All Forum Posts by: Ryan Chatman

@Tim Clark as the other posters mentioned. It is going to specific to your area and even the neighborhood where your investment is located. Here is my list of things that could possibly aid you increasing rents:

1. Washer/dryer as you mentioned- Some places it's rare to find these within apt units and you can definitely charge more, or include it in your lease as an "add-on" where the tenant rents it from you for $50/mo

2. Enhanced Kitchen Finishes- Granite counters, stainless appliances, better quality appliances, fresh carpet; can enhance rents and quality of tenant. All depending on the area market. I was living in the ATL market and people would pay 200-400 more per month for granite counters and stainless, more up to date units.

3. Heating/Cooling - having central air or mini split system versus nothing/window units and electric baseboards can definitely sway your price. This may be a larger investment up front but you can sell it as savings/convenience to the tenant.

4. Lighting- outdated lighting can make a place look dull and unfriendly. Replacing some floursecent lights or 80s/90s spotlights with LED recessed lights is a cheap way to enhance the look of your units

I can't comment on these being wise investments for YOU specifically but they are items to consider based on what your market is doing.

@Chris K. Here are my ten steps:

1. Check with your city/county etc for need of rental registration/certificate of occupancy and be sure to get one if needed.

2 or 3. Set your goal rental rate based on your research and the market. Also think about things like security deposit, pet rent, renting washer/dryer, and other things you might offer as an add-on in the lease. I call this 2 or 3 because this goes hand in hand with the lease.

2 or 3. Get as close to an iron clad lease as possible. Work with a local real estate attorney to do this.

3. "Stage" and get great photos if you don't have them yet. I mean stage as in clean up (no buckets of drywall mud or inflatable furniture present in pics lol). Great photos help get more potential tenants and that leads to more likely finding a great tenant.

4. Set up your system for pre-screening- many people have used Google forms for this with good success. This can help you weed out tenants you don't want and keep you off the phone with time wasters.

5. Get the unit listed everywhere: apartments.com, trulia, hotpads, zumper, redfin, zillow, Facebook marketplace, realtor.com, etc

6. Decide who can give you the best tenant background check service; rental, criminal, etc. Get ready to use them

7. After pre-screening potential tenants you'll do a number of showings of the property.

8. Have the potential tenants complete the full application process

9. Narrow down to that one great tenant :-)

10. Get lease paperwork signed AND security deposit (and first month/last collected) BEFORE handing over keys. Also at this time you should complete a walk through of the property with a checklist and have tenant sign that everything is in good working order.

11. Make those big bucks and repeat!

Good luck!

@Jeffrey Robison welcome to BP! Soak up the knowledge here and hopefully it helps you get back into Real Estate. Maybe take a swing at doing that BRRR you were Initially going to do! Maybe you can make a slow transition from trucking business working long hours to a form of RE investing that will give you more of that family time.. And don't let the fear hold you back. Good luck my friend

@Joe Joseph I can speak for lehigh valley PA area, the market is hot right now here for buy and hold. The PA Barrier to entry is relatively low compared to most parts of the country. I'm also hearing Pittsburgh is solid too. I do agree with folks sentiments on Ohio. Columbus is on fire right now. In NJ you will typically deal with higher taxes and possibly more state level restrictions compared to PA and Ohio (i.e. landlord friendliness vs NJ being more tenant friendly)

@Joshua Bowers a lot can be done within 2 years. I won't recommend a specific direction for you to go, but for example in that 2 yr time you could be getting cash flow from a rental, or even do a flip and get your return quicker. In FL you might also be able to find a "vacation home" nearby and get short term rental income. Or even look at investing early near the school area where you think you'll move.

People thought we were crazy for looking at investment properties during summer/fall 2020 in the midst of the pandemic especially with crazy bidding wars and high prices in our market. That didn't stop us and now we have a great house hack property that is going to springboard our portfolio for the future. That being said, I agree with other posters that now is always a good time to invest as long as you're doing your research and making the numbers work for your situation. Fear does a lot to stop us!

@James McGuigan oh and I meant to note that I'm only suggesting the higher number if your tenant is moving out and you'll have vacancy. +100 should be okay if you're keeping the same tenant and are pleased with them.

@James McGuigan im familiar with the area- certainly fair but you may be leaving money on the table for a detached 3/1 + garage. My recommendation is start with a higher number and you can always lower your number if you're not getting the applicants you want. Whereas you can't increase that number if you get too many at the 1200 rate.

Only other factor to pricing is the finishes and quality of the home. I'm seeing two 3/1 homes listed on the Southside for 1500 on zillow rentals & apartments.com- 1 has an extremely weird kitchen and not so great finishes; it looks like it's been sitting a while. The other looks a lot more polished and will probably be off the market soon.. Also seeing an attached 3 bedroom nearby for 1395, no frills.

I'd love to see what you're working with via PM if you'd be willing to share. My property is closer to Allentown, but I was previously looking in easton and made several offers over there.

@Eric Samuels @Eric Samuels Yes, the lender will want to know what you can bring cash wise which will lead you in the direction you want to go in (FHA vs Conventional). The loan officer can give you specifics on their different offerings and requirements on what you need to bring to the table based on loan amount.

You may want to have them put together a few scenarios based on the budget you are shooting for. I'd also suggest leaving room in your target budget for flexibility while negotiating. For example you want to buy a house listed at 150K; you may want to be approved for 175-200K. The market right now is competitive for buyers and you may need to come in over asking depending on the property. I learned the hard way and lost several offers due to being out bid (in nov 2020).

Secondly, I'd suggest doing the house hack method (and BRRR if possible) vs. a SFR. Just think- you can have tenant(s) covering your housing cost and possibly be saving whatever you currently pay monthly now.

I am currently doing a BRRR house hack and it is shaping up very well. It will bring in great cash flow shortly and even better cash flow after we move out. And since it had lots of value added I should do nicely on the refi. My thought is it is easier to BRRR when you are househacking.

This BP podcast had a guest who did something similar and has grown from it:

https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=497203950870248&_rdr

Hope this info helps, and good luck!

@Kasaun Mims I would run the numbers on the property #1 and see if that will be profitable for you. For example that could be 15 months of profit versus ~15 months of holding costs. If proprrty 1 is not profitable, I would probably skip #2 as well and look to invest elsewhere. There are so many places in ATL that have profit potential and possibly without those restrictions.

@Eric Samuels definitely shop around. It won't hurt anything to find the best lender for YOUR situation.

I'd get the quotes as close as possible but wouldn't make a huge deal of having them on the same day. Nothing is set in stone until they lock the rate for you anyway.

Shopping around helped in big ways in our situation. We talked to a few different banks before landing on a lender that beat them out by a good bit.