All Forum Posts by: Ryan Scott Isacksen

Hi Renee,

I am not sure what Georgia's version is, but you should contact the association of community managers in your state for a list of people in your area. You want a management company that keeps up with the HOA laws to manage effectively.

CAI Georgia I think http://www.cai-georgia.org/

Welcome @Sagar Mata,

It is a different climate here than some places.  I've seen small MF units listed in some parts of the country that are listed below what a down payment would be here.  The difference in rent and appreciation is noticeable.  

What drew your interest in real estate?

Awesome to hear @Curtis Rouse Jr!
Great job and an inspiration to hear the bit of your story.  

Everyone, I think you may have missed that this is a single family residence.

A high-tech management company is going to eat up any profit from a SFR if they will even consider managing it.

@Melyssa Green,

Do a walk-through of your house and see how things look.  That will tell you how things are being managed.

Don't base anything on speculation.

Also, raving reviews from tenants may not be the place that manages your property the best from an investment point of view.  Maintenance issues shouldn't be ignored but tenants aren't happy when deposits are held for legitimate deductions or they can't repaint the house or you won't change out carpet to laminate floors, or bill you to replace the tenant's light bulbs.

The best way to vet a management company in my opinion would be to speak to their other customers, the owners of the property they manage.   

@Minh Doan

Craigslist is going to be your best bet for comps.

Lower end things and room shares that are affordable have a lot more draw right now than some of the higher end things right now.  I don't know how tenants will feel about the landlord picking the other people that share the house with them.

Use caution renting room by room rather than managing the unit as a whole.  You will be involved in tenant disputes and the rules in the city are much more tenant friendly than landlord (if you have to evict).   

You will also have higher vacancy rate if you are trying to find a specific type of tenant rather than anyone that qualifies income-wise.  

I like the idea if you are setting the common area up to cater to a certain group of people that you are targeting.

Look for hard money lenders in your area and burn up the phone to make it work.

Put the numbers together so you can present the lender with something they can look at and see how you are clearly taking care of the loan with exit strategies.

There was an interview with a hard money lender on one of the early podcasts.  Maybe reach out to that person as well.

Good luck.

Check the history of your HOA you are buying into. A special assessment of a certain percentage is legal for them to charge without a vote. Some associations will charge this as a way of covering budget shortfalls.

Make sure they don't have unfriendly clauses for renting out the condo to tenants.  Some have rules in place that make it difficult and some add rules.

Hi Steve, I think @Kim Meredith Hampton sums up things pretty well and yes all of those things she said like to happen on the same day to keep things interesting.

I don't know how much direct networking on the investing side the PM job will give you.  It may be a conflict of interests to be talking to owners you represent about side investments.  That may not be a good start with a new company depending on the culture and may be against their policy.

You will get intimate knowledge of all aspects of running a property through PM experience.  You can probably use that to persuade a lender to work with you on a bigger deal in the future with that experience.

You will learn about the expenses that come up and what they cost.  You will negotiate with vendors and have an idea of why a PM taking care of your eventual investment makes certain decisions while taking care of your property.

You do have to have a bit of patience.  You will be dealing with people at their worst, though solving problems will make you those people's hero.  

Other pros not mentioned is there is great job stability.  There isn't going to be a downturn in the need for someone to manage property.  

I was at the city office picking up permits for some repairs to a building I help take care of.  I spent a bit of time waiting and finally was at the point paying for the permits.  I was pleasant to the person at the counter helping me and she commented, "This must be a pretty easy process for you if you are in a good mood."  I responded, "No, it has been quite a bit of a pain and rather time consuming.  I work in property management and you are giving me great job security."

@Erin Malone,

I agree with Jeff W. about doing the update.

The more updated you can go in style etc. the better quality tenants you will have to choose from.  Sometimes an area will have a rental rate that will have a tenant apply either way, but those updates will give you more qualified tenants to choose from at that rate.

@Meena Balaji,

Investors are taking note of Fresno right now.  There has been a decline in unemployment and foreclosures over the last few years.  High speed rail is slated to come in around 2026 (operation target).  Rents have been rising a little bit.  

I have looked into a lot of information on Fresno and thought things add up to a good point in the market.  There is buildable land and it sounds like it isn't too hard to develop, so there is the chance of things being pushed into oversupply.

@Ken Teng, Thank you for pointing that out, I will check out that area on the forum and read up on it.