All Forum Posts by: Steve Osowicz

Hey @Zack Aboona also here in Kentucky I have heard pest control companies say, "you house either has termites or will have termites", I feel like that is more of a tagline to sell their services, but the point is, it is common. Maybe your spouse and you could talk to the company that did the inspection and get a sense of what the cost to treat would be and what they think about it, then get 1 or 2 more companies to take a look and give you an estimate. If you get the same answers from all the companies it should give you a good sense of how to proceed and if you might get on a plan where they treat for termites and continue on a quarterly or yearly basis. In ten years you would be able to provide a file and let a potential buyer know you not only addressed a potential issue, but you, on the advice of the pest control professional, continued to ensure it wouldn't be a problem in the future for them. 

@Matthew Norton just to add to what @Jay Leisten said:

1. Real estate offers a pretty low barrier to entry both in terms of time and education costs. I looked at 2019 for my realtor, mls and commercial exchange access I paid around $1,262 for the year. Plus your brokerage "desk fees" or however the brokerage determines agents costs, I know some are very minimal and some seem very high. You also have your continuing education cost for classes and every 4 years your "Core Class", business cards, website, your marketing and advertising etc. It can be pretty costly and a lot of agents are out after a year. 

2. A lot of brokerages don't care if you work one week or one full year as long as you are paying your fees and bring a deal or two, they get their portion. If you really want to learn, the best way to learn is with a veteran agent or mentor whatever you want to call it.  

3. If you are starting out, investors might not be the optimal choice, likely you would make more money and learn with people buying and selling their primary residence. Of course that is up to you, it may be that you just are more interested in the investment side and that is where you want to focus. 

4. You should reach out to @Jay Leisten especially he is offering a talk, it's good to speak with someone who has been involved with real estate and investments. 

@Account Closed funny you should mention that, I spent the last 2 months researching the gulf coast side of Florida for a property that I could stay in maybe a week or two and rent out the rest of the time. I could not find what I was looking for, likely due to prices increasing so quickly, it feels like before the 07-08 recession when people were buying waiting a year to three and selling for $50, $60 $70k higher. Management is going to be high unless you are handling that yourself, 18 to 25% for a short term rental. The area you look in (not necessarily Florida) will likely have a season and if you are counting on a high occupancy you will need to adjust your numbers based on that. Personally, I think now is not the time for purchasing a short term beach rental that you want to cash flow. If you want to reach out I can give you a spreadsheet for you to run numbers on a vacation rental. Good luck. 

@Ben Wernert I’ll start by saying the issue with a fish tank is not the fish itself, but if the tank leaks/breaks that is a lot of water in one area. The other item is if you start to say, well tenant A can have a pet but tenant B cannot I would just keep a standard policy in place that applies to all tenants and just be upfront, i.e. yes you can lizards/snakes but no cats, dogs, gerbils etc. also, make sure you don’t call a pet fee a deposit, a deposit is refundable while a fee is not.

@Nicholas Gessner actually that happens to be one of my listings, zoning is area specific, LH (limited historic) where you are looking is designated ground level can be retail/office, upstairs can be residential. You are looking at a 30 yr mtg which is prob a residential loan product that allows 1-4 units, but I don’t know about a retail mix. Otherwise it would need to be a commercial loan product (maybe a loan officer can weigh in). Feel free to ask any questions about the property.

Welcome to the promised land @Scott Kimber, in my opinion, Lexington, more specifically the ancillary areas are probably going to provide you with more available properties. Louisville (and surrounding) gets picked over pretty well. Looking at the areas of more or less desirability really depends on your goals, in Louisville (Jefferson County) you can typically find that the rents are the lowest towards the west closer to the river and increase as you move east. Lexington has more of "pockets" of areas with higher/lower rents. 

Welcome @Jared Adams, I think Kentucky is a good spot to grow a portfolio, rents are pretty high although the last 2 years have been more difficult (but not impossible) to get a really "good" deal. 

@Ramzi Nuseibeh yes, you can have more than one property and should hold that money in a designated account separate from other funds. You can earn interest on that account as long as you make the tenant aware of that fact and they agree to it specifically in the lease. 

@Joel Owens Definitely price was a major factor for purchase, could be used for warehouse/shipping although the large garage door does not have a dock. Previously was a suit factory then a bowling alley that was run down and was not interested in selling alcohol (major issue for a bowling alley) finally a bingo hall, just not a bustling industry demand for bingo. 

It is an outlying area of Louisville Metro, as Louisville pushes out it will continue to grow barring any major financial disasters. I have some of the out-lots listed near the interstate (about 3 miles away from this building) with restaurants, hotels, retail and apartment complex being built, with industrial behind that (already sold and developed). 

B class property, really just an open shell, constructed of steel and concrete, I've attached an image of the floor plan, slightly changed with office removed and things like that. 

A new animal hospital/vet clinic just opened about a mile away (4 vets plus staff) dealing with large animal and pets.

We have been approached by several smaller businesses to lease 2000 to 5000 sq ft and we may end up going in that direction, were just hoping to have a single tenant or purchase.  

@Omar Khan Marketing will be fairly standard, social media, local paper and there is large sign on the road that is grandfathered in before signage regulation became more difficult. Local pricing is between $50 to $80 for an outside unit and there are some temperature controlled units $114 to $150. 

One of the advantages we have is visibility, it is right off the road, whereas the others are either off smaller roads or sit back off of a main road (there is one very close but sits back off the road, they would be the main competitor), traffic count is around 35,000.

I would definitely not go from self storage to multifamily, the only thing I would do if I sold would be 1031 into a shopping center/strip center (which is my preference and where I am most comfortable). 

I agree, I do think this area will experience a lot of growth (it has been projected) but I want to stay conservative with the numbers just in case. 

Thank you @Ash Patel I will check out their setup, I go to northern KY a couple of times a year for a client up there, looks like it's time to take him to lunch. 

@Kay Kay Singh Now that is something I had not considered, it is actually right in front of a large apartment complex. I know the area would be too large for an entire laundromat, but it can be split into several sections given the different access points, something to consider, thank you.