All Forum Posts by: John Harvell

@Timothy, you ain’t kidding! I’m not from here originally but I’ve learned it’s a great place to raise kids and if you’ve got the ability to risk it all, you can become a good size fish in a complacent pond.

@Timothy, hi there. I live in the County and a majority of my investments are in Houlton. I’ve got 41 residential doors and 16 commercials tenants. Having a good time but it’s not without stress! I’ve not made it to the monthly meetups in Bangor yet, but soon! Welcome and good luck to you!

@Vern M., he’s going to be salary. Somewhere in the same vicinity. My only concern is my properties are within a mile of one another. Paint store, hardware store? All there. It’s his free time and doing mileage reimbursement that I grow concerned with. I’m leaning towards making it company like @James Wise says. Billboard up the vehicle and ease my concerns on mileage and documenting it. But I think I’m going to put a $$ figure on the vehicle and subtract that from the salary I was going to pay. Package deal. Thoughts?

I’ve had a gentleman working for me the last year as 1099. He’s coming on as W-2 in January. I’m providing a tractor to do snow removal as this year he was using his truck and plow to do my 5 buildings. I’m trying to figure out if as part of his employment package I need to provide him a vehicle to run around in? I’ve been paying him 45k a year and he provided his own vehicle but he used it for snow removal. I’m buying the tractor this year for use, I’m providing the fuel. I’m also going to start a retirement plan for him as well. Thoughts??

@Ryan Weeks, nothing actually. But in the four years I’ve owned property, I’ve only had one (last week actually) and she did it due to domestic violence concern and she notified me immediately. Maybe I’m wrong but I put a fair amount of trust on my tenants. Of course I do live in a more rural area and there’s prob a 3 degree separation between them and I!

@Clint G. Sorry for the delay! Yes sir, these do have a backup key that we hold. As for the actual door handle we just but a normal door handle with no lock on it.

@Clint G, I’ve got 35 units over 4 buildings and 90% I’ve put electronic Schlage locks on. I’ve got a code, my maintenance man has a code, and the tenant can pick their own code and change it as they need to or want to. About $95 but worth it to avoid lockouts, lost keys, blah blah.

@Mindy, I’m putting $2000/month into reserves at this moment. I’ve spent the last 4 years growing, renovating, and handling any repairs out of cash flow. Overall luck was on my side. But I feel now that I’m a little bigger I need to secure a good size account to cover emergencies. $50k is my goal. I should be there by years end.

@Suly Bolanos, good question. Considering I just did my taxes my two largest (that I can’t really control) are property taxes and utilities. Of course mortgage interest is high, repairs or upgrades are high too, but oil is a significant bottom line cost for me along with electricity. Property taxes eat up a ton too. Feel free to reach out

I just purchased a mix used commercial/residential 4400 square foot building. Do you recommend putting insurance to just cover ACV or replacement? Replacement is looking about 892k for a hefty premium. I can go down to 90%, get about $800k coverage for about 2750/year. ACV would be cheap cheap of course. Thoughts?