All Forum Posts by: Geoffrey Schnake

My local housing athority runs like the wild west. The inspector seems to make the decision as to what is a fair rent. Can you throw a wardrobe in the spare room and call it a closet? Make it a bedroom.  Can you try to befriend the inspector over doughnut and coffee  and explain the situation?  Tell him how much you love the residents and how much you hate to non renew? Face to face seems to work better where I am at. 

You stated that you are looking for rental properties.  I assume you intend to hold them, as I do. My method of determining value won't work for everyone because you have to know your target area inside and out. I self manage nearly 100 doors in a c community and I go up and down the roads every day. When I evaluate a purchase,  I know exactly what I will get for rent. I know within dollars what the rehab will cost (I do the rehab myself with my team). Taxes, insurance, vacancy rate and cap costs are known factors. I pay cash for all of my properties and I know what I want for a roi (20 percent, I know, people call bs but that's what I make). Using the above numbers it's easy to calculate the value of a property. That's the maximize amount I will pay. Zillow won't help there.

I have found residents who have large utility bills tend to use the bill as an excuse to not pay rent on time. Also, blown in insulation is pretty inexpensive. Just do it and you won't have to do it again.

As a property owner and general contractor,  I have been buying most of my supplies from home Depot as long as they have been around.  The prices are generally competitive.  A stratagem that has worked well for me is to make a comprehensive list of materials  for the whole job, let the pro desk pull the order for me and then buy it with my HD credit card, taking advantage of their no interest for 12 to 24 months offer. If it's a flip I pay that off after closing,  if it's a rental it motivates me to get it done and rented so the rent can make the payment. Free money,  gotta love it.

I call paint carpet in a can.