All Forum Posts by: Rebekah Meyer

Hello, 

I’m a new landlord, experienced flipper. On our first rental everything was remodeled. We basically rebuilt the entire house. But first of May the tenant reaches out to me and tells me the AC failed to come on. The HVAC company was booked out 3 weeks but the tenant said that was ok. The issue is much larger than we thought and we have to install an entire new condenser. Since my husband has hvac experience, he decides to take time off work and do the install himself. 

4 days before the install we get a text on a 76 degree day that his infant son went to the ER because he overheated due to having no AC. I thought that was ludicrous but I still offered them window AC units we just removed from a flip. But sadly those didn’t work. So I felt bad by this point and offered them a $250 one time discount. The guy thanked me and took the discount.  

My husband installs the new condenser and it runs fine but in a day it froze. My husband realizes he missed something and gets the refrigerant he needs and let’s him know he will be back this Saturday to make the last repair. This is 5 days after the install. In the meantime it run them down a brand new window AC. 

Right after I deliver the AC to the guy, I get this nasty text from his wife (who lives there and is on the lease but I’ve never met in person or had any prior communication with.)

“This is the wife of xxx address ave.

I’m grateful that y’all even thought about giving us a reduced rent but $250, do you not realize what we’ve been through this last month.
These problems have led my 7 month old baby in the hospital sick and now he has a heat rash all over his body. I get stuff happens but I think y’all forgot that actual people are living here and having to live in this. I’m really upset about the whole situation and y’all acting like it’s not a big deal. I get y’all have lives but this is our life and we’re having to live in our HOME while it is 85 degrees inside and outside.
During this time, our energy bill has increased triple to normal, not to mention the additional costs of our son at the hospital. And we’ve been without and it’s still not repaired an ac unit. Though you may feel 250 is enough, we think a months rent off would make better since.
I’m sure if the roles were reversed, y’all would understand.”

What did I miss in all of this? I feel like I bent over backwards for the tenants as soon as I learned they considered not having AC to be an emergency (to them). Is that the issue? I gave an inch so they want to take a mile?  What are the thoughts of the experienced landlords?  They now have a working window ac unit and in a day my husband will be back to fix the thing he missed when installing the condenser. 

She specializes in cold calling prospecting or texting.

Hello, I have a team of 3 VAs that work directly for me (no intermediary BPO company). I have a 4th person who did a great job at inbound and outbound sales calling that we couldn't keep on the payroll once we switched to texting (it's not that she couldn't handle texting but we just needed fewer people once we switched to texting.) I like her and told her I would contact the investor community to see if someone wants to hire a VA directly. I'm not a BPO and won't profit from this in any way. Just looking to do a favor for a great employee and give back to the investor community. I will provide contact details, and you do the rest. I am also busy so I might not get back to all messages if I get a lot of them. Hope you understand. Please private message me.

So glad to see a numbers person on here!  I have 12 years as a data analyst and I dabble as a data scientist.  I got into real estate investing building a rudimentary model and I followed the numbers, not the stigma, and ended up never investing in a house where the numbers did not make sense.  Now, I did make TERRIBLE mistakes with the contractors I hired and trusted, but, I had to learn and now I'm trying to never make those mistakes again.  Still, my numbers are what drives this business and at the end of the day, they will out-compete people going on gut feelings. 

Losing money when you first start out investing is unfortunately not uncommon.  I almost went bankrupt my first year investing due to contractor fraud and literally had to move into one of my flips and watch YouTube videos to finish it myself to generate enough money to finish the next project and so on.  But no one can lose money indefinitely.  You either learn and get into the black, even if its just a small amount of profit, or you will eventually run out of capital. 

In terms of bad rentals, I see those all the time!  I worked for a hedge fund that was regularly buying properties that have a .05% Rent/Mortgage.  This hedge fund is then going back to its fund investors and saying "Well, this return is just how it is in real estate."  It's unconscionable in my opinion!  If you would drive one city over from where I live, there are still plenty of 1% rule properties.  Yes, they are harder to find.  But every week I see properties at the sheriff sale where an investor did not do the math and brought a property that was in the negative from the beginning.

I now only keep properties that are 1% or even higher (yes, there are still higher ones too) on my books and flip the rest.  It's been grueling and I had to get out of my comfort zone and leave my desk and my computer models (yikes real world!!!), but now I'm in the trenches and its finally working.  Let the numbers lead!

I got a Facebook ad today for "The Renovation Manual" by Matt Larson. Since the renovation part of flipping has been the most difficult for me to get dialed in, I am definitely looking for more training in this area. However, is there value in this material. It is $99 for the ebooks, software, and checklists. I have read ALL the bigger pockets books on renovation, flipping and BRRRR. Super helpful books! But I find myself still needing more training efficiently planning and managing renovations and finding good contractors.

I was thinking of starting in Central Hilltop.  Flipping activity seems to have started there this year.  However, I am open to suggestions.

Hello Bigger Pockets Columbus! This is my first time posting on the forum. 

I am a Columbus native and have been wanting to flip houses in the area. I started flipping in Dayton in 2019 because there seems to be less investor pressure there.  I have completed 2 flips, finished remodel and now in contract with buyer for flip 3, finishing the remodel on flip 4 and hoping to start the remodel on flip 5 by end of June. I am now hoping to build a second stream of flips and eventually BRRRRs in Columbus as it is my hometown and I have a special heart for the city.  I am looking for my core 4 to partner with in the area.  I purchase all my properties with cash from myself or my private investors.  

I am especially looking for a contractor which it seems is the hardest part of the Core 4 to find in Columbus.  Please message me if you have any referrals!  I read a previous post where the recommendation was to post on indeed and interview at a public location.  This is a great idea and I plan to do that as well.

I am also looking for an investor-focused realtor.  I expect to pay full commission for a top performer.  My Dayton realtor has added HUGE value add and I would not be as successful as I have been without his guidance.  Please message me any referrals in the realtor category!

As for finding deals, I am a data scientist and I have created an algorithm for analizing properties on MLS, auction.com, sheriff sales, etc. This has helped me to find some gem deals. Having said that, I am open to beginning to work with wholesalers to hear about properties that never hit the "official" markets. If you are a wholesaler in Columbus, please let me know.

Looking forward to meeting the Columbus Bigger Pockets rockstars as soon as we can meet in person again!

Rebekah