All Forum Posts by: Sam McPeek

@Ben Leybovich I was just thinking of starting a post like this this morning, but come to find you beat me to it by a WHOLE DAY...man I got some work to do. Something about an early bird and all that...

I had a great full weekend, starting with watching my local hockey team work over our rivals on Friday night. I spent Saturday morning driving (while listening to BP podcasts) the neighborhood that our city officials in Richland, WA and my partner want to invest in, making notes of which blocks are worth having rentals in and which blocks are only worth knocking down and rebuilding. The rest of the day was spent on trimming out the electrical in a newly rehabbed unit, while listening to Bigger Pockets podcasts.

Sunday I spent working with my Jr. High class at church and then sitting down to watch the improbable comeback win of the Seahawks, including the fireworks show coming from a bunch of excited neighbors. I am still wearing my #25 jersey today, just to rub it in the face of all my cheese head friends. After the game I worked more on trimming electrical, did some budgeting, had some conversations with possible partners and ended the day eating and drinking beer/wine with my wife and our church small group. Perfect weekend.

@David Fritch Nice meeting you and 'the gang' (free group name idea there...) at Fuse last night! Can you fill me in on the name of the Facebook group? Also, let me know when you are meeting for planning...thanks.

For me, 2015 will be the real start of my REI. After spending the last 2 years recovering financially, we are planning on finishing out the other side of our duplex. We are also adding another unit above our garage to make it a tri-plex....then we will be truly house hacking!

Additional goals include buying at least one other property (2-4 units), and increasing my relationships with other investors in my area. Those are short term goals that should net close to $2K monthly.

Just revisiting this thread as I spent the last 3 days painting one of my units...It was brand new textured drywall so I had to prime one coat and then do 2 top coats. I sprayed and back rolled each of the coats, and it came out looking great! One of my new tools I went and got was a Purdy 18" roller frame. Makes it so much faster when painting a whole house! I'm not sure I will go back to my 9"...

Trim and doors in a couple weeks. For that I will use the Pro Classic as I said and spray with a 310 tip. Should work out good.

I would also look at using a good quality paint. I use Sherwin Williams Pro Classic Acrylic Latex and I always have them add Latex Extender (for better work time and leveling). The only times I have had problems with it is when it was waaaayyy too hot to be painting and the paint dried faster than it could settle out. Otherwise it is user friendly, and produces a durable finish!

I have a hard time with placement fees. It seems that this is a part of the business and something that the 8-12% monthly fee should cover. One of the PM's should school me on why tenant placement isn't built into the recurring managment payment.

I think @J Scott had an interesting idea. What about a bonus payment paid if/when the tenant renues the lease or stays longer than 12 months. That would be more palatable to me and rewards the PM for good management/screening vs. rewarding for turnover.

I also think that any placement type fees should also follow some kind of sliding scale depending on the vacancy of the area. The city I live in currently is sitting at a 2% vacancy, with the neighboring cities at 5%, and 6%. Seems that in this environment, it would not be as difficult/time intensive to find a tenant even if you are picky.

I'll be there! Wife and I have a goal to buy our next property this year...

If you go with the 203K, make sure to do a good job vetting your 203K representative...as they will be very influential in the success of your project. Often, if you have a good relationship with them, they will allow you to do some work yourself as long as your contractor is still responsible. The only rep I could find lived about 75 mins. away from me, which made each draw inspection more expensive...but the guy didn't care if I did my own work, so it was alright. Also, 50K worth of work puts it into a full blown 203K which complicates the process. It might be worth it to look at properties that would qualify for the Streamlined 203K, which is up to 36K worth of work (I think that's right).

Good Luck, it's an exciting process for sure!!

Can your tenant pay back the money he took? If the guy isn't in the lease, he has no rights to the property. Seems like this is mostly a personal issue for your tenant, but you are trying to help. Does you tenant belong to any groups that advocate on his behalf? Something like Goodwill or Columbia Industries? Maybe they can help out? Sounds tough.

I second @Michael Herr advice. Often the galvanized pipes are not large enough to carry enough water. I have had the city come out and test the pressure at the meter before, and hooked a pressure meter up on an outdoor hose spigot. That will help you diagnose further problem.

Also, check to see if any of the fixtures have low-flow showerheads/aerators. Sometimes those combined with low overall water pressure leads to issues.