All Forum Posts by: Ron Todd

Unfortunately, I can speak from experience that COs that were valid a year ago can end up costing 10k to renew with a new township inspector. I agree with Mark, try and negotiate that the seller take care of it.

I've found that just by talking about real estate with friends and co-workers, word has spread. People have started mentioning homes they saw for sale on their way to work or their friend who wants to sale their place. Usually, the "deals" aren't great from an investor's perspective, but I'm getting more practice at analyzing the properties none the less. I am always looking for new properties. Some drive for dollars, I've started running for dollars. I'll get some exersize while getting a feel for the neighborhood a property is in. Finding the right realtors is also a big plus. I have a couple realtors at the same brokerage I work with and they know what I'm looking for. My best deal to date was from one of these realtors alerting me to a property that fit my criteria and was an absolute steal. Don't give up! Rejection is part of the game, start making smart offers and be happy when they say yes or no. 

I was in a very similar situation. The city called and told me I had a small, but continuous leak at one of my multis. They said it's usually a toilet with a small leak (just like Nathan said). I had my pm go over with food coloring and put a few drops in the upper reservoir of the toilets. Like magic, toilet #4 was the culprit with just a tiny, imperceptible leak that was detected by the bowl water changing color.

Another random thing I ran into with old houses was an extra surcharge on the insurance for age of home. It wasn't much but still something I hadn't seen before. I love old homes, but they can be full of surprises! A good inspection will help you find some of those and I'd keep a little extra set aside for maintenance.

Yup, we usually do 6-10 months for the by room rentals. Airbnb works for us because we have a hospital nearby that has a lot of traveling nurses visit to work at. We also host military that have training at the local base. I don't think we would be successful in renting out the house room by room without those industries to fill it. As far as above market rate for the section 8, I think I'm near the top but not above. The voucher from the government is nice since you know you will get paid and being qualified for section 8 reduces vacancies since there are a lot of people (in my area at least) that are on waiting lists for housing. 

I fit into both categories, I rent a long term Airbnb by the room and I have section 8. The long term Airbnb is much more work, because I have tenants moving in and out every few months. Cash flow wise, I make a lot more from the Airbnb but I also put a lot more effort into it. It's hard to find a pm that is good with Airbnb listings in my area so I have ran it with my partners for a few years. On the other side, my section 8 rental has been almost no work since I have a strong pm that takes care of everything and only calls when they need me to pull the trigger on a larger maintenance issue. I make less cf but I put less effort into it (ymmv). Given the current climate, I'd lean towards section 8 since you know you will get most of your rent guaranteed by the government.

tldr: rent by room = more work and more CF. Section 8 = less work less CF.

My gut reaction is to sell and take that 85k to put towards a new home or another property. The margins seem pretty slim if you rent it out (I didn't see any assumptions for mx or pm built in). I know the HOA will probably cover most external maintenance, I just hate being at the mercy of HOAs so I avoid them like the plague. If keeping the house makes you cash poor and depletes your reserves, it seems like you are putting a lot of eggs in the HELOC basket. Those major repairs always hit at the worst time and HELOCs are getting harder to come by. What happens if your HELOC isn't approved or the bank lowers the amount? I don't know anything about the UT market, so if there's a good chance for appreciation, it might make sense to hold and rent out the property. Investing in the Midwest has me more CF oriented, so I tend to look through that lens when I analyze a deal.

Here's another vote for above all. My sister used them to replace the line going from her house to the street. It was a big project and above all did a great job and cleaned up afterwards.

 Hey Adam, I'm glad to help! Feel free to hit me up when you want to chat. I've got a few buddies stationed at moody, I'm curious if you know them!

Hey Adam, full time AF O as well. I've got properties scattered across the country from different PCS's with a mix of PMs and self managing. I can tell you from experience, it's imperative to have a good team on the ground. Self managing from oos can be a pain sometimes, especially when it's time for new tenants. It's not the end of the world, but I swear it's always OPR/awards season when something big goes down at one of the properties. Whatever deals you go for, I'd definitely factor in a pm fee even if you don't plan on using one. As you get more properties, you are going to want someone taking care of the details while you focus on getting more properties or just running the bigger picture. I saw it mentioned above, it's all about the network and it looks like you have some good leads generated already. It's a blessing to have a steady w-2 and be able to invest in real estate at the same time!