All Forum Posts by: Sam Valme

Hey @Kalhan Bhan, The numbers look like they're in the right direction. I would agree with the comments on Vacancy and Initial Construction during year 1. You'll need to account for downtime and out of pocket costs while you hold the unit during construction.

A 115 YO Triplex is probably due for some TLC in the CapEx arena. Without pictures / an inspection report this is purely speculation. With that said $10,000 for initial repairs could be a bit light. Here are some other things I would consider:

1. Make sure you get your own home inspection performed.
2. Walk every square inch of the home with a camera. Take video if possible and talk to yourself as you walk through. Comment on what you think needs to be fixed.  
3. Go to Zillow, See whats available for rent today. Then walk similar homes posing as a prospective tenant. Take notes and pictures. This is your competition. Will 10k in repairs get you slight above the next guy?

As long as you do your own due diligence you should walk away with a good buy. 

Good Luck!

While @Max T.'s response was my favorite.  @Jose Alvarenga's strategy is where I would place my money if providing a recommendation to one of my Tenants. There are power in numbers. Without having map to see the diameters of the neighborhood. Lets assume you have at-least one or two neighbors that are also effected. Call them, get their opinion on the situation. If it really is that bad, you should be able to come to a common ground. 

The next thing would to be consistency. If this is really an issue that happens every week/month. You should call the authorities every week/month while the noise is occurring. As mentioned above, try not to tie up the emergency lines. Have your neighbors call too. Set up a schedule if its that regular. Eventually the police are going to take the necessary actions purely out of an interest in their own time. Court cases could get ugly and expense extremely quickly. You should do your best to avoid that route if possible.

Good Luck!

Hey @Jason A., While we are in Northern VA the methodology should remain fairly the same. Our Management company performs the following -

Quarterly Walk Throughs - We find that waiting 6 months for a tenant to reveal problem can be extremely costly to our landlords. During these walk throughs we check for water leaks, Test fire alarms, and Test CO alarms, check Fire Extinguishers, and Air Filters . Among a laundry list of other items.

ReKey / ReProgram Deadbolts after ANY turnover - When it comes to changing the locks, @Chris Herbert hit the nail on the head. From the day we take over, one of the first things we do is switch all exterior deadbolts to a re-key or electronic system. You should NOT have to replace a physical lock following an eviction or turnover. This also allows for absolute piece of mind in both scenarios. 

Best of luck!

Hey @Eric Kordenbrock, I'm based out of Northern VA so not much help from the PM side unfortunately.However, Two ways to start building the network that worked. #1 REI / BP Meetup groups in your area should be pretty well established. #2 If you need an attorney now and professor google just isn't doing it. Take 2 hours. Look for property management companies in your area and build a spreadsheet of numbers to dial. Call them and ask who handles the majority of their evictions. Might take awhile but your probably going to start getting a name repeated after awhile. This is probably a good guy or gal to start with. You'll know you struck gold when someone gets excited to talk about an eviction! haha.

Side Note - By going with Option 2 as well. You'll get a feel for which PM's actually pick up the phone :) keep a note and you might have a good bead on a PM company to start with as well. 

Good Luck!

Hey @Charles Johnson, Not sure about quicken. For Property Management my Accountant pushed us towards Quickbooks Online or Xero. We went with Xero. Thats just for our operating accounts. We use Buildium to actually manage our Tenants and Rental Portfolio. 

Good Luck!

Hey @Steve Roberts, My wife and I just started up our own PM business and I'll be the first to say that pretty much everything folks have said about it thus far is true. Here are somethings to consider:

#1 Looks like you will need to operate under a broker - http://www.allpropertymanagement.com/propertylaw/

This was almost a none-starter for us. It takes ~3-4 years to get your brokers license (at least in VA) buy it doesn't mean YOU need your brokers license. You must OPERATE under a broker and have YOUR Real Estate License in doing so. Now you have another unique challenge. Because you'll have to find a broker who is gracias enough to let you operate under their brokerage. Presumably under your own brand.... with their clients.... and their insurance.... and no experience (assuming). 

Ahh yes... every challenging indeed. But! It can be done. The best I can say is, I did it, so you can do it! But it all seriousness this comes from none other than good old fashion networking. Go to the REI groups, ask around, make friend, work for free. Do whatever it takes... Legally.

#2 As @David Faulkner said. This is absolutely a thankless job, and the money from management is tight... which is why you get creative upfront. To be 100% transparent, our business plan considers the money from management as a side income. As stated above, our real revenues come from managing our own properties. We happen to live in Northern VA so the goal is to get into the short term leasing arena. Plenty of contractors in the area year round :) . Then we plan to build a model to allow us to overlay that as an option onto our regular PM clients. From there... world domination!

jk. But the point is, you have to know how your going to make your real money going in. We look at the pleasure of managing for our landlords as more of a networking opportunity then revenue. Which actually makes the service we offering even more personal. Because our marketing budget is fairly low, we don't have the pleasure of allowing our landlords/tenants to become upset and leave from negligence. 

#3 Systematize. Systematize. Systematize. Your time = your greatest asset. The E Myth. Traction. Two books you must read. As Mr. Gump said, "Thats all I have to say about that". 

Good Luck my friend. You have a long road, but it is an excellent way to get a seat at the table with many investors in your area!

Hey @Jean Zambrano! As said, customer service experience is indeed key for a good property manager! 

I'm pretty familiar with the Georgia area and I believe there are quite a few REI groups. You should take sometime and see who's close to you and meet up with some folks that are in the industry. When your getting started, a humble attitude and your time will be your greatest assets :)

Good Luck!

Hey @John Coberly, Always good to see a new face on BP! As a Property Manager, I can tell you no investment is 100% passive. While we can make on the majority of the day to day decisions. There will always be that occasional item you have to sign off on. Particularly anything in the CapEx arena (Roof, HVAC, Water Heater, Etc). Those large items will typically require at the very least an email exchange to acknowledge.

You're on the right track overall. Starting off in a multi family / house hacking scenario if extremely beneficial. Having even a portion of your mortgage covered can go a long way. Reinvest that NOI and you'll be on that boat in no time!

Might be stating the obvious. But whoever you hire. Make sure to validate there license and insurance. Also, I've had a lot of success with Angieslist in finding local contractors that specialize in kitchen and bath. Good luck!

Hey Nick Weiss , not a problem! BP is a great place to get advice! One final suggestion, find a local REI meet up and just go listen and ask questions. Don't be the guy who just lurks either. Actively talk to people and be honest, let them know where you're at and where you want to be. You'll be surprised where those small conversations can take you in the long run. Best of luck my friend!