All Forum Posts by: Steven Stokes

@Wendell De Guzman

I purchase a lot of this stuff and honestly nothing new has been said since the 80's haha just kidding but only slightly.

Almost everything you don't know can be google'd and there are no silver bullets, secret methods, or hidden knowledge that a few investors are quietly using to make millions of dollars even though I receive one of those types of emails literally everyday from someone.

There's a saying that goes, "Everything that can be said, has been said but not everyone has said it yet." And that's what you are buying.

It's all out there somewhere.

Good luck :)

@Bill S.

That is good information.

I prefer the open house method because it shows a potential tenant that there is demand for the property and they better jump on it if they want the property. I try to schedule everyone at the same time and start a bidding war for who gets it first. Just kidding about the last part but you get the idea.

I think sensors on the all the appliances, plumbing, smoke detectors and windows that send an email to the landlord when it's malfunctioning would be great if it were not too expensive.

Being in second sucks because you can get wiped out if you're not careful but here are some things I would try:

1. Offer to buy the first back

2. Offer to reinstate the mortgage

3. Buy the mortgage when it forecloses.

4. Cash for keys

5. Negotiate anything the first mortgage holder is willing to accept

There's not a lot of strength you have in this position but you can still salvage this to keep from losing your entire investment.

@Cedrick Gervin

My question is why are you mortgage free on these properties? Financing is super cheap right now and the ROI from leverage is really good right now.

I understand being debt free on your personal property but maybe you might want to look further into the pros and cons of being mortgage free on all of your properties.

Of course, it al depends on your risk tolerance and investment goals.

Good luck

I would love to have an internet enabled lock that locks people out when there rent is due but that would be illegal, so maybe some kind of reminder notice or sound when they open their door.

Another thing that would be awesome is if a house could send a signal to investors driving by all the information about a house I have for sale with MLS comps, price and ARV

And last but not least, a pop up on Pandora and or Google ads that shows my house for rent with information when people drive near my place.

Just some things I would like if they were possible and not illegal

I've had this come up a few times. The only time I rejected it completely is when I had an investor who was subleasing the property from me and wanted to turn it into a group home for ex felons, because the neighborhood was pretty decent a group home with a dozen plus felons in one house would kill property values in the area. So for the greater good, I told him to limit the amount to three at most. Legally, in the area you can rent to up to six unrelated individuals but since we've done business before and he wanted to continue doing business with me, we came to an agreement.

Other than that, I've rented to felons, once to a pedophile and to more credit challenged people than I would like to admit.

As long as they play by the rules and stay out of trouble they deserve whatever they are legally allowed to have. But I do understand not everyone wants a felon or a pedophile living next to them. But as long as they are not breaking the law they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

Just my opinion.

"We learn to screen tenants better, keep out the bad ones, only accept the good ones, stick to our criteria, cover our backsides with specific clauses, etc. But where do all the tenants that we reject or don't even process go; I mean, they have to live somewhere???

Perhaps, slumlords are not simply people that are trying to cut corners or provide horrible conditions to earn an extra buck, but maybe that's just how they make their return on renting to tenants that no one else would dream of touching?"

@Patrick Connell

This is the post I was referring to. Although I may have expanded it a bit to more define the type of tenant.

@Justin Maynard

If you do not have MLS access make friends with an agent or someone who does and run your comps through them. If you have to promise to work with them if you see something attractive or offer to pay them a small amount for their time and/or access.

There are a lot of hungry agents out there who will be willing to work with you!

Like others I have crunched the numbers and financing leaves a better ROI.

I use cash to buy quickly and buy at a discount for buying quickly then financing the property to increase my ROI.

I don't like leaving money in a property especially since money is so cheap right now it's far better to leverage it than lock it up inside of a property.

The only exception to this I believe if it's your own property and you want the safety of never having to worry about someone beside the tax man coming to take it away. But as an investment leverage safely is better.

Just my opinion.