All Forum Posts by: Troy Young

I'm mainly in Port Huron on the east side of Michigan. I started in that range but now prices are about double from 3-5 years ago. If you can... pick some houses up for around $15-20k and hold on to at least a few as personal rentals. The return on investment can be great in that range. I do property management also, it's nice making money and learning without having to take the investment risk. But, when those properties appreciate in value it's nice to ride that wave by having your own rentals.  

If you own your own home you've already started investing in real estate. If you're renting buying a place for yourself to live is usually a great start. If you want to get into apartments maybe buy a duplex and live in one unit and rent the other to someone you know, if possible. Always continue to learn from others and put what you can into practice. You can always learn and prepare for future deals.  So even if you can't move on one today the knowledge will help you get their someday. 

Allowing pets without stipulations. I let a guy move in with a 2 dogs and he kept adopting all kinds of animals and ended up with about 30 before I knew it. No I stipulate how many are allowed on the lease as well as a charge for any extra animals not included in the lease. 

Go to a bank explain what you want to do and see if they will pre-approve you. If one won't check other banks and lenders and hopefully one of them will approve you for the purchase. If not you can talk to the seller directly or through a realtor and see if they will finance all or part of of the sale. Banks are probably more likely to finance but some sellers will finance especially if you have a good down payment.  

I would go with another realtor who will submit your offer unless you are already locked in with your current realtor. If you don't get it now and don't want to up your price, keep waiting and see if they drop their price. 

When I have a place about to open up I advertise a 1 day only showing and set the rent at a lot to average market value. I like to get about 10 people/families through and I give them a very basic application.  I let them know that I'm taking offers and plan to accept one by the end of the day. Part of the application I ask them how much are they willing to pay for it and what are they planning on doing to improve the rental. Most will give me a full offer along with cleaning and painting it. I've had one offer me $750 when I was asking for $650. I just accepted $700 for one that I was asking $750 for and turned down at least a dozen offers of $750 because the guy offering $700 was willing to put thousands out of his pocket into fixing it up. We signed a 1 year least so I took a loss of $600 in rent for a gain of a few thousand in property value. Plus if this tenant fixes it up how he wants it he's going to take care of it and not want to move in a year. I love it when people negotiate and throw options my way. I can always say no if I don't agree. 

I manage a few commercial properties. I'm use to residential evictions but may need to do a commercial eviction soon. I asked two ladies that work for the county where I pick up the paperwork for the residential evictions. One of them just told me it is different and a lawyer has to take care of it. The other lady told me she didn't know and told me to file the same papers as a residential eviction. I asked a lawyer and he thought it could be done the same way as a residential eviction.  How do you deal with businesses not paying rent?

I rarely raise rents. If I start off renting below the market value I may raise the rent a little bit every year or two. For those who started at the market value, I haven't raised their rent even though the market would justify it, as long as they have been pretty good to me. For others that give me problems, are late paying or call me for dumb things, like changing a light bulb or battery (both have been real calls), I charge at the higher end of the market rate and increase their rent as the inconveniences increase. Whenever a place becomes empty I usually fix it up and raise the rent for the new tenant. 

Foundation issues are one of the main things that I try to avoid. Some foundation repairs can be a easy cheap fix and others are a nightmare and fortune. If the foundation is messed up there can be a good chance that their has been some leaks which could easily mean some mold. I just spent about $4,000 fixing a foundation that had some mold starting to spread through the house and making the tenants sick. Earlier this year I spent over $6,000 sealing the basement and adding a sump pump. Neither one of those projects needed the outside dug up or the foundation to be rebuild so some issues may cost a lot more than what I paid for mine. Also, If you are jacking up the house or replacing parts of the foundation watch out for other damage like cracks in the walls or windows breaking etc. from the shifting. Those things shouldn't happen but if you try it with a couple buddies and it's pretty bad it's possible. I would get a professional opinion or just stay away from it. 

I would check with different camera options. Even if you throw up a dummy camera. I had problems with kid's damaging a building and throwing eggs and smashing pumpkins and a couple dummy cameras and a couple signs "smile you're on camera" has stopped all the problems for about a year now. Another option may be to eliminate the coins and instead offer free laundry facilities but also increase the rent a little bit to cover the "free" laundry.