All Forum Posts by: Ryan Ball

Our returned mail is very low but I spend a lot of time up front to put the list together.  The county auditor website where we invest provides very good data if you know what to search for and how to manipulate the data you get.  It takes some time to compile the lists but it is more accurate and targeted than anything we could buy.  

We have pursued a similar strategy as @Collin Schwartz with only mailing multi family owners. We initially mailed any property with two or more units in our target neighborhoods and had about a 6-7% response. We quickly learned that we needed at least four unit properties to get our desired ROI so started only mailing this group. Our response rate has gone down to about 1-2% on our most recent mailings. The most recent mailing was very focused on a specific area where we own two buildings that have been great performers. We sent 100-ish letters (fourth time we hit this group) and received only 1 call. However, it was from an owner who had 120 units scattered across 9 buildings and wanted to retire. We are now under contract for 45 units at a great price. We have only purchased one other building over three years of doing mailings but the persistence has paid off.

We are in the process of buying 45 units and requiring tenants to have renters insurance came up with both insurance brokers I spoke with.  It did not sound like it was an absolute requirement for coverage but I have not had this come up in the past.  While I understand the logic, I think we would be severely limiting our tenant pool if we did this.  Have others run into this?  

Also less paperwork to submit on a conventional loan with only one person versus two.

I looked into sub metering our 4 unit properties in Cincinnati a couple years back and none of them were candidates. I am probably over simplifying but it is hard if not impossible to do when all units are using a single hot water heater. I also wondered how it would be received by prospective tenants given it is not very common. 

I believe the down payment is 25% for properties 1-4 and 30% for 5-10 unless something has changed for conforming FNMA mortgages recently. That has been our experience.

We have had random issues pop up like this where some totally unforeseen thing happens to a tenant. Based on my experience I would offer to pay for the broken stuff and discount the rent for the "inconvenience". If they press it, turn it over to your insurance

Could you forward address via PM?

This question comes up pretty frequently.  I always answer "no".  The odds of actually collecting the income that is inferred by the proforma rent is low.  You will likely have less desirable and stable tenants resulting in high vacancy, high turnover and high maintenance costs.  I would guess virtually every market has areas that look fantastic on paper.  Talking to someone who is knowledgeable in those markets would help give you some perspective on the desirable rental areas.

Market timing is hard. I think if you can find a property that meets your investment criteria, you should invest. There are so many variables (markets & sub markets, property types, class, etc) in real estate it is not really useful to say the real estate market is over priced. No doubt prices are higher and investors are not tripping over deals anymore but people are still buying and making money.