All Forum Posts by: Roger Vi

How much different would the cost be to replace the existing W/D hookups VS provide single service? W/D are becoming more of a necessity and your building will be more valuable and desired in the future just by adding these hookups. You don't even need to connect W/D, but if you remove the option the value and desirability instantly goes down.

Regarding actually hooking up the W/D, I would do it in my area (B- C+ area I would say) ten times out of ten just to make it easier to get a renter and extra rent income. How much different are comparable units renting for with or without W/D? Can you put a monthly dollar amount on how much a renter is willing to pay for this amenity? Around here, I can get $50-150 more a month just by having W/D in unit.

I have an excellent used appliance store in my area that I depend on for all appliances. I go in and tell them I want a W/D set from the same name brand (usually Whirlpool) in a model that they currently sell at Lowes or Home Depot. The cheapest at Lowes/HD is around $1000 for both before tax. These guys always find me something for $360-400 and include a 1 year warranty. I had to use the 1 year warranty one time for a fridge and they came out and fixed the thing within 24 hours. Maybe you have a similar type of shop near you? 

I do not have anything but have been actively researching turnkey companies in your area and best ways to acquire property from out of state. Maybe we can help each other out, I have sent you a message.

It sounds like you want the Movie Theater but you don't need it. If you are like me, $600/month in my pocket feels a lot better than a 10K expense I kind of want. Depends where you are in life, but it sounds like you are in the building and expanding mood. Delay gratification so you can have 2 theaters in the future.

The thing that would make this a no-brainer for me is that you can convert it into a livable apartment space and then easily change it to a theater with a bathroom in the future if you think it will sell better or you want it more. Having a theater and then trying to change it later would be harder and you wouldn't get any income having a theater in the beginning. If you are just comparing the 2 situations, you are really paying $500-600/month plus initial expenses to have the theater.

Hope this helps.

Communication is key at this point. I would check in with them on the 25th and again on the 29th and 31st just to confirm everything is on schedule. Prepare everything on your end to file eviction so that you are ready to go the morning of May 1st if needed. Also, make sure you are collecting rents for the extra few days. Not important if you missed it already. Just learn for next time. Main concern is getting them out right now. Do you have any sort of deposit money from them? Make sure you hold this until AFTER move out (double check FL laws). Lastly, I have offered tenants money to move out faster in the past. If 1 month cost them about $1000, I would give them $50-100/day to move out early depending on the urgency. If you offer a high amount today and they refuse, I would be a little suspicious on their intentions. Call a few attorneys if you haven't already. I like to get a feel for their eviction process, fees, and availability BEFORE I need the service. Luckily, I have not had to deal with this yet. Hope this helps! Good luck and I would not panic, times like these are inevitable to the RE investor. Don't sweat the little problems, just think to yourself that one day you will handle a problem 10X as bad and it will mean you are making 10X the money!

Lenders all have their guidelines and ways to calculate. It is not unheard of to get qualified for 300K purchase price from one bank, show it to the bank down the street and get qualified for 330K. If it is working in your favor, just smile and act like its normal. Later, go home and analyze the loan further to make sure there is nothing funny about it. Have a different lender review a loan from another lender. This is a good way to find the most honest lender and get the best rates and conditions.

Buying another property to rent- make sure you have the necessary reserves! Buying a cheaper property to live in- I could see this making sense if you are going from single family to a multi family and covering most of you mortgage payment. Personally I wouldn't move out and into a smaller SF just to increase cash flow on rentals by a little.

Typically, I wouldn't have an interior designer unless it was a very high end house. If an interior designer is present, they should make this decision. If it is just the investor and GC, I would imagine the best way to go about is the investor laying guidelines and the GC bringing back 2-4 different options for everything w/ prices included. 

50% is a perfectly normal percentage of renters. This really shouldn't matter as long as the neighborhood and property fits your goals. Are you buying it as a rental? If you plan to rent it out, you should find out how high the demand is for rentals that size in that neighborhood. Then pull up city data and see where the trend is going to head in the next 10-30 years if you plan to hold. If you are buying to live in, then make sure you can afford the payments and the price is historically low for that area. If you buy at a high point, it is all about timing your exit. You can do everything else right but if you don't hold it long enough you might not make a dollar. If you buy at a low point, just make sure there are reasons for that property to increase in value. Some places may never appreciate and you should know this is you are buying. Hope this helps!

@Katherine Martin welcome to BP! I'm a local Everett guy looking to build a long term portfolio in Snohomish County, mainly N. Everett.

Feel free to reach out if you ever want to talk about Everett specifically. I'm always interested in sharing and hearing other opinions on this market. 

I depend heavily on foreign freelancers for my businesses outside real estate. Although we are not doing the same thing, I have a little experience with SEO and finding help to set this up.

I would make sure I have a basic understanding of SEO and what you want to do. You want to be able to tell the freelancer EXACTLY what your goals are in terms of position and traffic/conversion numbers. Also, have an expectation for costs, SEO is an art of balance and there are many opportunities to overspend if it is being run by someone who doesn't understand or was never introduced to the website's core goals.

Fiverr is the prettiest freelance site, but I get my WORST quality work/freelancers from the website. I think it has a lot to do with those "Buy $5 get $15" promotions they run every other week. I am thinking there's an incentive for freelancers to eat these promotions up and get their rating count up; allowing average/weak freelancers to appear superior with 2K 4.5 star reviews. Another thing I don't like about fiverr is that it seems the higher rated freelancers have terrible response times (3-14 days after job received? Unacceptable to me).

Upwork is my preferred site for everything and I've had good luck with SEO specialists from here. You post the job and freelancers apply to you based on the pay you give. I think this model is much better for finding quality freelancers. Fiverr advertises "Five" dollar gigs, but you will notice they charge $5 per step (5 to create, 5 to send the file to you, 5 more to send it in a format you can actually use). In the end both of these sites are similarly priced and I would say I get better value for the dollar on upwork. There are a couple other sites I would recommend before Fiverr as well.

Someone also gave me a game changing tip on foreign freelancers once. Learn a little about the culture/lifestyle and notice the skill level and work ethic varies greatly between the countries. Speaking and understanding English is very important to me (Filipinos are the best value for the dollar in terms of English). There are some pretty accurate assumptions you can make about freelancers from different countries. PM me for more details, I don't want to offend anyone on a public forum ;)

Hope this helps and good luck on your SEO plans!