correctly, I am not inclined to give special favors just because the tenant works where I used to work. I think it's more than fair to let them out of the lease without further penalty once a new tenant is placed.

not without orders. These folks are not deploying or PCSing. They are just moving to a new place in town.

I have an issue, and I'm looking for opinions on how to deal with it.

I have a property in Texas that is being managed through a PM. That PM emailed me at the end of last week to inform me the tenant is going to be moving out. I reviewed my documents over the weekend and realized they have 5 months left on the lease. Naturally, as a military member myself, I assumed they had received orders and were exercising the military clause of the lease. I planned to call the PM on Monday.

Then on Saturday, I received a letter with return receipt from the tenant. I don't contact tenants personally, so this was a surprise. The letter said they had enjoyed living in my property, but had bought a house and want out of the lease. They want to pay me 1.8x rent and vacate in January. The lease expires in May.

When I contacted the PM, she was surprised they had written me, and said she had told them they had to keep paying until a new tenant was found. I told her to stick with that for the time being.

I'm in the military but I've never been in this position as landlord or tenant. I've also never dealt with base housing offices with respect to off-base leases, again either as landlord or tenant. Do I need to be worried about getting "black listed" if I enforce my lease? Has anyone successfully enforced a lease by contacting the tenant's commander? Has anyone sent a military tenant to collections?

I'm not looking to be greedy or screw anyone over, I just don't want to lose money because they chose not to read the contract before signing.

I am a SFR buy-and-hold investor. Even so, the podcast has me intrigued to read about all sorts of deals. So when a friend expressed his displeasure with his apartment landlord, it got me asking questions.

Now I'm curious about how a deal could be made. I don't plan on making this deal (though I would be happy to pass it on to an investor interested in Clovis, NM.) because I'm not personally interested in the market. I want this to be a case study, nothing more.

My friend lives in a 30-unit building. Some one-bedroom, some two-bedroom, I'm unsure of the number of each. It's not in a bad area (I'd call it low B area). The 2-bed units rent for $575/mo.

The owner is out of town.

The owner recently stopped using a property management company and started self-managing from a distance.

The PM was responsive to maintenance concerns, the owner is not. In fact, the owner isn't responsive to much (phone calls, emails, letters, etc). Against my advice, my friend is doing a "press to test" on withholding rent due to a broken air conditioner for the whole summer. We'll see if the owner is responsive to that.

I have access to the owner's contact info.

What would you do?