All Forum Posts by: Nav Singh

Hi, I am considering changing my property management company. I reviewed the PM agreement and also talked to him. The catch is that once they get a tenant in, they are entitled to receive property mgmt fees for as long as the tenant stays there. I can see the logic: the PM company does all the showing, tenant screening etc, and incur costs. They don't make any money from these activities. Once the tenant is in, that's when they start making money. But there must be a way out?

Any advice on how you have changed the PM company while their tenant is occupying the house?

Nav.

Great advice @Jeff B..

Done. I just resent my email to the property manager, this time cc'ing the Code Enforcement Division, with the notice attached.

Thanks everyone! Love the BP community for fast and effective responses. I will share how it turns out. (Samantha and Tim, I messaged you separately with more info).

Hello members,

I live in CA and bought a duplex in Huntsville, AL in Sep 2015. One of the units has been rented but the other isn't. Today I got a notice from Department of Community Development - Code Enforcement Division, saying that grass and weeds on the property have some violations, like being unsightly, irritation to throat, etc. The notice says grass / weeds must be cut or trimmed by Apr 22, but I got the notice in mail today (Apr 26).

My local property manager isn't responding in a timely manner.

- Anyone have experience with this notice? I will of course do everything I can to get this corrected ASAP.

- Do you know of a good property manager in Huntsville? I've heard of Rosenblum and Hamlett.

Nav.

I used Joe at: https://www.statefarm.com/agent/US/AL/Huntsville/Joe-Demos-Y5B5B1YS000 I have a 2-unit so can't compare the rates. His service was good. If you get a quote from him it would be good to hear whether he was more expensive or less than others. Good luck.

Thanks everyone.

@Rhondalette W.: To be honest I have been way too passive the past few months due to some other things in my personal situation but I plan to change that, so I'll make sure the property is advertised everywhere. Thanks for the tip. I believe the rents are in line though. The other unit rented without much problem.

@Jose Soto: I have a real estate agent who is also the property mgr. Incidentally someone from BP who used to visit and buy in Huntsville also looked at my property before I bought. It would be good to exchange information and contacts.

@Christy Harris: Thanks for reaching out and nice to meet you. I will contact you separately.

Thank you @Leslie Pappas and @Andrea P.

@James Thiel: Will choose one more location in addition to Huntsville, but haven't chosen yet. I will be happy to share information with you if I see another good location.

Hi everyone,

I had posted Qs for advice 8-9 months ago, like this one: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/204.... Thanks to everyone at BP for helping with advice. There's a lot of advice about investing within 20 mins of where you live. All properties within 20 mins of me (Silicon Valley) are out of reach for my budget, so I have taken some risk and gone for out-of-state investing. I wanted to share what my experience has been. It's still early days for me to give a clean yes/no verdict, but hopefully people who do out-of-state passive investing can share their experiences and we can learn from each other.

I chose Huntsville because (a) I got intro'd to a good real estate team who had actually moved from my area in CA back to their original home in Huntsville, (b) because the numbers looked good compared to 2-3 other areas I analyzed, and (c) I wanted to try non-turnkey companies.

I bought a 2-unit property in Sep 2015. It was listed for $95K, and I ultimately paid $82K. The rents from the 2 units combined should be $1,200. Both units were occupied when I bought the property, so I thought it will cash flow immediately. I ran the numbers using BP rental property calculator, and they looked good enough for me. But as soon as I bought the property, both tenants fled. In some ways, it was good because it gave me and my property mgr a chance to screen new tenants and get a security deposit. I also invested a little bit of money in the property, and now 1 unit has been rented to a new tenant for about 3 months, and the other unit is still vacant.

The upside of remote investing has been the potential returns I will get - I won't get those kind of returns in my area. But the downside has been that I don't know how aggressively my property mgr is trying to rent the property out.

Even with the cons, I'm not planning to give up on remote investing just yet. Ultimately I will diversify by investing in a couple different areas, but my next property will still most likely be in Huntsville. My goal is 50 (multi-family) units in 10 years or less.

Thanks to the tip from podcast 167 (Kevin Wood), I'm subscribing to Huntsville business journals, magazines and blogs.

Any reachout from people in Huntsville, AL is welcome. Meanwhile, I will continue to post my story. Thanks again to everyone at BP!!

Nav.

Hello members,

I'm analyzing a rental property I'm planning to buy. I'm using the rental property calculator on BP. The annual income increases (as expected) from about $14K in Year 1 to about $25K in Year 30 based on the 2% annual increase I assumed. But the annual expenses first go up, and then between Year 20 and 30 they come down. Why is that? And because of that, the Cash on Cash ROI looks fantastic in terminal years.

Is it because I'm paying off the loan principal in the last 10 years? I can't figure out the reason.

Nav.

Thank you Jason and Denise, very helpful.

Hello everyone,

I'm in CA, new to real estate investing, and due to my budget not being CA-sized I'm looking for investing out-of-state. Not through turnkey companies but through a real estate agent and property management company I have received a referral to. 

I've read and heard about different states being landlord-friendly or not. Any opinions on where Alabama falls?

I'm planning to buy a single family home in the $100K range.

Thank you!

Nav.