All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Welcome Tom, lots of good information and different view points on the BP.

It is a fallacy that income and appreciation are mutually exclusive. Equally fallacious is the notion that class A and B areas will always appreciate. You could purchase a monthly loser hold it for 10 years at a carry loss than sell for less than you purchased, particularly after paying RE agents, title fees, and lawyers.

Over the past few years I've rented to a number of single female parents living from hand to mouth, any little event in their lives knocks them off track. Never had one not pay their rent by the last week of the month. Try to keep my cool when the rent is late, never issued a five day notice. Yes, that is important to do to protect yourself from further losses, but probably an over reaction most of the time. Whatever you do, in the long run it's often best to act in a manner that is consistent.

I only invest in IL and in the Chicago west suburbs because that is where I've lived and raised my children. I like to invest where I can get to a rental property in less than an hour even during rush hour. I handle renting, managagment, and 90% of repairs, close is better.  My most profitable rental is in an area that is looked down upon by many well off suburbanites and a fair number of real estate agents, sometimes it is easier to find values where less people are looking for them. 

Kaylor, I spent years debating your question, and managed to purchase 4 rental properties before finally deciding recently to get my license. The tipping point for me was the desire to have better information on value changes to my existing portfolio. Odds are You need to have a active license and most likely pay MLS dues to make sense out of the license effort. I really like being able to pick up the phone and talk to the sellers agent directly, much easier to flush out useful information.

Section 8' s can be a good deal if you have a run down property, or your own property in a area that is in less desirable area, another advantage is they tend to move less than other tenants. Having said all that, a lot of horror stories about property destruction and tenants not paying their portion of the rent particularly from less sophisticated landlords. I always purchase in more upscale areas and  charge more rent than section 8 considers market rent, so renting to section 8's never works out and just wastes lots of time. 

Lisa, can be tough doing business with friends. Sold a car to a friend years ago, agreed to accept payments, my mistake, went through way to much drama collecting. 

Contrary to all the get rich fast with no money down schemes used to sell seminars, every single person I've ever known to do well with real estate, did it all just the opposite. They put money down and focused on building wealth over time.  Nearly all worked full time jobs that involved substantial time commitment while building their portfolio. I am very skeptical of anyone looking for investor apprentices, loads of scams out there. 

Purchased 1/2 duplex 95K three years ago from FNMA, the listing showed basement finished even though it had been flooded. Most of the work I did on property was cleaning up the basement, now mostly unfinished. Could totally see agents saying property is in worse shape than it sold for at 95K, because that is what MLS data will indicate with regard to basement. Thinking of listing with a 7% Co-Op fee, agents might be motivated to spin differently.

Real estate agents, like other sales people all have their own ways of doing things. Around the holidays loads of reasons for delayed responses. Also, could be he already made his money. Could be a sign he views you as unprofitable business potential. In any case, I would move on, if it happens again.