All Forum Posts by: Suzanne Griffiths

We connected with @Jeremy Hoese recently and are liking what they have to offer so far.  Might be worth checking into.

Hey @Pauline Misiak I would suggest broadening your target area, making sure that you are looking at distressed or bank owned properties.  If you are willing to put a little elbow grease in you can get a better deal and put a little work into it that way.  Visit the MNREIA meetings the first Tuesday of the month.  Lots of great market information, people to network with and great monthly speakers to help broaden your knowledge.  Lastly, take action.  Start making offers.  If a traditional sale look for something that has been on the market for awhile, they may be more willing to negotiate or do seller financing.  Think creatively, drive for dollars, look at the vacant home lists and mail directly to those people.  Finding something off market may be a great solution for you.  You can always message me if you have any specific questions.

Benjamin Eccles you can also try sending them a direct mail card or letter. For these where I am being very targeted I'll use a nice greeting card. If it is someone you already know just go visit and start talking about what you are doing in real estate, if they know anyone looking to sell to please refer them. You can mention that you pay a finders fee for leads you close on (if you do).

While on a little getaway over the Labor Day weekend we found out that our offer was accepted on an exciting property in Edina MN. This is a highly desired area with great schools and above average income levels. Home prices range from $699-$1m+ Here are the rough numbers on our little diamond in the rough. $325 PP $250 Repairs $825 ARV Exciting thing is that we just had a comp Close on an almost identical home for $1.2m. We met the owners and got to walk their house before we offered on ours and we will have very similar finishes based on our systems. Looking forward to a busy fall. Will continue to add and share pics.

We are just a few weeks from putting our Hugo Property on the mark. For it's size this one has been a quick turn. We are a few weeks behind as we had to let Contractor #1 go partway through. Luckily we have a strong background in construction and saw all the red flags right away. There was a bit of rework to be done and of course he feels he was more complete than actual, but that will all be settled this week. Through the few bumps in the road it has been so fun to see this neglected beauty come back to life. She is 4600 SF on 2.5 acres over looking the Dellwood valley below. When we purchased the home it had Barney purple carpets, purple walls, purple marble in the front entry and faux Grecian columns. All of that is gone and a few "weird" layout issues have been corrected and this has become one beautiful home. Here are the rough numbers we are looking at: $375 pp $120 repairs $729 ARV After holding costs etc we should see somewhere around $125k and two very happy private investors. I am posting from the app and will figure out how to show a few photos when I get to my desktop.

I continue to get sidetracked and not back to the diary to continue adding on. Since my last update we have received our permit. With all of the delays from the permitting office our concrete contractor has been delayed. We finally have them schedule for Wednesday thank goodness! Foundations will go in this week, framing starts the following Monday and we are off to the races. The MEP contractors can get going and it ok falls in place from there. We are looking at 4 weeks to completion, faster if at all possible.

HI @Eddie Marcano Are your properties owned in an LLC or your personal name? Do you or have you resided in any of the properties? Those two things would be my litmus test. If the answer to both is no then I would think you would be ok. The other thing would be if you have had a mortgage on the properties within the last 7 years. Would it possibly show on your credit report? If not, then I would talk with your banker about it. Up to you about how much you feel comfortable disclosing or not disclosing.

HI @Nick Sexton  You have some great questions here.  As far as landlord rules regulations etc, I would bend the ear of a property manager in our area and ask questions regarding the tenant and landlord laws.  Seeing all of your guidelines for the type of person you want renting speaking to a property manager will probably be the best way for you to navigate this so that you aren't accused of being discriminatory. 

The caution I would have is that you need to be consistent and clear with your rental guidelines.  I listened to a couple of older podcasts in the last few days and they addressed some of your concerns (podcast 79 and low 80's).  You have to be really careful in the way you present your decline of a rental application.  

For example, if someone is section 8 and you prefer not to rent to section 8 tenants, you cannot decline them because they are section 8.  However, if they do not meet your income or credit requirements then that's different.  

It is really important that you take the time to create a clear document that defines your rental requirements and make sure that EVERY applicant get's it upon inquiry. 

It also sounds like you have some very specific and clear lifestyle  requirements.  You may have a difficult time find renters that meet all of them.  Prepare yourself for a long search and know that you can't kick someone out if they are making noise, but it isn't disruptive to the point that it is against any laws.

HI @Eddie C.  welcome!  My parents were teachers, thanks for being one and working with our kiddos!  Definitely get into the landlord and rental forums and listen to the pod casts about buy and holds.  There are so many different strategies that you can learn from.

Welcome @Jerad Gardner!  John has a great tip regarding the pod casts.  The forums are a great place to start as well.  Look for threads that have similar titles to questions you have.  You'll see some great information.  I'd be happy to answer specific questions as well.  Keep in mind that we are all growing our businesses so the generic "what do I need to know" may not get many responses.  Dig in, get your feet wet, read books, listen to audible and start gathering information. Most of all take action, doing that we'll all be here to help.