All Forum Posts by: Thomas M.

Update- I got someone to do the job for $575. I think that's fair. The moral of the story is do NOT use Yelp to find repair guys. All the estimates I got from people found on yelp were around $2500. With Homeadvisor/Angies list I was able to tell the guy up front "Hey, this is what the average price is for this" and he did come in with a price in that ballpark. 

I tried Angies List, got a barrage of phone calls and texts from that. Most of them are coming from something called HomeAdvisor. I guess its the same company. Inspection is happening Friday. The HomeAdvisor site has an estimate tool that gives you a rough idea of what these things cost in your zip code. For me it says average cost is $538.

I sometimes ask for costs up front but they always say they have to see it first.

This time I told the guy the HA estimate and that if he's gonna go way over he should cancel in advance.

I used to get termites done for about $800 and then a contract would be 400-500 a year. I got a few quotes recently and they are at $2000 and $2500. I'm not sure what happened or why it got so expensive. I don't have some huge termite issue, just a small amount of termites and no major damage. My house value has gone up a lot and the place is nicely renovated, I am thinking maybe the termite guys are just thinking Im super rich and I dont care what they charge. Can anyone here recommend a way to get termite service done at a reasonable price? I aint gonna pay these guys 2K to do a minor job. It's a 3000 SF house in Hollywood Hills.

If you've been investing in LA for a while, you probably know that real estate agents will say ANYTHING to get you to buy and they will rob you blind if you let them. Never leave your wallet on the table around these people. But furthermore, never buy a house that's got any of these words in the MLS description-

NESTLED- never by a house that's "nestled" somewhere. You'll overpay by 300K.

ENTERTAINER'S house/dream/paradise- the word "ENTERTAINER" is used by agents to make you project into the future that you will be throwing some huge party and everyone will love you because your house is so awesome and your party is so cool. Don't buy a house described using this term, you will overpay by 300K. Always remember we are real estate investors. We are not that cool and if we throw a party only a small group of boring people will show up. We are not cool, we are just rich. There's a difference.

What more overused words can you add to my list that agents have been using to trick us?

Yes it's forbidden by your mortgage terms....that being said, people do it all the time and I've never heard of anyone going to jail for it. The main danger I think is that if the house burns down your insurance won't cover it because you rented it out but claimed it was a primary res. Aside from that I say you should go for it.

So let me get this straight. She used to clean for free and bang you any time, but now things have changed and she controls all the finances and takes whatever she wants?

Wait a minute, I've heard of this deal before. It's called a marriage, right?

I have a cleaner who cleans the place for $1200 a month (5 BR 3000 SF house). Our deal is that it's a flat fee whether he cleans it 4 times or 6 times. He's happy, I'm happy. I have an older relative who has spare time, she does all the ABB messages back and forth and answers all the never-ending questions they ask. She gets a flat $600 per month. (I think that's about $1 per question!

My ABB makes between 10K and 13,500 per month and total costs (mortgage/bills/cleaning/etc) are about 9,000. So I am averaging about 3000 per month in profit plus I get about 3000 in mortgage paydown. I'm very happy with it. I don't do much work with this. I show up once a month on average to deal with a guest having an issue (I don't mind once in a while). And I show up once a month to look at possible repairs.

I think a big part of the equation is how well you negotiate with your cleaners and staff. Self managing is a big job, simply because of the huge amount of messaging back and forth. If you can get that and the cleaning handled at a reasonable price it's a good business to be in. But if you don't get a good price on that stuff you can be upside down. When I started out I had a woman who did that emails and cleaning and would charge me random amounts. Whatever she thought the profit was, she would charge me that entire amount. So I ditched her and got cheaper better people. Now I'm paying 1800 instead of 3000 and it makes a big difference. I would not hire one of these companies that claims to do it all, too expensive. Better to hire local people. Everyone needs money these days. I know the economy is good they say, but I find there's always people looking for cleaning and fix-up jobs.

I can vouch for Jon and Homecoin. I've used his service to list when selling and it was effective and a good value. My listing went on the MLS and hit all the sites that people go to, like Zillow and Redfin.

The only thing to watch for, and this is not Jon's fault of course, is that if you decide to pull the listing down for any reason you will get bombarded the next day by 50+ phone calls from agents that want to relist your property. I got 100+ calls the first week and still get 5 a month. I just hang up and block them. There are 2 services the agents hire that find all your personal info and any phone number you have had in the last 20 years. Can't remember the names of the services, but what they do is criminal, as are the unsolicited sales calls from agents.

I just use craigslist, I don't even post on any other sites. Never had a problem finding good renters.

I meet the renters, and I do a criminal background check and look at 2 months of bank statements to see if they keep decent cash reserves. If they keep over 10K in the bank and no criminal record, I give them the apartment. I call one previous landlord also. I don't do credit checks, cash is all that matters. I also don't do that long form where you ask for every bank account, credit card account, and previous landlord they have had since 1981. It's just annoying to everyone to pile on the paperwork. Sometimes people pull up online banking on their phone and I approve them on the spot.

I've had 2 problem renters over the years. I have a property manager friend of mine stop by and talk to them, see if they are agreeable to leaving. Every time they decide to leave.

The most dangerous kind of renter is a heroin addict. I always look for needle marks on their arm when showing the room. Very easy to spot. I also have 5-10 minutes of conversation where I try to detect criminal tendencies. One applicant stated he was selling stolen sneakers on eBay, his friend worked at the Nike factory. I did not approve him.

I think you should go ahead and do the deal with no buyers agent. A title company and escrow company do a lot of the work. The agent is just a glorified sales person. Tell the sellers agent that you want him to do 100% of the paperwork and kick you back 2% of the purchase price. He will go for it because it makes everything easier and he will still end up with half a percent more commission. After buying/selling 5 places, I am done using agents. When I sell, I use a service that lists on the MLS for a $100 fee. When I buy I use the buyers agent or just the title/escrow companies and a flat fee lawyer.

RE agents are useless, and they are clinging on to their relevancy for dear life. In 10-15 years they will mostly be gone. The days where an agent picks you up in a mercedes and drives you around to 5 houses are over. The pubic shops online except for old people. It won't be long until the whole process gets streamlined and we do it all on one website. 

The funniest part is the "marketing" they claim they are doing. You list it on the MLS, all the RE sites pick it up and re-post it. Maybe you do a few flyers and an open house. This is the innovative "marketing" that they think entitles them to 2.5% of your money.

The main area where I see RE agents generating action and profit is that they go find people who are thinking about selling and they talk them into pulling the trigger. In the process they annoy the rest of us owners with junk mail and their sales pitches. But that's business, you have to annoy 99 people to get get 1 listing when you're prospecting.

Another thing I've noticed is that agents will say ANYTHING to get a listing, including lies and bizarre promises. Keep in mind I live in LA where most people are scumbags.