All Forum Posts by: Shawn Clark

If the water bill is the difference between making it work and not...you might be cutting it too close. Water bills are only about $30 per month, which is expensive, actually.

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Keenan Rusk:

Hi fellow BP members,

I'm looking at a 2-unit property in Baltimore City for a potential house hack.

In researching market rents in the area, I've come across few posts about utilities in the city. One of my concerns is the water bill. The numbers work if the tenant pays water, otherwise the property won't be an option for me. What I've gathered so far from other posts on BP is the following:

-Property owners are ultimately responsible for ensuring the water bills are paid

-A tenant who is in default of the water bill for >90 days can result in a lien being placed on the property and unless stated explicitly in the lease, they cannot be evicted for nonpayment

-These consequences don't apply to sewer, gas, and electric bills

For landlords and property managers, I have a few questions:

1.How are you ensuring tenant compliance with water bills in multifamily homes, aside from proper screening? Can water and the other utilities be separately metered?

2. If you pass this responsibility to the tenant, do you "inflate" the rent cost and pay water bill yourself or stipulate water as a deliverable with rent each month and nonpayment as a condition for eviction? Given that Baltimore City water bills are increasing each year, it seems fairly easy to list above market rates for rent.

Thanks,

Keenan

The water bill can become rent, and I have it in the lease that way.

I've done it several ways, depending on the tenant, but none of mine are multi-family.

1) Tenant pays the bill directly, but it remains in my name. I just give them a copy to pay from.

2) I pay and the tenant reimburses me. The water bill never leaves the landlord's name anyway, so this is the most common method.

3) The rent is increased and water is included. But the problem with that is that they have no incentive to keep the water usage down and you can get some crazy water bills sometimes.

Hope that helps.

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Darryl Zuber:

Cashflowing properties are far and few between here in Canada, especially around the GTA ( greater Toronto Area)

but i'm looking to getting into some deals as an investor and partner up in some joint ventures , as well as get some capital investors to help me in getting my journey growing as well .

I still plan on investing in Canada unsing multiplexes and you never know also partnering up there as well.

I'm currenly looking at deals in Ohio, Flordia, Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, I just need to get started.

Are you looking for multiplexes in those other cities too?

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

The value difference your seeking, particularly given your appraisal which to some extent is relative, will not be successful. However, if you send it in with the appraisal, maybe something will happen...but dont count on it.

It's off by 20%. That isn't enough to get it accepted? It's not like it's $1,000. It's more like $20,000.

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Brad Shepherd:

@Mike Hicks

Regarding your comment about SEO challenges with the template site services like Wix. I've never used one. I have built a bunch with WordPress before but I've been curious about Investor Carrot and Lead Propeller for the sharper looking site and lead generation, but had the fear of it being like Wix and unable to rank. What do you think about those ones? Are they in the same category as other template services, making it impossible to rank them?

Impossible to rank them? SEO is half of their purpose it seems. Personally I will be using FB ads or other PPC, but when I Google "sell my house fast Baltimore" almost every organic hit on the first page is IC or LP. So they definitely rank.

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Stephanie P.:

@Trevor S Foster

We're down here in Southern Maryland. The Gaithersburg REIA is excellent as Ned Carey mentioned (not to mention the massive REIA in Towson and BWI). Greg Bennett's Meetup on the first Wednesday of each month is fantastic as is Andre Johnson's Deals Meetup at National Harbor.

I don't see the need for another meetup. Let's make the ones we have around the area bigger.

We're having a record year this year in fundings and we've already exceed our goals. I'm looking forward to a more strategic marketing campaign next year that will hopefully keep the party going.

Best of luck in your wholesaling goals.

Stephanie

I need to catch up with the REIA in Towson. Do they have a website? When do they get together?

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Jody Schnurrenberger:

@Russell Brazil, thanks for answering so promptly. I wonder why it's required in some states. That would REALLY suck if you sign, then don't like your agent. It seems like it gives them an opportunity to be lazy if they so choose and I'm stuck.

I'm an agent. Signing a rep agreement with an agent should never cause you to be or feel "stuck". I always give people an option for an immediate out. It's just a friendly agreement anyway. Same with the listing agreement. No one should have to work with someone they don't like.

2 Votes

Originally posted by @Sean Dolan:

@Will F. Technology is always changing, and I don't claim to know everything. If you can give me some examples of sites that cost $100-300, I'll point out where money is being lost due to inefficiencies, load-times, errors, etc.

To put some number to it - for every additional second it takes for a site to load, you lose, on average, 7% of your conversions. A few seconds in and you've lost 21% of your conversions, and people are getting less, not more patient. So, considering the loss of 21% out of your conversions (for some that is 1 home a month, for some, 5 homes a month?), and the difference between $300 and $15k isn't such a big deal.

I agree, and definitely encourage new investors to sign up with Investor Carrot or Lead Propeller, until they get their lower-funnel worked out. I'm a big fan of pay as you go - don't buy $200 shoes to run your first 5k, when you barely even know if you like running yet. But, when you're doing a marathon a month, those $200 shoes are a no-brainer.

Happy to continue discussing this, if you'll provide me some examples of websites in different prices ranges, I will give you my honest opinion, based on my experience. If I can't find anything wrong with the site, and you know someone who creates them for cheap, I'll be happy to recommend them to you and my investor clients.

My company's bread and butter is PPC management, not website development, we develop websites infrequently, usually for clients that we need updates to in order to improve PPC, or really fun clients that come across our desk (like NFL teams) so I'm not trying to sell anyone website services here, and even if I were, I'd still give you my honest opinion. Thanks!

I understand you have seen similar results in leads between the two sites, but what is your review of the back end of each? How easy they are to work with, customize, etc. Load speed? Tie in with email services? CRM? Etc.

Thank you in advance!

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Mark Laudato:

First post here! Been a Pro Member for some time, but time to ask some ?'s

So, after much research on the marketing sides of things, I decided to pull the trigger on Investor Carrot. Love the site, set up was easy and was in full on training mode this week. I look forward to working the SEO and PPC to generate leads.

As I emailed another local investor he noticed my email signature now reflected my new website and that we buy houses cash and fast. He immediately emailed back and said you need to take that down or the State of Ohio will fine you thousands of dollars. Now, I am not an agent and I am newer to investing over the last year.

I guess the issue is that I must be able to PROVE that I can purchase the houses or it's frowned upon or even illegal in Ohio. I understand there is concern for hacks tying up the property and trying to wholesale tons of deals this way and that is by no means my intention. BUT, if I don't have a bank account showing I have the full funds to cover the costs of buying house (I use a hard money lender on most of my deals) I can get into trouble.

Anyone have any insight? I hate to have to cancel already and I was really pumped to start the hard work of getting the site ranked high in SEO. This is by no means my only way to generate leads, but one I was/am excited about. My wife was a realtor back in 2001 but let it fall apart once we got married. We looked into a renewal but it's been too long. She's willing to get her license again...Would that be advantageous to us in this matter at all?

Appreciate any advice!

-Mark

Let us know how it goes. I'm about to pull the trigger on a site also, probably IC, but not certain yet.

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Luan Becerra:

Hi @Trevor Mauch:

I actually use your website for my business and it has been working well for me so far. I love the template you have set up, very informative support and tutorials and easy to customize. I have the Pro package and am really satisfied.

Sell My House Kauai is my main motivated seller generating website, and I love it.

Although, now that I am getting my Hawaiian real estate license working with KW Kauai, I will need a whole remodel of my current website to format the code of ethics and way of working agency/brokerage style to help buyers and sellers. My question is does your company do this? By "this" I mean, actually design agent websites, not just investors. Let me know!

Thank you very much,

Aloha

What did you end up doing? Your domain won't come up now. I am an agent and also an investor. I don't see why you can't have one website as an investor and another one as an agent. That's my plan anyway. As long as you disclose both when you meet with someone it should be fine. Curious what you are up to now since getting your license.

1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Shawn Clark

Shawn Clark has started 1 posts and replied 183 times.

Post: Baltimore City - Water Bill

Post: Baltimore City - Water Bill

Post: Canadian looking to invest in the USA

Post: Appeal Tax Assessment to Increase Cash Flow in Baltimore City

Post: Domain / Website / Business Email

Post: How many investors from Maryland are on biggerpockets?

Post: Agent asking for $5000 upfront compensation. That normal??

Post: Investor carrot or lead propeller?

Post: Investor Carrot Ohio

Post: investor carrot websites