All Forum Posts by: Ryan Pyle

Put it up on craigslist in the For Rent section and advertise the payments. You are still looking for someone who can get a loan, but this opens you up to people who think they can't get a loan or who just need a house that's nice enough or a deal that's good enough to push them along.

Here is a link to one of my craigslist ads for your reference: http://toledo.craigslist.org/apa/2521071494.html.

Note the big, bold, red letters that say you must have a 600+ credit score to qualify. That is Wells Fargo's minimum. Make sure you have a contact there or with another L/O that can offer a low credit score loan.

If I were starting over again I would want 1 year of personal expenses, 1 year of business operating expenses PLUS investing capital. In order to figure out how much investing capital you need, you have to work backwards. First, figure out the answers to the first 2 questions above, then figure how much capital you will need to generate that income.

For me, I would need about $8k/mo for living and $1k/mo for operating expenses. That's $108k per year. On top of that figure $20k in taxes. That gets me to $128k. Now I know how much income my investing capital needs to produce.

Let's say I'm going to flip houses. In today's market I think you should plan for the worst and say you are going to make $10k per flip (which sucks, but everyone I know incuding me is averaging about that much right now). Let's say each flip takes 6 months from purchase to sale, and you will have $70k into each flip. That means for every $140k of investing capital you will generate $20k of income. So, inorder to make the $128k we said we would need, you will need $896,000 of capital.

Mind you, that $896,000 of investing capital is just that...capital. That does not all have to be yours. You can borrow some or all of it. However, you should have the initial $128k of personal and operating expenses as cash liquid funds that are yours and NOT borrowed.

That's my simplified take. I'm sure there are millions of other ways to look at it, but that's how I would approach it.

I don't answer the phone after 5:00. But like others have said, I listen to the voicemail and if it needs attention I will call back immediately. I turn my ringer off at around 8:00, but check voicemail every hour or so til I go to bed. I have visual voicemail so it's just a matter of looking at my phone.

With that said, I always answer the phone during business hours. The only time I don't is if I'm in a meeting or on the other line. I am fully available during business hours and my tenants know they can easily reach me then. I tell them as part of my speach when they are moving in that I keep regular hours and they should only call after hours for emergencies.

Also, most of my tenants communicate with me via texting. I prefer that for two reasons. First, it's faster, easier and less intrusive. Also, I can forward service call texts to my maintenance guy. It's just easier. Second, I can get mad, throw things and swear and they won't know it! :)

Also, if it's an FHA loan that appraisal sticks with the house for 6 months. So unless you can find a cash or conventional buyer, you now have a cap on your sale price for the next 6 months.

Hi Tony. I've been thinking the same thing but for slightly different reasons. Here in Toledo my flip margins are getting paper thin because retail prices keep coming down and REO prices have not come down accordingly. It seems like right now retail buyers want a deal, and they want cheap. They aren't willing to pay top dollar for a full scale rehab. So, I'm experimenting right now with a house I bought last week. It is an estate, so it is in livable condition. It's cosmetically very ugly. My plan is to sell it as a structurally sound fixer upper. I already replaced the roof. Next week I am replacing the gutters and putting on new siding. I am also upgrading the electric service from 60amp to 100amp. At that point the house will qualify for FHA. I bought the house for $31.5k. The roof was $4600, siding will be $2600, electric will be $900. Gutters will be $500. That gives me $8600 in rehab. Add in $5000 in interest, taxes, insurance,and utilities. That gets me to $45,100. I can then sell it for $65k with 6% in seller concessions and $1k in my own closing costs and I'm at $14k profit with a lot less time and money involved.

A full scale rehab would add another $12k and would sell for $80k. That's hardly worth the extra effort.

That's my experiment. I'd love for it to work. I'm sick of having so much money tied up in deals lately and it taking twice as long to sell as it did even 6 months ago.

Congrats for only getting dinged by 2k. I've had a few that were much worse this year. I would pull my own comps to show them that they are getting a deal. Explain to them that appraisers are scared out of their pants and always opt low in this environment. Do whatever you can to save the deal! In the mean time, read up on J Scott's article about how to approach appraisals. It will help you in your future deals.

J- which LaserShield product do you use and what is the cost? I've been paying over $500 a pop to a local company to alarm my rentals when they go vacant. It's cheaper then re-plumbing the house, but still expensive. This looks like it may be a great alternative.

Call every buyers' agent you know and tell them you have an easy sale for them. Over the years I've made friends with lots of buyers' agents, and every time I have a house come up for sale I send them a personal email brochure of the property. They all know that my properties show well and will pass FHA inspections. They also know that I will cooperate with home inspectors. About once a week I get calls from agents asking if I have anything in xx area at xx price range because they have a new buyer.

A dirty little trick I've used in the past to find buyers' agents that are looking near my house is to have my agent set up showings and take me through comps that are close to the house I'm trying to sell. Then I snag all of the business cards off the kitchen counter. Those cards are from agents who have buyers looking for houses in my area and price range. I then call or email the agents, depending on how well (or if) I know them.

I always fix everything they ask for and I do it with a smile. I figure if I throw in any sarcasm or try to cast blame on the tenant in any way then there will be hard feelings involved on their part. That always leads to a little on-going "war" between tenant and landlord. That's when tenants can really turn up the pain in the butt meter. I've found that if I fix everything right away they start to back off and the requests fade. Once they know you are a good landlord and are going to take care of them, they will take care of you. besides, how much does it cost to fix a cracked window or broken gate latch? Just do it with a smile and you will get full credit for the repair. Complain about it and you will be the jerk landlord.

Lastly, as Bryan said above, you do get bad apples. I have had tenants that are constantly breaking things. My fix? Don't renew their lease.

Well, given the Fed's statements yesterday and the continued rally of short term treasuries, I don't think we have to worry about this topic for a while...at least until the next big crisis.