All Forum Posts by: Pearce G.

What do you recommend as a minimum number of units for a first investment in MHPs assuming you intend to use a property manager?

My inclination is to start small to keep my mistakes small.  I've seen some that are 5-10 pads, but is that enough to spread out my expenses and generate positive cash flow?

Hi John, I can't help you with the company in Nashville, but I have some building materials here in Charleston you may want to look at.  I bought a property this summer from a remodeler who went out of business.  They left behind about 100 windows, some roofing materials, gutters, siding, etc. still in original shipping packaging.  Let me know if you're interested.  I can send photos of what I have.

What do you do as a landlord when your PM won't provide a copy of the fully executed lease?

Here's the situation.  My first rental property.  My PM was highly recommended by my realtor, and for the most part, she has been satisfactory during a cosmetic rehab.  Ten days ago, however, I was getting impatient with how long it was taking to get it rented.  She even declined to give me a progress report, because she didn’t want to jinx herself.  I interviewed a backup PM, just in case, and was on my way to meet him at the property, but when I got there, I realized someone was in the process of moving in.

I texted my PM:  Is it rented?

PM:  Yes, I was going to surprise you.

Me: OK, great, send me a copy of the lease.  

PM:  Scanner is broken.  Will have to snail mail it.

Six days later…no lease.

Me:  Where is the lease?

PM:  Oh, sorry.  I forgot.  I’ll email it now.  

So she emailed the lease TEMPLATE.  It has names and amounts filled in, but no signatures.

Me:  I want the SIGNED lease.  And I want proof of security deposit.  And tenant background info.  And full accounting of rehab expenses.

Three more days…nothing.

Me:  Where is the lease?  

PM:  Scanner is not working.  Will have to mail it.

Me:  %#$@*&!!!!!

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I will talk to her this evening after she gets off work.  Whether she is just sloppy, spread to thin, or doing something more sinister, I don't know.  I just know I need to change property managers. 

So how do I sign on a new PM when I can't yet provide him with a copy of the fully executed lease?

@Alex Perez you may want to explore wholesaling or bird-dogging.  I'm not an expert on either, but basically you would be bringing deals to others and get paid a few K on the transaction.  You wouldn't need borrowing capacity, just a willingness to put in the time to find deals.  Before diving in, there are some great educational resources on BP about wholesaling, and there may be someone local to you who can mentor you through a few transactions.  You don't want to do anything to make your credit score worse.

Search BP using terms like "credit repair" and "financing with bad credit".  You'll find a lot of good discussion and maybe you can reach out directly to some BP members who have been in the same situation.

Need a little (or a lot) more info

Make an offer with an inspection contingency that allows you to rescind the offer for any reason.

@Account Closed you saved me $21 on @Brandon Turner's book.  Thank you!

Joshua,

Planning is important and your plan makes sense on paper.  As with the "fog of war" however, once you start executing the plan, the situation will change and your plan may need revision.

There are no perfect deals, and there is no perfect plan.  My advice would be to find a property that meets most or all of your criteria, do your homework, and then ACT ON IT.  You will learn so much just by going through the process.  THEN, sit down and re-write your  plan using what you have learned about real estate and about yourself...your strengths & weaknesses...the parts of RE investing where you can create/extract the most value.

By going through the process, you may decide you don't need to get your RE license, or you my decide it is essential before doing anything else.  You may find you are better suited for wholesaling or flipping.  You may find you over- or under-estimated the amount of time you have to devote to it.  You may find your criteria are too narrow or your geographic target is not quite right.  You will be a lot smarter.

I used to read (and write) a lot of business plans for startup biotech companies.  To me, the business plan itself is not as important as going through the thought process that is required to write a plan.  (And proving to investors that you thought thru it.)  It looks like you're doing that.  So start executing and then re-visit your plan once or twice a year or after each deal.  Eventually, your plan will be just a set of objectives and you will know intuitively what you need to do to get there.

Good luck to you!

I'm closing on a property next week that includes approximately 1.5 acres raw land.  If you know the area, it is along a busy corridor between downtown Summerville and the Knightsville Crossing area.  18,000 vehicles per day.

In addition to the vacant land, there is a brick ranch house converted to office space.  I intend to subdivide, keep the house for income, and sell the vacant land.  It is zoned "neighborhood commercial" which allows for retail or office space or up to 8 units/acre multi-family provided the MF units are connected to a commercial structure.  So a storefront with apartments/condos behind it could work.

I won't know the exact acreage and dimensions until I have it surveyed for subdividing, and I won't do that until I have an interested buyer, but the raw land portion is approximately 150ft wide and 500ft deep with at least 100ft of road frontage.

Comps in the area are >125K/acre.  Will probably list at 199K, but would rather leave some meat on the bone than wait for the very best offer.

PM me if you're interested.