All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Josh Chavez welcome to the forums!  This is a great way to meet other local investors.  Do you have an ideas where you are looking to start, or still working that out?  Good luck. 

@Stephen Benson Is the dog a service dog ,or an emotional support animal? I believe it is pretty easy to get a pet certified as an emotional support animal but service dog certification is very rigorous.

@Jessica Jay-Maleskiundefined I learned this the hard way as well, some of my experience.  The best way I have found to keep the utility bills down is to make the tenants responsible for paying them, funny how that causes usage to drop significantly.  

1. For tenants that have used window AC units I charge a fee, per AC unit, per month.  As you said, they use a lot of power,  the fee helps to recoup some of the cost.  

2. Separating utilities is something I have done in almost all of my units, the last 2 should be done in a month.  It all cases for me the cost of separating the utilities has been worth it.  

3. I have solar on my own house, and love it, but not on a rental.  I don't know your market, but my local market people don't appreciate the value add of solar, so on resale you tend not to get much of your investment back.  

Something else to consider, I read about some people who use a RUBBS (resident utility bill back system).  It is basically what some people have suggested, most commonly shared breakdown depends on either square feet, or number of people per unit.  

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Russ

Matt, consider outsourcing to a bookkeeper for the few hours a month it would take. You will get to focus on your core business and a professional can help you keep your books and from making another mistake. 

Good luck!! And great goals for the year. 

Steve I am local and have a good number of units in Rochester. If you want to discuss specific areas I can share my experience. Good luck

@Christopher Freeman

Chris, 

I feel for you on this one, seems like you have spent a lot of time trying to resolve the problem.  I have worked in IT for 20 years, including responsibility for wireless.  There are so many factors that can impact throughput, signal coverage is only one of them.   Even with a solid signal the end user device has to successfully connect.  So many factors can impact the client side performance.  Channel, frequency, firmware, software, security settings, noise in the environment, something as simple as moving furniture around can impact coverage.  To make it even more challenging wireless tends to be fluid, one day it will be solid and the next may experience issues.   Someone may advise to simply crank up the power, but many times that makes the problem worse.   

Unless you are willing to take responsibility for every possible aspect of the wireless I would provide a wired jack and let them figure out the rest.  Like you said you are required to provide Internet, not wireless.

Good luck. 

@Lateeka A. Brooklyn is a tough place to find a deal, perhaps that is your value opportunity.  Since you know the area well, if you have a real deal you should be able to assign the contract and collect a commission, or partner on the deal with someone who has the capital and is looking for a deal in the area.  

Are you talking to people to look for an off-market deal, or are you working with agents/brokers in the area? 

@Lateeka A. Good question and I am sure there are a lot of people in your same situation.  Money is only one component of value.  If you don't have money, but have time, knowledge, or a deal you have something of value.

If you can pair the value you bring with someone who has money, but is missing the piece you have, you may be able to partner on something.

Are you looking to invest in NYC?  

@Samuel Porran

I have been using the same property manager for 8 years and his team has been great.  I will PM with their contact information.

This is a great question, and the responses have been interesting.  I am currently 70% RE (mix of small multi-family and commercial) 25% is equities and 5% cash.  

While the equity portfolio has performed well, the real estate investments have outperformed and grown to become a larger percentage.

My end goal is to get to 30% RE directly owned, 30% private debt, 30% equities, and 10% cash.  At this allocation I would have all mortgages paid off, this would be my retirement mix.  

Is anyone looking to change their allocations as they move from wealth accumulation to living off the cash flow?  

If anyone has done this what was the mix pre and post?  

Thanks