All Forum Posts by: Christos Philippou

@David Torres nails it... as soon as somebody walks down the hallway and sees that bathroom, they will (fine.. may*) be instantly turned off, and think in their heads they have to gut the entire thing. The average consumer will think it will costs 10s of thousands to completely redo the whole bathroom, while we all know it's just a few grand... I'd do some aesthetic rework on it

Hahaha I immediately started laughing out loud here... @Brian Mathews you're right... I think it makes me crack up even more that people are getting so serious about it lol

Howdy @Aaron Xie ... I think @David Zheng absolutely nailed it on this one, something it doesn't appear that anybody else has brought up. When being a landlord, you want to make additions/changes/upgrades that will increase income. Upgrades and renovations should make living arrangements more attractive and more comfortable. 

Since the hot tub wouldn't even be yours, it adds no value to your property. If rent increased by $X to allow them to have a hot tub, that might be taken into consideration more. But to have no added benefit to you, it doesn't make sense. 

Hey all! I recently purchased and moved into my primary residence on a nice quiet street filled with nothing but 3/1s to 3/2 townhouses. I noticed across literally across the street was a completely vacant house, with a boarded up front door and windows covered in blinds, shades, and newspapers.

I did a quick parcel search in my county and found the owner lives not too too far away. It appears it may have been passed down, co-owned, or settled when somebody passed away back in 2007. I assume it has been sitting vacant since, or at least for a couple years. I am very intrigued.

Can somebody give some guidance to help out with what to say in a letter to the owner? I would GREATLY appreciate any guidance.

Hey @Cris Johannsen, from the research and reading and chatting I have done regarding HELOCs vs cash out refis, HELOCs are only for primary residences.

Wait a second... so before talking to you, they went out and bought all the cameras and spotlights and stuff??? 

That's pretty bad. I wouldn't pay for that at all. It's not your responsibility. If you leased the rental without these features in place and they agreed, that's not your job to spend an extra $4,000 for something extra they want. They also should have renter's insurance.

Now, if you reallllllly WANT the systems set up for future tenants, a payment plan would be a FANTASTIC idea. It's free financing from your tenants and you get to keep them when they move out. 

@Dustin Cook nailed it. I couldn't care less how much money another person is making if I am buying their property. I am buying the property I am interested in for 1 reason, to make ME money. If it happens to also make another person a ton of money as well, cool. 

I'm not interested in doing all the hard work (right now) that they had to do with the rehab, permits, zoning, etc. If the "flip" is done well and NOT done cheaply, it should be fine. Then again, it's much harder to get a "deal" from a turn key IMO.

I have a friend that is an accountant and I have had a similar discussion with him about how to manage my rentals in terms of finances, repairs, costs, income etc. Since I only have 2 properties and 6 units, he said a good, well managed, well laid out excel workbook would be fine. I agree with @Allen Hayes I think. For people who aren't HUGE and completely overwhelmed, I feel like quickbooks may be a waste and slight overkill. Excel is perfect for me now, but I am sure I will need to "upgrade" down the road.

This is going to be 100% subjective @Bill Grose. There won't be a definite answer. It is completely dependent on what you are looking to do or what you are comfortable with. Some people like Apple products, some people like PC machines. Some people like iPads, some people like other tablets.

I have a MBP and an iMac. I bring my laptop around with me when I am on vacation, going to a friends, or doing whatever. Then I have my iMac in my office for when I want a larger screen to work on.

I just came back from a weekend trip to the beach where we rented a house. I am sure this house gets rented out by hundreds of different people each year. They had those electronic locks where you type in a code and the deadbolt electronically unlocks. It was super cool to see it in person.

It makes sense, for me. No tenant will ever get locked out, since you would have a master code list by apartments you own. Also, it costs $0 to "rekey" since you can change up the code. I loved it. I might grab a few to test them out.