All Forum Posts by: Tj Simmons

@Anthony Wick We did have an Agreement in Writing, it was an Email, it was not a Contract that was Signed by both parties, but basically in writing saying what they agreed to do, and what I agreed to give them in return. 

I think in the end on a larger scale it would not make sense. Because I have one Single duplex, and I only have two tenants to deal with - its turning out to be not that bad of a situation, because I have vetted my Tenants, I have a relationship with them, and they have respect in me and I have respect in them. Because of that, I think that is why it is working better than some would assume or think. I am lucky for it to be working so well, but I think its because I have taken measures and made things clear and made sure we were very much so on the same page as each other. but I can see in many different ways - where this would be a horrible idea, and that I could easily get Burned, so Thanks everyone for the Comments! 

Geesh - Maybe a Video would be better than for you people who cannot seem to read a 1 minute read? 

Did not read but gave your Two cents! Nice! 

Good Morning! I am going to discuss a Duplex I own in the Creston Neighborhood of Grand Rapids, 49505 - Recently rated the HOTTEST ZIP Code in America to buy real estate in! 

I wanted to post about what I am currently doing with my Tenants, and if anyone else has had this Success, if anyone has ran into problems doing things this way, and if anyone has even BETTER ideas for me along these lines. 

I recently bought a Single Family home, and moved out of one Unit of my Duplex that I was living in, and Now have the entire Duplex rented out. The upper unit guy works at ServePro- so he is a pretty hands on handy guy, and the lower unit guy is a younger handyman that is in School. 

I have done some remodeling to both of the units myself prior to moving out of the apartment, I redid the Floors in both units, Partially remodeled the lower level Kitchen, and Added a Slider door to the back Laundry room to the backyard from the main Unit. They were all Added Value - but the projects themselves were sort-of - 80% finished rather than 100%. The Floors were never Trimmed, the Cabinet Hardware and the sides to the counters were never put on, and the paneling and Trim over the Slider door was never put on. So they were all Half finished Projects that I did not have the time or energy to finish (I work full time also, this is just a fun side thing) SO - I struck up a deal with them. Since I realized they were handy - I asked if they would do those things for me, if I could take money off of your Rent for the next month, and we could be even, and I could pay for the materials. So - first it just started out with what needed to be done to make the house look complete - the back wall with the trim, the Kitchen Cabinets, and the Counter sides - I took $150 off of his Rent to do those things for me - THAT IS SO CHEAP considering labor cost these days...(I realize would have been even Cheaper if I did it myself but I did not want too) So - this Idea kind of Snowballed and when the Lower unit got occupied by the younger handyman - I basically said up front "If I wanted things fixed up here and you felt like you could do it, could we make a deal and cut some of your rent for the month?" He was 100% in. So far he has Replaced the ceiling Fan in his Apartment with a way nicer one with much better lighting, Trimmed the Entire Apartment, Fixed the Faucet and the Bathroom Tub Faucet in his Unit (They were not "Broken" just not working Properly and could have created a problem if not taken care of) AND he went and Picked up a new fridge that I bought, moved it into the apartment, and is now handling getting rid of the old fridge! 

So - all of this has been pretty exciting to me - Getting Sent pictures of my Apartment just looking better and better when usually the horror Stories are your Tenants making it Worse and Worse! They are just slowly but surely adding value to my home itself, when I am eventually ready to sell it. And then on top of that - they get to live in a nicer unit themselves, while still paying the same monthly rent. 

So - besides sharing that Idea to others that might have handymen in their units (Obviously it's good for Maintenance of your property, but they always say in real estate the unpredictable cost are where you lose money, so let's say I did not fix that Facet and my Entire lower bathroom Plumbing went to **** and I had to pay heck of a lot more to fix it to a real plumber then just a quick replacing of a faucet that is not working properly) I also wanted to Write this to hear everyone else's two cents on the Idea - what should I be afraid of? how could I make this situation even more of a Win win for myself and my Tenant? 

Thanks for Reading - I hope everyone had an amazing Labor Day Weekend. 

TJ Simmons.

@Gary C Jones all together about $5000 - I have a menards credit card which is a department store here that I just used and paid off over time. And then myself and a buddy of mine did the labor and I paid him maybe $1800 total.

@Gary C Jones 85%

Hello Everyone - My name is Tj Simmons, and I live in Wyoming Michigan. I am 22 years old and coming up on 5 years in the Insurance Industry. My Dad started in the Industry in 2000, and my Grandpa in 1967. 

My mother is a Realtor in West Michigan along with her Husband, my Step Dad, and they have been doing that for about 20 years now, so I personally feel my Mom was a big reason why I have such a passion for property, and why I love real estate so much. 

My Dad always had properties growing up and my Mom also - so I always kind of got Passive income, and how it worked. When I turned 19 I bought my first 5 bedroom 2 bathroom house in the shittest part of Grand Rapids...Stewart St. Burton and Division. I would hear Gunshots every night! And I know, I know in perspective it is really not THAT bad of an area...But I was 19 and Grew up in Hudsonville Michigan, We are in the Guinness world Record book for having 146 Churches on ONE Street, I thought everything was shady! 

So I bought the 5 bedroom 2 Bath House and I put an Ad out on Craigslist and Facebook for Roommates. I was going to live in one of the rooms, and rent out the other 4 rooms for $400/Month each. Great idea Right? My mortgage was only $737 so I was going to be Ranking in the Cash at 19! I never got good Roommates. One of them was a Drug addict that I had to kick out...One of them Trashed my upstairs room and then left EVERYTHING in it...One of them was good at paying on time...but also good at eating my food, and using the living room, and having friends over all the time....So I was able to handle that stuff for a while...But then I got a Girlfriend...my First serious relationship, and I said - alright, time for some privacy! So I ended up serving all of my Roommates a 30 day notice about 1 and 1/2 years after buying the Single Family home, and I tell my Mom that I want to sell it, and buy a Duplex. I hated living with Roommates, and I was ready for my Girlfriend and I to have our Own space, but I still wanted that Passive income, or 'House hacking" so I thought Duplex was a great way to go. So we sold the Single family home and took the money from that and used it on the Down payment for a Duplex in 49505 - which was just rated as the BEST neighborhood in America- so that is pretty freaking cool. We moved into the Upstairs of the Duplex, and we left the Tenants that were previously living in the downstairs...Their Daughter was living in the UPstairs apartment and we told her she would have to be out at Close so we could move in. I should have just kicked out both Tenants at that point - because the next 7 months became a living Hell because of the Downstairs tenants...We ended up in a lawsuit and they left late and their Dog bite my Fiance - CRAZY **** that I did not want to deal with, but had to deal with, because I was their landlord (Learned my lesson quick) So moving forward - I saved up some more money, and I refinanced my Duplex, I got the PMI off my loan, and I changed it to a Conventional loan, so if I wnated to do an FHA again, I would have the option. My Duplex reapprasied at $159k! one Year after I bought it for $100k! So I got a HELOC, and I bought a Single Family home, and my Fiance and I moved into that - even MORE privacy! so now we have the Duplex Rented out both Floors for $900/Month, and we are living in our Single Family home basically paying a few hundred dollars out of our own paychecks to live. My Goal is by 30 to have 10 properties cashflowing a good amount of money, so that our financial freedom is good enough where we could literally do anything that we want with our time.

That is my Real estate story so far. Along the way I work in Insurance, and I work with Amazing people! Amazing Mentors, friends, family members, people that are giving me GOOD knowledge of this industry to set me up for Success, and I could not thank them enough! I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing people in my career that have shown me some amazing things. My Goal is to Continue in my Insurance Career, my Dad is 53 years old Today! (Happy Birthday Dad!) and I hope someday that I can take over the Family Business, and continue Running it, and Continue my Real estate investments. 

Thanks for reading! If you want to Connect feel free to reach out! Would love to chat on here and if you are in Michigan at all would love to meet in person. You never know what expanding your circle could bring, so I always like to say it never hurts to at least have a conversation with someone. 

I am an Insurance Agent who works in the Real estate Space with Investors, working with large Property Schedule policies. 

I am curious who you as an investor know is a Good insurance Carrier, who you use, and who you Avoid, and who you have heard scary Stories about? 

I will tell you personally working in Michigan - I love to work with Fremont Insurance, they are able to do many 1-4 Unit Buildings on one property Schedule...A lot, and its a really good policy, and the billing is pretty easy, so I love working with them...And they are always very good with Claims. The Coolest part is when my Client gets a new Buy and Hold, I can simply just Add it to the Existing policy - rather than going through writing him a new one, So he just tells me the Address and I just add it to the policy. 

Just curious to hear Investors thoughts on who is good to use with Insurance, and who is not. 

Thanks! 

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $100,000
Cash invested: $5,000

I bought this Duplex and did light renovations to both Units. I refinanced it and pulled out money to buy another house. I have both units rented out for $900/Month and the mortgage is $699/Month. Tenants pay for all utilities and Trash. I pay water. First actual Rental Property that I own. During the Refi they Appraised my Duplex at $159k, just 1 year after I bought it for $100k.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I have had an interest in passive income from a young age, and my Mom has been a realtor all my life. Having a good mentor and someone who you have watched do it, helped me make the choice to actually do it. You just need to make the first step, it was not that hard!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This deal was listed as a single family home for $105k. There was not many people showing it. When we showed it we found out it was a Duplex, and it was in an up and coming neighborhood, so we hoped on it as quick as possible.

How did you finance this deal?

I did an FHA Loan, I was only 20 at the Time. I put down 3.5% on $100k. It was not hard for me to save that up, I sell Insurance at my Families agency so I just saved up Paychecks, and paid the downpayment.

How did you add value to the deal?

Well....When I bought the house it was pretty beat up...I kicked out the tenants and renovated and the tenants were paying $500/Month and now I am getting $900/month out of both units.

What was the outcome?

Greatness!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Kick out tenants AT CLOSE. do not deal with the headache...IT WAS A NIGHTMARE

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My Mother - Amy Reedy - she is the Bomb.com. She worked for Greenridge for some time, and now she just joined Country Hills Real estate.