All Forum Posts by: Christine S.

If there under 2000 sqft than the kitchen in the rear because the dinning area is joined in the same space. Has more of a family feel which attracts more buyers for resale.

If the home is larger than a separate dinning room would be appropriate. In a large home a formal dinning would be used. The price range will be a factor along with competition in the area. Do other homes have formal dinning rooms? Is there a view off the back deck?Iif so than a great room with a view will have better resale than a kitchen.... always so many factors to consider. REALLY LOOK AT THE COMPETITION IN THE AREA. What makes your property better than those, besides the fact that its new.

I have never used a turn key company to buy property out of area. We own properties in four counties in Southern California. We have agents and PM's that we work with. I always see in person what I am buying and check the management companys on a rotation bases. This takes one weekend a month and is well worth it. We also have owned property in Europe and even those I saw every property and checked the management companies. If you run your investments well, the trips should be covered by the properties. Its a business expense really.

When looking out of your area for potential appreciation consider larger employment areas with diversity. There is more rental demand and investment demand where people are paid well and need some place to live. I would defiantly go for appreciation with a balance of cash flow. Appreciation in a rising market makes more money than cash flow typically. Especailly since the first ten years you have a mortgage you are paying mainly interest and not principal.

Only you know what you are willing to buy. View it like a business with employees that you are supervising. Investment properties are yours and I agree with Brant that not all companies can be trusted.

Hi James,

I agree with Rich in that you are more at an advandage as a purchaser as an investor than an agent. To much disclosure. and yes, a first investment purchase at $300k in a declining market is a lot to bite off from the get go. Going into a more affordable market is a great place to start. Try posting in the deal analysis forum what you are looking to accomplish and get some great advise from BP members in the area you want to purchase in. The feed back will help you focus.

Don't put all your cherries in the same basket. You don't want to take all your capital and invest it in just one property. Leave yourself a safety net. We bought four properties the first year as investors and 1031 each of those into two more properties and grew from there. We also did not risk of carrying costs for SFR so went after multifamily to generate less carry and more income. We also wanted to grow our investment portfolio. Good Luck. Christine

This is a great oppurtunity if your numbers are correct. We did the same thing with 6 properties on the same street. They were two houses on a lot, so 12 homes. We bought four and another investor we know bought the other two. The other investor actually informed us about them because he had the same idea as you. The same seller owned all the properties we bought and was a mortgage broker. He did an AITD on each property and we paid him off 2 years later with a refi.. We were able to get vendors at a discount, improve the street, and control the rental rates. It has been a good experience. We have each sold one of the properties and kept the rest for income purposes.

Thanks Byran. I sent you a PM. Christine

Has anybody allowed a Wind Farm to lease their land? I am looking for feed back from either a land owner or the owner of a wind farm. We own land in Southern California and are in the proces of trying to put together a package for approval for funding of this project.

Hi Joel,
Your number one goal should be to collect rent. You need to get new applications filled out to rescreen the tenants, so you can see whom can really pay or not.

The tenant that wants to stay till the 20th, must pay a prorated amount till then or go straight to eviction. Do not let them stay for free. They are honest and telling you they can not pay.

We have only had two tenants leave in all the years we have bought deferred maintenance/ below market rent units.

Since you just introducted your company, sent out a letter informing the tenants that your intent is to give them better living conditions and you will increase rents to market rent, not over market rent. Explain to them that you are an advocate of good living conditions. Tenants relate to this.

Anybody that has no security deposit, must pay one. We prorated this over 90 days, if they had the income to pay for it. With out a security deposit, we would not entertain improved repairs, only necessary ones.

When we newely acquire a property we walked each unit with a hair dryer (checking electrical outlets), broom (unclog garbage disposals), and smoke dectors ( tell tenants not to take the batteries out). We ask the tenants what is wrong with their units and explain that we are doing repairs one unit
at a time and it will take some time.

After we walk the entire property we create a budget and off set it with rent increases. We make sure the repairs are paid for by the building. If you have money set aside for repairs, than do them now and increase the rents.

We ususally replace carpet, tile, and paint. We also will do toliet seats, blinds, caulk tubs, replace sinks, repair any leaks, and remove bug infestations. We have one handyman go out and check all the applicances that tenants reported were not working when we made our list. We repair applicances, not replace them because of missing parts. I will tell tenants, we repair items, not replace them unless we have to. If the tenants are dirty, don't clean, or own a vacumn. We told them to clean and maintain their units.

If the tenants want lower rents, they should move and live in condidtions that are acceptable to them. You have your plans for the investment you bought. Run it like a business.

Always send repair approval items to tenants in writting before the work is started. Have the handyman sign a work contract that states what they are hired to repair( he should be told to only repair what is on the contract). Tell the tenants that all repair requests must be in writing. Keep a log of requests, work orders, and completion dates of work. This will keep you from running to the property every time there is a problem.

Address all plumbing leaks ASAP. We do this the first 48 hours we purchase a building. Sorry about the long answer, you asked a loaded question.

Christine

Hi Joel,

Are you plannning on rising the rents or rehabbing the building to increase value? We have bought many different buildings with low rents at great prices. When we had tenants that could not pay or were on the weekly pay plan(hotel payment plan.... a joke).

We would tell them that if they paid there rent on time, they would go to the top of the list to get repairs/improvements done in their units. We were very suprised with how willing they were to pay and they wanted to know when their turn was to have a nicer apartment. This was especially true with long term tenants.

Do you have the lease applications from the old management company? You might want to reveiw them with the tenants and see if they need to be updated so you can really determine whom has the ability to pay.
Christine

Hi Joel,

3. We have in all of our leases a rule that after the second time of a plumbing back up that is tenant inflected, the tenant pays for the plumbing repairs. (Includes toys in toilet, backing up kitchen sink, or drain line clogs from excessive paper towels).

4. The tenant won't typcially get the car fixed if they have a financial issue. Our insurnce comany will not allow unoperating or unregistered cars on the property. Also code enforcement does not allow this. We usually tell the tenant they have 7 days to register the car or remove it, in writing. We give them the number to a vehicale donation company that will remove it for free. Other wise it costs $245 to remove and and we pass that fee on to the tenant. Let the tenant know it is the insurance company and city that has an issue with their car.

5. Besides the lights, have one of the longer term tenants keep an eye on the property for you. We call them granny gooses(they let the neighbors know they are watching the property and we have less problems this way).

Good Luck.

Areas in SDC such as Escondido or Vista are good. If you have limited funds, partner up with someone. If you want to invest alone, try North Riverside County which borders SDC. Look at anything off the 15 Freeway, towns of Hemet, Lake Elsinor, Temecula, and Murreta can be more affordable.