All Forum Posts by: Tim Jacob

This website is a great place to network and ask general questions about things.  There is bound to be someone local and knowledgeable in the area you want to go into on here.  A lot of the old blogs can answer quite a bit as well

You get a huge 10 year discount on taxes that usually amounts to around 50k on a typical A grade Baltimore updated row home.  Don't know if it will include 1 in an hoa or condo development  as they are typically newer but the chap part of it for 1 is usually not hard to be approved but might take upto a couple months so it could be an issue for hard money.  I think for construction you shouldn't have many hold ups.  I would have the windows ordered if need be.  There are parameters for how much you need to spend.  For the amount to spend on things it could sell for over the amount you need to spend I'm it.  You usually need to only get windows on the front side.  There are maps that determine if a property could qualify.

Have you thought about doing a chap renovation if you are doing them in the city.  A lot of the larger flippers do those combined with underpinning which is largely dependent on foundation type.  They can enhance the sales price quite a bit.

You can't really go into this not expecting them to require funds up front.  If your pm has noticed history with you of late payment you can see their skepticism.  If they are leasing the place as well and have money coming from other properties of yours they could deduct the due balance from that upon completion.  Of course after the leasing fee little will be left.  They need to worry about their payment like you do.  Thus meet them in the middle.  Hopefully over time more trust will be established and you can pay more conveniently.

1 thing I would really recommend is understanding that you will need to be in an A or B asset class to have a smoothly run operation.  You will at minimum need a realtor to lease the property for you.  You might be able to self manage otherwise from distance.  Those asset classes are going to be more than something C or D grade in terms of purchase price thus making things enticing g to buy those instead.  If you go C grade you will definitely need management  thus really not making more sense from a cash flow stance.  D grade I really don't recommend at all because you are talking about self management being the only way it works because reputable pms won't work there as it is not worth their time.  If you want to buy an hour or 2 away you could probably self manage and maybe lease it.   My market of Baltimore is affordable.  You can do well keeping in mind what I said.  If you go A or B grade landlord friendly might matter for rent control but if you purchase in a city with A or B grade young professionals the turnovers as they move to suburbs will void rent control issues.  Most important though is the asset class especially for long term buy and hold and someone that will need to delegate leasing and probably management.

One thing that should really be noted is quality pms don't manage in bad areas.  It simply isn't worth their time.  I understand that means you will have to manage it yourself and it's in an area you don't want to go to but it's the only way.   If you get a realtor for leasing that won't work either.  They will want to place someone and not spend months finding then.  This means they will place duds bc of the area and the patience it will take to find someone.  If you cant ir dont want to do thus then ypu should sell.  Cut your losses and use this as a learning oppurtunity more valuable than some real estate  bootcamp from a guru.

I wouldn't go by employment to decide to show them it.  You can only go by credit for that.  It sounds like where you are renting you will need voucher tenants because if tenant qualty.  I would just show them all that.  They are just showings so set a block of time and have abbuch come through then.  You can screen using databases as well.  You can't say everywhere in the city is bad and the county is good.  There are plenty of A grade areas in the city I have zero problems and will continue to where I can demand high credit scores.  Sounds like you are not in that sort of place but in the county in a c or d grade area.  Just recommend managing it yourself if its really low grade because you won't find go pm.  Good luck with that.

In Baltimore for section 8 they process it which takes atleast a few weeks.  After that they give you 1 day once they hit you with the voucher amount to accept it or reject it.  Try to get a general idea from the tenants and ask about their employment status.  If they don't know consider that.

With credit score I screen which is legal in most places including Maryland.  I would double check where you live for that.  I usually manage a higher asset quality that I can screen like that and not waste much time.  If you are in an area where getting 700 plus credit score applicants is hard don't know another way for you to pre-screen them for a showing.  Be careful with anything else.  You can get in trouble for income discrimination in the state of Maryland keep in mind.  If you are in this sort of predicament why not just let them see the place then if they want to follow through start processing the voucher.

Maybe instead of getting 10 you get 4 or 5 homes  in a cash flow market.  In that range you should be able to get high quality assets that are easy to manage.  They might be close to a 1% rule property and be relatively turnkey in that range.   Risk should be relatively mitigated.  You could amp your yield by managing remotely which could be done in that asset class.  I'd get a realtor who knows the area and has rental and pm or landlord  experience that could also lease it for you.  Think that's about what you can  get cash flow wise these days being remote.  You can try to get a full team of people working for you remotely but that is far more prone to failure.