All Forum Posts by: Shane H.

It was my learning tool - I bought it in 2006 and lived there until Fall 2017 when I moved to Topeka - still have it as a rental - I have more into it than it was worth but it was where I learned how to do different areas of construction from bathroom remodel, plumbing, sprinkler system, landscaping, 33 yard driveway/patio, deck with trex, fancy spindles, 4" 1" thick oak woodwork, opening up walls, designing a kitchen, lighting system etc.  They say education isnt free but one thing is a contractor will not talk over me - by no means am I an expert but I can speak the language and understand how things come apart and need to be put back together.  Probably comes from my love of legos and rig-a-jigs as a kid.  Wife and I planned on living there for a while and I've never felt of your primary residence as an "investment"  and I always felt if I was to be taken serious as an investor my house better look like I know what I'm doing.  

@Eduardo Alfonso  All I know is that in our short experience as renters (a year or so) we spent I dont know how many hours looking at places and unless you were willing to spend north of $1500-2000 a month imo the places were junk.   Most were hardly updated, nothing newly renovated, etc.  Topeka is night/day different than the Wichita market.  Dont know why but it's that way.  I guess if I'm paying $1000 plus depending on the house I have different expectations especially when you're talking about 1500 or 2k plus.  I was also blown away how quickly those places would go.  I also came from a house I had imo decked completely out with fancy woodwork, granite, siding, windows, gigantic patio, the works and had a mortgage payment inc taxes/insurance of only $620 or so a mo.  So I guess I was spoiled and sticker shocked all at the same time.

I have what I'd consider 3 A quality rentals in Wichita along with the others being low or mid B's -- the A quality ones I'd have a hard time renting - in great neighborhoods close to everything, highways, shopping dining, large green space, running trails, gym etc and had a tougher time renting them last time they were vacant than my b class.  I think folks in Wichita in the higher end of the market are more apt to own a home and there just aren't as many renters in the higher price ranges to choose from.  Really cant put my finger on why the difference is so vast between the 2 markets as they're only 2 hrs apart.  It is what it is I guess.

As for Topeka always up for networking.  Have met 3 or 4 people up in Topeka so far that have been on BP.

I dont live there physically now - have been in Topeka going on 2 yrs now but still have my rentals there and family so am back all the time.  We miss it.  

I always follow the local Wichita news and probably do more so than Topeka's - however I cant say I've seen a lot of negative about the baseball stadium other than how the process went down.  I think people were more concerned over how they started the process and didnt have a team lined up etc -- The LD had to go - was pretty dilapidated - Excited to see what they end up with and think it will be a huge net positive for the city - too bad it couldnt be the Royals AAA affiliate instead of the Marlins but beggars can't be choosers.

If you've been gone 10 yrs now and not certain how often you go back - things really started to change in my mind 5-6 or so years ago.  Lots of positives in my head previously but when the city signed up the Chung guy to complete his report on the "brain drain" that was happening this seemed to get a lot of positive energy going.  IMO anyways - I'm sure other locals may have a different point of view.  Another thing that helped IMO was completing flushing the Minnesota Guys bad energy down the drain and getting their downtown buildings into the hands of developers who would do something with them.  

I still see myself living in the desert Southwest someday but will always have ties to the Wichita area and if stars align a crash pad there when I can purchase a larger apartment complex or have enough doors I can keep one open for myself/family unless we end up moving back which is a possibility.

@Andrew Cornstubble  I'm not really following your post - you were scammed?

@Matthew G. sounds like you have a lot of options.  Probably need to figure out if both of you like your W2 jobs and want to continue on in them or if one of you would like to become a full time investor etc.  Lots of options.   

Simply living below your means (staying in that house) and investing in mutual funds for a few years and you could both retire early.  All about what you want and what your goals are and what would make the both of you happy.

@Laura Williams loved them so far - no issues and works great.

@Luke Moore -- I know you probably dont want the suggestions...haha but if you're in Iowa and if it's not too late may not be a bad idea to look into having radiant heat in the sidewalks from a liability standpoint and for safety - We had a harder winter than usual the past couple years and I get tired of buying salt and worrying someone is going to slip/fall plus you cant always count on staff to shovel and clear off the sidewalks - lots of outside vendors will also be coming in a facility with 16 beds as well.  (Home health for PT/OT etc)  Anyways if I was building ground up one little nuance Id do based on my experience so far.   Guessing you get way more snow than we do. Plus it's lower labor costs if the staff aren't always out there having to shovel and spread salt (less chance for concrete damage as well).

Is there a place or page to follow construction progress?  Would love to see how it progresses - looks like a pretty solid appealing design.

@Luke Moore I've been wanting to and hopefully will at some point in the next 2-3 years build ground up - 

What are you all in construction costs (minus the land)  -- is your GC fee included and all utility connection fees (IE charge to hook into city sewer, water, etc)

Also DO NOT put any MDF in this place - we have a part time maintenance guy that also works part time for the "High end" place in town that is relatively new construction - the owner of that place put MDF trim in there  ???? WTH -- it has pretty much guaranteed our maintenance guy will have steady paint work at that facility for the foreseeable future.

Buy hardwood trim and paint it if you like but educate yourself on the hardness level of various woods and ability to resist damage - painted trim looks good but if people are banging into it all the time it's the dumbest thing to install what is basically cardboard IMO.  Cost to upgrade will not be much if you know where to buy it.  Anyways - my .02   Also dont go cheap on the bathroom doors - I'd put 36" or the next size up for bathroom and room entry doors -- this could be mandated by code as every state is different as we've all talked but the larger the doors the less issue you'll have and larger doors and larger bathrooms can also give more leeway in taking care of heavier care patients which is more revenue for the facility.

@Luke Moore do you have any  prior LTC experience?

Also is your 16 bed facility brand new ground up construction or remodeling an existing home?  I'm not familiar with Iowas regs so have no idea if you could have 16 residents in a home plus setting or not.

We have a 36 bed ALF - 

Lower income - we figured out how to make money serving a market others do not like to serve -

It's been rewarding 

We have GREAT people/staff now --- People are one of the most important aspects

As for #'s - it really is a depends question as labor rates vary, state regs are going to vary on how you need to staff etc.

Here's the order of our expenses monthly:

Wages  (About 40-50% of revenue when we have a good month - fluctuates and this includes my salary which really at any other location may be a management fee etc - but wise to build something in)

Principal and interest payment

Food  (When I bought the business Food was higher than P&I but we got it lowered by tweaking some things - I'm sure we could tweak it a little more but I'm not the type that wants to wring every drop of blood out of a turnip - some waste, loss etc is going to happen - I have cooks that take good care of the residents and they are happy which is what I care about)

Electricity

Anyways wages by far and away are the largest expense item.

I went down this path so am a bit biased I guess - but find a struggling business or an existing one for sale and find a way to buy it and then improve the operations.  IMHO if you are starting a home plus (how it's known in KS and some other states - basically a residential house outfitted for senior care) there just isn't much scale there unless you want to be there 24/7.   Just my opinion - I've never ran a small Home plus, if I was going to get into them I've made up my mind it'd be in the same market as our existing operations or if in a new market at least 2-3 as a package deal close together so you could run them all as one larger business. 

All I know is Im happier than I have been in years - but this isn't for everyone and we have A LOT on the line.