All Forum Posts by: P.J. Bremner

Absolutely, keep in touch and hit me up when you are back in the area!

@Kepa Barrett

Welcome to BP!  I am a local investor located in Claremont.  I actually have student housing with over a dozen Claremont College students paying my mortgages :)  I would love to chat sometime and bounce ideas back and forth.  Talk to you soon!

I went to a few meet-ups in the past couple years and they were helpful, but since then have fizzled out.  I was wondering if there were any good, solid ones in the Inland Empire area or eastern LA county area (San Gabriel Valley).  Thanks in advance!!

@Chris C.

Welcome to BP!  What kind of investment deals are you looking to get started with?

@Warwick Ferguson

My understanding of LLC financing is that you treat it like a human being. It has it's own credit score. When you first start, it has zero credit (A ghost in the financial parlance) and will often need you to guarantee the loan for the LLC (Co-Sign) which would not help you because you yourself are a ghost as well. Portfolio lending might be your best bet while you build up your personal credit and the LLC's credit. Anything you take credit against, make sure your LLC is attached to it in order to help it out as well.

@David Faulkner

I would tend to agree with you David, except I have 4 rentals in the same area I plan on mailing to and I have not once gotten a mailer at any of those addresses since I bought them from 2012 - 2015.  I would fall into the absentee owner list.  How would you explain that?

Also, I would love to get some advice on finding a unique mailing list.  What would you be looking for exactly?

@Alexandra Preziosi

House hacking is THE best way to get started (in my opinion) in real estate investing. I don't have experience with multi-unit investments but I have house hacked several SFR and with great results. My personal opinion on how to handle this topic:

- Keep all rental agreements month-to-month: This allows your tenants to feel comfortable trying the place out, not locked in for long term and makes it WAY easier to kick them out if they don't work with your living style.  If someone decides to move out, they give a 30-day notice and you post your ad on Clist THE SAME DAY THEY GIVE NOTICE.  You show the room WHILE THE TENANT IS THERE still.  You will have the room filled before they even move out, never deal with vacancy, ever.

- Pay for all utilities in the house and increase the rent charged: This is SUPER important.  The last thing you want to do it run around chasing tenants for $4.52 for gas, $26.47 for electricity, internet,  etc.  Don't put yourself through the insanity.  You know roughly what the monthly bills are, pay for them yourself and charge the tenants more.  I also personally pay for toilette paper, laundry detergent, paper towels, dish soap, etc. (AT MOST $45/month at Costo) and I can usually charge way more than that in rent due to convenience.  It simplifies your tenants life and your life.

- Be very relaxed about things that don't matter and VERY FIRM with things that do matter:  I have a 0 tolerance policy for parties, loud noise past 12 pm. etc.  I don't care if they have their gf or bf stay the night a couple times per week.  Pick and choose your battles :)

- My favorite rule: You are NOT the boss:  Take all of the responsibility off of your shoulders and place it on someone else.  That person may or may not be fictional, it doesn't matter.  Tenant says, "Hey my paycheck is light, can I pay half now and half on the 15th?".  You live with that person and don't want any awkward feelings, so you say, "Oh man, that sucks!  I'm sorry to hear that.  I have to check with my boss, he expects it all in by the first".  Then you tell them you texted your boss, and the @$$hole said NO! lol You can be on their side still, deliver the bad news and talk crap about your boss together, have the tenant ask friends or family for short term loan to cover the deficit and like magic, they come up with the cash.  I can't tell you how many times I have done this and it worked like a charm. :)

I hope this helps!  Let me know if I need to elaborate on anything.

@Par Attaran

In my experience, home inspects will only tell you what is wrong with the home, not how much it will cost to fix those problems.  I'm sure they don't want the liability if they tell you a number and he is way off.

I built my contractor's list through referrals.  Do you know anyone that has had work done to their home or business recently?  I've yet to try it out, but I hear great things from people here on BP giving out referrals as well.  Finally, I've heard it in several podcasts that great contractors are at Home Depot at 6 a.m. getting supplies for their job that day.  That may be something to try out as well?  Best of luck!

@Jacqueline Coombs

I totally get the whole fear of confrontation thing!  I went through the exact same situation and let things slide for a couple months until I got pissed enough to just do it.  Later I learned something from one of the management books I read that helped me reframe it, perhaps it would help you as well? :)

Basically, it was talking about having to fire someone from their position.  Nobody enjoys firing someone because it affects them AND their family, kids, etc.  But if you don't, you only perpetuate their poor work ethic, behavior, etc. and they continue their downward spiral.  A much better strategy is to give them that slap that wakes them up, hopefully see what they are doing wrong and get back on track.  The same applies to bad tenant behavior.  If they get away with little things here and there, it tends to bleed into other aspects of their life and you do them no favors by allowing it to slide.  Sometimes we ALL need a slap in the face to wake up.  Help your poor tenant wake up :)

@Jose Flores

I recently started to send out mailers as well and would love some advice on the scripts you have developed over the years.  Thanks in advance!