All Forum Posts by: Richard Weinberg

That’s exactly right. Without know exactly location you can not determine value or opportunity. 

See if you can share zip code or closer main intersection and you can get more feedback. Also try snd get the history of the lot to determine if it was previously developed and what utilities and zoning exist. 
good luck!

@Christian Fowler

Most of our homes are in North Carolina so I believe I can tell you that I am familiar with what the laws are for North Carolina though I am not an attorney and not offering you legal advise. Before Covid We considered some folks with marginal credit reports and in fact in one case accepted some months of pre-payment with a two month security deposit. But I still did a full and complete screening and processing including an online application, credit report, eviction report, t asked to employers, references… and much more.

I don’t think I would go through that process again as the market place is now quite different. None of us knows for a fact if any of these pandemic special treatments that came from state governments or national entities will revisit. None of us know if a local ordinances about affordable housing or other things will surface. I would encourage you to think carefully and if you decide to at least consider this candidate run your full application and screening process just is if you were looking at any of your prospective tenants and make a decision with your eyes wide open. Good luck!

@Danny Kaminsky

Hold on! Be very very careful about suggesting to others to just jump into deals and….. the money will come.

First, without knowing the access and cost of money, you do not really know the After Repair Value or cost of the deal. Second, the cost of the deal with a non qualified mortgage or hard money may be exactly why it’s not a good deal for you.

This is not a market to ‘run with sizzors! Pay attention to details. Any chance of great profits will be locked in on the calculated and well planned buy, and detailed execution, not the sell!

Take care and good luck!

@Joshua Zdunich

Take it slowly and be sure you are well planned before walking away from your W2. I am at full retirement age and can still get great bank rates using my W2 income. Banks often use your net rental income after depreciation to calculate your DTI, not gross rental income. Thus if you leave your W2, you might need to use other types of money instead of the lowest and best bank rates you might otherwise be entitled to….so think that through before leaving your W2.

Here’s a thought… I am thinking about departing my W2 and setting up a separate self employed real estate business and a self directed ira. Then, you can borrow from your future self and pay interest to your future self. That is probably a plan I will execute and it sounds like it might work for you as well. Good luck!

@Kehui Ren

What do you consider reasonable? What rate did you put in your budget plan before making the purchase.

I self manage but have talked to property managers inWinston Salem and I suspect with one rental unit you will not have bargaining power thus I suspect your fees would be 8% to 10% plus specific fees and added charges for third party services.

What fees did you build into your budget?

Good luck!

@Anurag Kumar

I don’t want to upset your day but tenants tend to think of rental home maintenance like they do rental cars. And, changing or not changing furnace filters is a great example. Still if we bought service contracts on each homes hvac system it would have been a bad financial decision versus actual repair and maintenance expenses.

Good luck!

@Nathan G.

Thanks for sharing this thread. I seem to have attracted several senior tenants and they are all nice people and good tenants. I am also a senior and thought more about my mortality than theirs but that’s life. Recently one of my senior tenants mentioned she did not plan to move but hoped to stay healthy and stay for 8 or 10 years. Is there a suggested plan for best landlord practices like increasing deposits, gathering next of kin, emergency contact info or or adding some language to the lease to make the inevitable easier on all involved and yet stay totally federal equal housing and local law compliant?

Thanks for sharing!

@Jacquelyn First

Congrats on your first property. You got a lot of good advice from others about trying to understand what is normally included or not included in your market. That’s good advice.

Don’t tell anybody but I am a slow learner. Let me share two mistakes I made when I started out in buy and hold real estate.

We bought one brand new spec built rental home and placed a washer and dryer in the house but did not have it yet hooked up. The tenant was anxious to move in so they offered to hook it up and I thought that was a great idea. They hooked it up wrong, fried the control panel and instead of bickering with the tenant, I ended up buying and installing a new washer and dryer.

I told you I am a slow learner.

I tend to get business friendly with my tenants and so I want to help them out in any way I can. I had a home that did not include a washer or dryer and another house where the tenant asked me to remove the washer and dryer so they could bring their high end washer and dryer. I told my tenant that needed a washer and dryer that if they would move the washer and dryer from house 1 to house 2, they could use the extra pair that was only a year or two old. All went well till I noticed the wood floors torn up in house 1 where the washer was dragged across the floor.

As you consider the refrigerator question for your first home think of the total cost of the refrigerator to you the landlord, not the upfront cost. I hope that helps and please keep my secret! LOL!

Good luck!

@Ari Bachrach

I read this book and saw this movie. They paid late for 3 years till I tired of chasing rent. Sure they paid late and paid late fees but they caused for follow up than all other tenants. When they departed I had more damages and cleaning than should have been. This is why they say to people like you and I that, No good deed goes unpunished!

Lastly, market rents seem to be increasing at every renewal in many markets. If he won’t pay $1100 on time, probably won’t pay $1500 on time, what’s happens when you want to raise the rent to $1650?

Good luck!

@Brian McCombs

Congrats on your growth and success. Perhaps if you have not made the move to the awesome but densely populated and expensive Boston market, you should relocate south, buy a small plot of land and a small construction company and use your cutting edge experience and insight to build a modest size smart home community and subdivision? Don’t sell them. Buy and hold, rent them. Make them affordable, smart and energy efficient and you’ll have a home run. Good luck!