All Forum Posts by: Ryan Scott Isacksen

I have a restaurant for sale that will have tons of customers in the future but sales aren't great now... ;)

I think buildings should be bought and sold based on current performance not future speculation.  4-plexs still fall in the residential category of comps rather than just income evaluations.  The value you add or the changes in the market should go to the person holding the property at the time, not the seller before it happens.

I love all of the listings that say "Rents are below market, tenants are month-to-month".

Well, raise the rents Mr. / Ms. Seller.  You aren't rent controlled.  Keep up with rents or you must not need that extra money that badly.  Otherwise sell your poorly managed business at an appropriate discount and let someone try to manage better.

We don't have a lot of sympathy for tenants with sob stories on these forums.. I have equally little sympathy for someone that isn't managing properly and don't think they should be rewarded for that.  California has a lot of money available for speculation though..

Hi Bigger Pockets Community,

I am in contract on an apartment building in Dayton Ohio and working on assembling the team to take care of everything for that investment.  Any recommendations for people you have worked with successfully or who provide the service are appreciated.

Please send via private message or leaving a name in the forum that I can look up and call.

1. Ohio based asset protection specialist
2. Ohio based CPA that specializes in real estate
3. Dayton Ohio property management (8 units)

Thank you for your recommendations.

Appreciation is very likely to happen in that market.
I feel that the minimum wage increases for the state over the next few years will make a huge difference in the Fresno area. 

This combined with things like the Fancher Creek center, Fulton Mall project, and the re-zoning the city is doing for West Fresno will be a huge boon for the area in a few years.

The city looks like it has a good set of people making policy based on economic research and proven policy meant to improve the city overall.

What you need to know depends on what your plan is with real-estate.

If you are doing apartments, you have a responsibility to reduce safety hazards and maintain a habitable place.  There are a lot of facets of protecting property from a number of problems and maintaining the equipment that makes it work.

There are lots of 'how to' videos on you-tube and when you have a problem with a particular system, experts in that system can help troubleshoot and solve the problem.  

@Anmmar Alsaggaf

You are leaving out capital expenses and management if you plan on using management.

Look at the cost of a roof divided over 20 years.  The building needs to be putting funds towards big ticket items like that.  The BP cost estimator includes a line for CapX.
Water heaters, A/C units all cost as well and may be bigger tickets than your maintenance expense allows for.  Most Fresno apartments have a bit of deferred maintenance.  You could continue to defer maintenance, but that cost will come back to someone at some point in the building's life.   

5% is the minimum you want to calculate.  That is the rate for the area, but I use that number as the room for non-payment as well.  Agents I talked to in the area said it is fairly quick to get a tenant when the unit is vacant and ready to rent.

Hope this helps.

@Andy C.

I think the Fresno market has a lot of potential.
I did a lot of research in the area.  I think the city is making a lot of good, professional decisions for the overall health of the city.

They are one of the few places that have pre-paid their employee pension funds (they have a positive, not negative). 

They are changing the zoning in West Fresno to encourage office and residential.  They also have developments going in to target some neglected areas to spur growth.

I don't have deep enough pockets to get into something significant in that market.  The buildings I have seen are at prices that barely cover actual capital expenditure needs after debt service.

@Chris Mason
Everyone who doesn't have to deal with paperwork with a city underestimates it.
I have mostly dealt with the permit department or pulling building plans.  

The people in the building department have been a lot more helpful than what you experienced in the Revenue Division.  The process was still long and involved multiple trips for any project that I have had to take care of.

@DeNay Ramsey,

Housing space is so limited here and finding a good investment to put that money to work is also quite competitive, so the additional house could be a very good option. 

You probably need to assess if you can do more with the cash you pull out leveraging it into an investment or if the return on building and renting out another house is better.

I hope you have at least had the wall opened and some kind of valve put on to stop the supply line leak that you described.

Work in condos should always be done with licensed contractors that carry extra insurance for multi-family dwellings.  This is a larger policy that will cover common area and other people's living spaces if the contractor screws up.

These places will give you an estimate, require some kind of down payment, then have payment due when the job is complete.

Paying something "all cash" for a job is a pretty dead giveaway the guy isn't a contractor.
Make sure to report that payment on taxes in a W-9

A bathroom and leak repair should be done by a licensed plumber.

The HOA could be somewhat on the hook since their maintenance guy recommended this person.
I can see someone assuming a person recommended by someone representing the HOA to be properly licensed to do the work he is recommended for.

I don't know what kind of business this guy you hired is running, but the 'sub' would probably be treated as an employee of the person and his insurance may help handle repairs from the water damage.

I think part of it is that a bit of the real estate fever is back.
Many more people are in the market now talking about real estate investing.
Shoot, I am one of them.

I have been involved in the industry of condos and apartments for some time but reached the point that I want my own investment.  I have dealt with maintaining all of the systems in these buildings and know how costly a beast a multi-family home can be.  

I have seen clients of buildings I take care of surprised by some rather big items they were clueless about the cost of or the remaining life of that system when purchasing.  

That puts me in a position of evaluating the cost of those systems and what it would take to properly maintain the building and puts me at the point of borderline unrealistic expectations. 
*I don't think the agents knew much about the systems or recommended needed inspections either.