All Forum Posts by: Sarnen Steinbarth

Oops.  I meant to say: 

. . . advice in a nutshell:  leverage + healthy cash reserve.

I think it is best (especially with the current extremely low interest rates) to try to leverage, but have a nice cash reserve for maintenance, capital expenditures and unforeseen costs (since you are not paying cash you should have more available to you as a cash reserve).

It is no fun to have to leverage to the point that if 1 tenant misses a rent payment you can't make your mortgage obligations.

So my advice in a nutshell:  mortgage + healthy cash reserve.

@Shaun Moore

Here is a resource I think you will find to be very helpful.  The US Dept of Justice and US Dept of Housing and Urban Development have put out a memo that covers a lot of the questions I believe you will have on what your role is on providing accommodations / modifications, who is responsible for paying, etc.

Here is the federal gov memo:  http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/disabilities/reasonable_modifications_mar08.pdf

Hopefully this helps!

From my experience your cost per unit starts to really go down as you get 10+ units.  But the rent does not.  So if you can afford the larger properties you will often times get a much better return.

Just my $0.02.

Document everything.  This sounds like a problem tenant.

I would definitely recommend against having a tenant provide the report.  You can run into an issue where the bad tenants bring a report that has been altered (which if they are providing it themselves is very easy to do).  

I think having a report for credit and criminal is likely the best money you can spend.

The best way to avoid an eviction is with thorough tenant screening . . .

In terms of hiring a property manager, many property managers are fine managing just 1 property (and since you typically pay a percentage of rent it really shouldn't matter to you).

If you want to manage it yourself there are a handful of online landlord / property management software's you could use and access your account anywhere with internet access.

You will still need someone (either a friend, or, at a minimum, vendors) you can count on locally to deal with any issues that arise when you are out-of-town.

• Checking references
• Getting a credit report
• Checking background / criminal records (through a multi-state database)
• Talking with past landlords
• Verifying employment / income / assets
• Steering clear of any fair housing protected class questions or criteria

These are the main tips I have!

Great tips by @Nathan Gesner.  Much has already been said; make sure to screen tenants, learn and move on.

 Exactly what @Nnabuenyi said.   Be careful not to forget costs associated to closing, acquiring, and selling the property.  It is not only renovation / purchase costs.