All Forum Posts by: Rob Orazi

Durham is a good area for investors both buy and hold and rehab are doing very well over there. There is a good bit of competition with investors. 

Soooo from a seasoned property manager I'm gonna be frank with you. It sounds like you may not have all the skills necessary to make home repairs for your renters your self. That's fine few of us do. It also sounds like you may not have the money have a professional repair any unexpected items and that is not fine. As an investor you have to look past the mortgage into maintenance and repair costs. I have dozens of this type conversation a month it seems with new investors. 

I know I am inferring a lot from your post. It has the tone of the folks I talk to face to face. You may be greatly skilled at fixing houses or have a nice saving stash ready and waiting along with a list of vendors on hot standby. If you do, great, go for it. If you don't  then I suggest learn one thing at time. Learn how to care for and maintain a home then learn how to rent one. Both will take your full attention for a year or so. Each of you should take a side of the duplex.  

Congrats on buying a home and having a plan that's a big deal! 

That seems like a tricky game the other team is playing with the would be tenant. In my estimation as you work through your process you will find that more often than not you will not get all of the info you want every time and you just have to make a judgment call. Additionally past performance is not necessarily an indicator of future results. You don't have a crystal ball there may be a job loss or health emergency (or lottery winning) that hit your tenants in while they are under contract for one of your properties. My suggestion is to be sure to spend as much time on your policies and procedures for what to do when rent is late as you do about with pre-qualifying a renter. 

I recently had 2 separate discussions about washers and dryers in  rental properties. 1. said don't supply renters with washers and dryers they aren't well taken care of and have to be replaced at higher rate than home owners so its bad money spent. 2  said we always provide washers and dryers in our properties replacement is $300 or less and I don't feel comfortable with tenants moving such large objects through the doorways as those machines are big and can ding up the walls and door jams etc. causing potentially more damage than just replacing them ourselves.

So there it an argument for either.  Just decide where the bigger risk is in your case and I think you'll have your answer.