All Forum Posts by: Mitch Kronowit

If the wall is textured, e.g., knock-down or orange peel, the repair will take a little longer to make it look good. Nothing screams "amateur" more than a nice smooth patch on a rough textured wall. ;-)

You can buy small cans of texture touch-up for under $10 at a hardware store. Trying to match the texture of the existing wall takes a little practice (and I'm still practicing myself!), but if done properly, makes the patched area virtually invisible like it never happened.

Originally posted by Jonathan Rexford:

Google Mark Warda and land Trust. He did a book a few years ago. I have it somewhere or else I would tell you the title.

Was the title "Land Trusts for Privacy and Profit" (Galt Press 2004)? It was referenced in Mark Kohler's book "Lawyers are Liars" (2007, Life's Plan Publishing, LLC).

Originally posted by MikeOH:

If you aren't living better than your tenants - something's BAD WRONG!

Just for the record, I never said buy rentals just like the place you're living in (otherwise, I'd be buying $500,000 rentals!). I said I will only buy in a NEIGHBORHOOD I would be WILLING to live in. You don't have to buy an 8 bedroom estate to find a nice neighborhood. Here is SoCal, we have 1 BR studio apartments in really nice neighborhoods.

Our primary residence in worth over twice what our nicest rental is, but if I had to live in any of my rentals, I would. I don't WANT to, but I WOULD if I had to.

On the other hand, if you buy in an area you wouldn't want your family living in, imagine what kind of renters you're going to get? Certainly not people with the same standards as you. I'm not saying you can't make money doing that. Quite the opposite - I know people that do. It's just not a realm of real estate I desire to participate in and something the author of this post should consider.

Originally posted by Chris Modzeleski:

Temecula and Murrieta are pretty nice... but it seems like cashflow tends to be better with the small multi-families. What specifically makes you think that Apple Valley or Victorville would be better than, say, Hemet?

If all you care about is cash-flow, then yes, you're probably going to be looking at other areas and other types of properties. I like making money as much as the next guy, but I have other criteria for evaluating property. One is, "Do I like the neighborhood and the tenants I will attract?" You won't find a place to put that on any spreadsheet! :wink:

I'm also biased towards the Apple Valley/Victorville area because 1) I know more people that live there and, 2) my mother used to work for a developer that built many homes in that area. I only know one family that moved to Hemet. Nice people but not the classiest in the world.

Yes, he is very happy renting to Section 8 tenants and spent an hour telling me about the merits. His strongest points were most of the rent is paid by the government (hence reliable) and the tenants are under such strict rules of conduct, they don't want to risk losing their Section 8 eligibility, i.e., they behave. I'm still not convinced it's something I want to do myself, but never say never.

Second what Kirk said.

I keep my rental activity in a completely separate bank from my personal funds. I use the checking account of that bank for rent deposits and payments. The security deposits are kept in the savings account. My bank lets me give my accounts a nickname, so I always make sure the word "Escrow" is in the name for the savings account. Sure, it's not technically an escrow account, but would look good on the computer print out if anybody wanted to see it. ;-)

My litmus test: Never buy an investment property in a neighborhood you wouldn't be willing to live in yourself.

I consider myself a decent middle-class person and want to rent to similar people. I don't care what the numbers say, if the neighborhood is a place I wouldn't let my family live in, then I'm not going to attract good quality tenants. Besides, you never know what turn of events may happen to you in the future resulting in your living in one of your rentals.

Of course, buying in a good area is no guarantee you'll always have great tenants, but buying in a bad neighborhood is a great way to discourage many good tenants from renting from you.

Great tips Steve and P, I'm calling my attorney today to arrange a settlement of the case. If the tenant doesn't accept, then his 730 FICO score is going to get trashed. He'll find it hard doing business after that.

Another thought: When screening for my condo, I always ask to see a photo ID so I know the applicant on the paper is the one standing in front of me. Any tips on spotting a phony ID, besides the obvious like smudged ink, an upside-down photo, or having the State misspelled? ;-)

Thanks again everyone. I wish I had found this forum years ago.

Hi Chris,

I live in Orange County as well, but my two rentals are in San Diego and Murrieta. Between the IE and South Central LA, I would take the IE any day, but I would look at the nicer cities like Temecula and Murrieta, and avoid redneck havens such as Lake Elsinore and Hemet. Victorville and Apple Valley have good cash flow potential and they have seen a lot of new development over the last 30 years, but I haven't been up there in a long time and don't know what they're like now. I know an investor that rents to a lot of Section 8 tenants in Victorville if that's any help.

Desert Hot Springs is a pit, but nearby Palm Springs and other Cochella Valley towns have some primo properties (not sure about their investment value, however). Remember, the Palm Springs area is a seasonal resort town with crowds in the Winter and ghosts towns in the Summer.

There are some nice areas in the central part of the IE, like Moreno Valley and Colton, but you have to be selective as the neighborhood can degrade quickly in just a few blocks. You're going to find a mix of brand new development and old rural tracks with acreage and everything from dilapidated ranch homes to brand new custom mansions. But still, the IE is my hunting ground where I'm searching for rental #3. Yes, I still keep an eye open here in South OC, but it's more for entertainment value as the prices here are still very high compared to their rental income potential.

I provide a fridge and washer/dryer stacked set in my condo, nothing but a gas range in my rental house.

Yes, the condo may be smaller than the SFR, but it is a higher end, more expensive property - apparently because of its location, i understand ;-)

The condo's fridge has never needed service in the last 17 years! Let's hear it for Amana. The washer/dryer set is the third one since I purchased the property in 1992.

My condo had carpet in the bedrooms and living room, wood floors in the kitchen and hall, and linoleum/vinyl in the bathrooms when I put it into rental service about 12 years ago.

Since then, I've replaced the carpet at least once in all the rooms. The wood floor suffered some damage under the refrigerator, but I repaired it easily. I will probably refinish the entire wood floor between tenants. I believe the wood floor is an attractive selling point (it's also the first thing you see entering the unit). I've also replaced the bathroom floors with ceramic tile. I even extended the ceramic tile into the bedrooms all the way to the door (a very high traffic area that was just killing the carpet there).

Each type of floor covering has it's merits and I don't plan on changing anything in the condo.

My rental house has carpet in all the bedrooms and hallway. Linoleum/vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms, and Mexican pavers in the living room and family room. I'm happy with everything except the pavers. I find them dark and ugly. My plan is to change them for wooden floors (probably an inexpensive laminate product) that I can lay myself next year or so.

Keep the great advice coming everyone!