All Forum Posts by: Steven Stokes

The three things I look at are rental history, employment history and last credit. Many tenants will have some dings on there credit and yet, have never missed a house payment. It's all a matter of what their priorities are. The same way they could have perfect credit and a terrible rental history.

Also side note about doing your own rental check. I always try to be very transparent about what information I will be gathering, who I'm gathering it from and how and when I'll be making a determination and I put the everything in writing.

That way, no one can come back and say I discriminated against them or broke the law in a certain way because my policies were in writing and followed. I got that tip from a real estate attorney.

I hope this helps and good luck

The only advice I would have if you are considering bringing in a partner is three things:

1. Have a solid full business plan of what you are planning on doing, what resources will be needed, who are the parties involved (attorney, accountant, other investors), what is the business strategy (wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold), what is the market (upper income, working class), economic factors (is it a raising area or declining area of job growth, population size, businesses moving in or out).

So many times I talk to new investors who have looked at one or two houses and want to borrow $100k from someone because it looks like a good deal. When they have no idea about the market, their strategy or our exit and getting the money back.

If you want to impress an investor have a rock solid plan that way, your investors will know that you're at least prepared and have done your homework.

2. A solid contract that spells out in black and white, who is responsible for what and who does what and who has final say on overall strategy and day to day issues.

This is where I see the most arguments and disagreements coming up when people don't agree on what should be done (especially if the deal is losing money) and everyone thinks they're in charge because they put the money in or they done all the work. I've heard it from both sides. Have an attorney draft an iron clad contract at the beginning and it will keep you out of court later if things go south.

3. Borrowing money from friends and family is tricky and I personally wouldn't recommend it. There's a saying I remember that goes if you want to ruin Christmas let a family member borrow money in June.

If you have to borrow money from friends or family make sure you both agree that it's just business and have an agreement for what you will do if the money doesn't come back the way you planned or doesn't come back at all.

That way everyone can prepare themselves for the worse and there's less likely to be hard feelings because it was already planned for if things went sideways.

That's my thoughts, I hope it helps and good luck!

Yeah, screen your tenants well and you will more than likely not have those kinds of problems.

The deductible is a bad idea because its customary that because they are renting the house they are not responsible for normal wear and tear (which is subjective in some cases) but its one of the few benefits of renting over owning a home.

If you start charging them deductibles then they might as well buy a house.

Just my opinion.

@Matt Granger What is the 20k down payment for is it another mobile home or something else?

If the 20K for repairs is for the mobile home it's going to eat up your cash flow again.

What specifically are you trying to accomplish?

@Kris Haskins

Yeah I've been owner financing them. I'm losing the appreciation but it's still a nice return and less of a headache.

@Aly W.

Haha yeah that's what I used to say until I got a call at 1 AM telling me a tenant in Iowa busted the water pipe and it flooded there basement.

So I'm going to need to rant for a second.

I have a few properties that are a buy and hold investment and I'm landlord. Most of them are run by a property management company which I could go on and on about the pitfalls of dealing with a PM. Because you never know, a PM that's been good for one quarter might be MIA the next.

Plus the tenant issues can sometimes be ridiculous.

I've been divesting in these units for awhile. But I'm probably going to unload the rest in 2014.

Does anyone think I should keep them or am I being too hasty to get rid of them especially since they are making a good profit.

Is he looking to buy a house for himself or invest in real estate?

Have you made any offers on this property yet?

If you can I would see if you could increase your down payment for reduced amount. Something like this

Purchase price $20,000

Down payment $4,000

Balance $16,000

Just because this is already a good deal doesn't mean you can't make it a better deal and it doesn't hurt to ask.

Just a thought

My gut is telling me that it's going to be a bumpy year for real estate considering interest rates going up to around 5%, tighter lending requirements, lower FHA loan limits, the big hedge funds and REITS moving out of the cash market.

On the other hand, inventories are low, distressed properties are being taken off the books and defaults are low.

So demand will outstrip supply in most areas of the country if only slightly.

But that's just what I'm feeling.

@Sekelle O.

One small tip that I have that helped me with my ads on craigslist is to put

"I buy houses in 24 hours"

rather than

"I buy houses fast,"

it increased my turn over ratio by 32% but you should be doing your own A/B testing to see what works best in your market but that one thing pulled more than any other.

Always be A/B testing your site's wording, colors, video, everything. Because you don't know what's going to move a person the most.

Hope this helps. Good luck