All Forum Posts by: Randy Landman

You get there the same way you eat an elephant.  One bite at a time.  Keep your W2 job and put all of that cash flow into growing your business.  Live on less than you make and invest some of your W2 income as well.  How fast it grows all depends on you.  I think $10K per duplex cash flow seems a bit high if they are financed, unless you got them really cheap.  Are you cash flowing $10K on the one you have now?  Just use the numbers you have for your currently property to forecast ahead.  Don't be overly optimistic that "someday all these repairs will stop" (they won't) or "the next one I buy will cash flow better" (it might).  Get the actually numbers you have averaged so far for expenses including vacancy, plus add a little extra into the budget just in case, then use that to forecast ahead and see how fast you can grow.  But be ready for the unexpected things in life to happen, after all  the best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans.               

@Todd S.

Looks great. My only question is how did you find the deal. Was it MLS, wholesaler..?

@Christian Garcia

Well between you and your dad you have some experience in this area.  Self management could be something to consider.  But I certainly would not quit my job for a 10 unit apartment building.  Will this cash flow enough to replace your income?  Or more importantly will this cash flow enough to get you to the income you want to be at?  Think bigger.  Keep the job and bankroll the cash flow from your 10 units into the next building.    

Just a few questions you should consider.  How flexible is your W2 job?  Can you make and receive personal phone calls at work?  Can you leave work on short notice to show an apartment?  Are you handy?  Is the apartment building local?  Do you have a business partner or spouse to help?  Do you have any real estate or construction experience?  How old is the building?  What type of neighborhood is it in or what type of tenant will you be expecting?  These questions, and many others, are the type of things you need to consider before making this decision.    

If she had this many complaints before she even moved in then this tenant is going to be a big pain.  I'd view her request to cancel as my lucky day.  Give her money back and move on.  This slight loss in rental income is a small price to pay for the education you received in dealing with difficult people.  One of the great things about owning rental property over other types of businesses is that you don't have to bow down at the feet of every potential customer that walks through the door.  You only have the one place to rent and several (hopefully) people who want it.  Unlike other businesses where you have to make every potential customer happy by jumping through their hoops,  in the rental property business only the only customer you have is the one who actually moved in.  The rest are just window shoppers.  So treat your tenants well and don't worry about the ones that didn't like you or your property.     

Not enough. I too got discouraged from the rejections and uped my offers. In hindsight I paid too much.

Oh I missed where you said this would be for your primary residence.  I thought it was an investment.  For self employed individuals I think most banks will want 2 years of tax returns, so even waiting until next year may not be enough.  Maybe get an investor to buy it and lease it to you with an option to buy.  But they are going to want a portion of the profits in that $25,000 spread.    

Maybe I'm not understanding this sentence right. Are you saying you had over 600K in income, but only claimed 10K? That's a lot of expenses. A bank isn't going to touch that I think. Your going to have to look into a private lender. Maybe a HELOC if you have equity in your primary residence, but the 10K income still might stop that.

We allow cats and small to medium sized dogs, only certain breeds, no outside kennels, no puppies, plus several other common sense things in a signed pet agreement.  Every pit bull owner will say theirs is nice.  Everyone that wants an outside kennel insists their dog will not bark all night.  And the last time I checked a German Shepard does not count as a medium sized dog, but that's what I was told once by a tenant.        

Another thought is what kind of thermostat do you have.  If it is programmable with different temperatures settings for different times of the day, make sure they're not setting the nighttime or morning temperature to high.  Some people do that thinking they are saving money.  But once the temperature starts to go up outside the AC can not keep up if the house temp was already high to start with.