All Forum Posts by: Stephanie W.

Just a quick question, how much would a house like that rent for? Maybe not rehabbed quite so nicely, of course, but if you had bought to buy and hold, how much rent would you get? I am forever AMAZED at the difference in rental/FMV costs around the country. In Roanoke, VA we could have bought that house for $40,000 and ARV would be around $110,000, without knowing the comps. Just curious about your rents.

1) I send birthday cards to each tenant with a $5 Starbucks card

2) I send a postcard to each 'door' once a quarter, asking them if there's anything I can do for them.

3) On a tenant's one year anniversary, I give them an 'upgrade' of their choice, within reason. It's usually something I would do when they move out anyway, I just get to do it with them there.

4.) I have five properties and eight doors, I've never had a move-out, a late payment or an eviction. Special attention works.

@Lee, did Michael Woodward ever respond to you regarding his flip checklist?

As I stated before, I would not invest in that part of Roanoke. I'm hoping that there will come a time when that area is transformed into her former glory as there are many past time gorgeous old homes there, but the time is not yet. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have regarding the Roanoke area.

I find it interesting everyone spoke of inspections in the light of a tenant doing something 'wrong' or harmful to the property, not as a way to do preventive maintenance on power plants, hvac, and appliances. We have a schedule we keep every season change for cleaning coils, cleaning gutters, caulking windows and the like. In all my years of renting sfrs, I've never had a tenant do something harmful or wrong to one of our properties. I think once a resident knows we care and care a lot, they care too. I don't have this schedule written down anywhere but on my calendar and it just moves from one year to the next. You can get ideas by searching for 'home preventive maintenance'

Hey, Nathan, did you ultimately end up with this property?

I'm in and I'll help.

Thanks, @Joel, but wouldn't they consider the rents from the houses as income? We bought the first one in 2011. I always thought rental house mortgages were based on proven rents, is that not correct?

Thanks, #Ali... I'm closing in on 60 yrs of age and having to make mortgage payments for the rest of my life is just abhorrent to me. I left about $100,000 in savings and bought the properties very well, so we have a good amount as backup if something goes awry. The properties are diverse and I've never had a vacant month. There is no way I would have returned 15% on the money sitting in stocks and mutual funds so it feels very much like we did the right thing. I didn't really know how much I would be leaving on the table by not leveraging these babies, but in the end it doesn't really matter since we are watching the world go by in our catbird's seat!

So rarely does one's questions on these blogs/forums get answered with a resounding common response! I just wasn't seeing the forest for the trees, I guess. We had a goal to cover our expenses left to bear from his lost income and we've done that and then some. So, now I need new goals! We are so comfortable and so happy right now in our new found business that unless I'm just leaving a gazillion dollars on the table, I think my new goal is to just keep on keepin' on! Thanks for your input.