All Forum Posts by: Phillip Syrios

One I like is that they are renting the property in "As Is" condition meaning they have approved of the unit themselves and I will not do any "Upgrades" to the property. This doesn't mean I wont fix the A/C if it goes out, but it does mean they are not allowed to complain that there is not a garbage disposal or screen door.

Even in low end area's not every tenant will destroy your property. The best way to maintain your property is to get the highest quality residents you can, even in lower end area's.

Why couldn't you enforce the lease if the tenant has to move into a care home? Is that a State law where you are? We put a clause in our lease that says the lease must be fulfilled no matter what happens in the life situation of the person renting. There is a buy out fee (usually equal to about 2 months rent) if the tenant needs to get out of the lease early. We also allow them to transfer to another unit we manage (for a fee equal to 1 month rent.)

I do understand that enforcing the lease does not mean collecting the money owed to you so that's always a problem.

That being siad we often do MTM leases after the first year but we always charge about $75/month more than the year lease price for that privilege. A lot of people are willing to pay that amount if they don't know what is going to happen in their future or they need a few more months before they move.

Lastly, if it took you 5 months to rent your property there are probably some things you can fix in your leasing strategy. Even in winter 5 months is a long time to rent a property. Looking on how you can sure up that part of your business can give you more confidence in situations like this.

I go on craigslist everyday to see if there are any properties that make sense to buy.

I really have no idea what its like to be on the side of someone trying to sell something through craigslist so I thought I would ask, what can I do to stand out from a typical buyer or how can I find a property that is a good deal that most people are skipping over? What do some buyers do that totally turn you off as a seller? I have no perspective from that side of the transaction and would appropriate any help/tips.

We will typically look through 50 properties on the MLS with our agent to see what we are interested in, drive around to about 12-15 in one day make offers on about 8-10 of them and usually end up buying 0-2. Its a lot of work for the agent, but we use him so much and he gets a lot of commissions from us that he knows we are worth it.

If you are earnestly looking to buy and you know you will pull the trigger if you find the right deal a good agent will understand and not get frustrated. An agent who feels you are wasting their time is probably not the one you want to work with. If they are so intent on a commission right now rather than building relationship with you for future business they are more likely to push you to buy a bad property when what you want is an agent who will tell you not to buy a bad one because your future success will be their future success.

I come across this a lot, when you rent out properties you would be surprised the stuff people leave behind when they move.

I normally just throw stuff out because its a waste of my time to try to get any value out of it but that doesn't mean the stuff in there is worthless. I've thought about finding someone local who likes to re-sell old stuff (like someone who buys storage units.) I would let them keep anything of value for getting all the trash out of the property but that's a hard person to find and probably not something worth my time to manage either.

Usually Yellowletters.com is the best place to go for real estate investors.

On paper it obviously looks like it should be ok, but investments are rarely how they look on paper. There is no way to know if its a good deal unless you know the area and the specifics of the deal. Just looking at some basic numbers like this will never tell you if the deal is good or not.

Do whatever you think will align your goals the most with the owners goals.

I hate the first months rent for this reason it makes rapid turnover a benefit to the manager when its a huge problem for the owner.

I think I have that "A-Ha!" moment at least once a week, and as soon as I have it I realize I don't know anything and need to get back to work on getting better at what I do.

If you ever think you have figured it out your going to start making some major mistakes, stay humble and realize you need to always be learning and getting better.