All Forum Posts by: Wes Parkinson

You made the right call.

On my first rental, a duplex, I moved in a family with marginal credit, but glowing recommendations from their previous landlords.  Eventually, the other side of the duplex became available, and they had some folks that they knew who were looking.  Again, marginal credit, but great references. After move in, everyone stopped paying rent.  We got them out fairly quickly, for California, but realized that they had been using each other, and other friends and family, as "previous landlords".  Basically, they pull this stunt and stay in a place right up to edge of eviction, and then move out, so there is no eviction history.  It had never occurred to me to cross reference applications.  Unless I can verify the number of the previous landlord, I tend to discount the references.  Even if I do speak with a landlord, I keep in mind that they might give a positive reference to insure that their "headache" tenant moves out.  Their credit record is the best empirical barometer that I've got.

I've got to agree with Chris, you've got to consider your area and market.  The general rule of thumb that I use in CA, is buy at 100X monthly rent or less, sell at 200X monthly rent or more.  Not hard and fast rules, just general gauges.  My wife is from Dearborn, so I Googled Grandville, and, clearly, your not in the Upper Peninsula.  It looks like you're near Grand Rapids, and have a job center to commute to.  

I'd crunch the numbers again at $850-$900/mo per unit rental income and 85% to 90% vacancy, and see if that'd work for you.  Also, I'd get an estimate on insurance, and see if there is a premium in your market for providing lawn/landscaping service.  I'm ultra-conservative, so, depending on your risk tolerance, you might reach a different conclusion, but it looks good to me.

 The information that you've given would make me say no.  Being in the county seat of an ag area, I've seen stuff like this.  In a worst case scenario, the people you're looking at wind up being "judgement proof", so if it goes south, you've got no real recourse.  You can't even prove their identity.  I'm not trying to impugn the reputation of the folks you're looking at, but there are way too many red-flags for my comfort.

That being said, I had occasion to rent to my daughter's preschool teachers family.  He had really bad credit, and hers never checked out.  Three years in, and they've been some of my best tenants.  Rent is never on time, but they always pay plus a $25 late fee, and the place is in good shape.  Point being, if you've got some undisclosed knowledge of the folks, it's a different story, but with the information given, I'd eat the lost rent and look at the next app.

Good luck, and, please, keep us appraised of your decision. 

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your replies and kind words.  I'd like to build a bit on Kyle's response to defend Stockton.  I joke that I actually like it here because the city has a lot going for it if you look past the media, and its own citizens.  Too many of us like to be "hard" because we're from Stockton.  But, Stockton's biggest problems are also some of it's biggest strengths.  Mainly transportation.

We've got a deep water sea port, multiple interstate freeways, rail lines, and an airport that will take an USAF C-5 Galaxy heavy lift transport plane.  Paraphrasing Mike Fitzgerald, who writes for the local paper, "Stockton needs to stop trying to be a Champagne town, and embrace it's Budweiser capabilities."

I really believe Stockton can be a great hub of shipping throughout the globe, but we need to recognize it for what it is.  And invest here.  There is a ton of potential for good blue collar jobs here.   And I'd love to help anyone out who can see the potential; whatever support and information I can provide.

Thank you again, and I'll get off my soapbox now.

Congratulations on the car.  I need to wipe the drool off of my desk now.

In addition to rental properties, I own a gas station, and love to see some of the cars that come through.  Often times I'll go pump gas, just to checkout the cars.  One of my favorites is a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner that, according to the owner, "Will pass almost anything on the highway, except a gas station."

But the Diablo is truly an awesome car.  Congrats again.

Hey all, 

I just made my first post, and it wasn't to introduce myself, so I think I'm already doing this backwards.

My name is Wes Parkinson, and I've got eight rental units here in Stockton.  I'm actually a licensed civil engineer, and was working as a project engineer/manager on municipal capital improvement projects (water treatment plants, RR bridges, etc.)  But the commute was killing me and in 2003 I bought an Arco gas station.  

I started getting into real estate during the depths of 2010, and I have to say that I've really enjoyed the experience.  In the past 4 years, I've been through the eviction process (needed to move folks out of a foreclosure purchase), a fire (home inspection missed a damaged chimney), and all the normal day to day problems we all face.  I never thought that I'd get comfortable dealing with insurance companies, the court system, or soldering plumbing fittings, but here I am.

Have I done it alone?  Heck no!  Along the way, I've met some fantastic people, tenants, contractors and even neighbors.  As a matter of fact, it's been the people that have made this fun for me.  And that's saying a lot, as I'm not normally much of a "people person".  

My general idea is to find a home at a good price in a good school district, even if it needs some work. From there, I shoot to give a good quality product (my rental) to the customer (the renter), at a slightly below market price. On the front side, it looks bad for my ROI (my ROI is crap anyway because I've mostly done cash purchases), but my vacancy rate is so low that it makes up for the lower rent. Kind of like the gas station, low margins/high volume.

In any event, I've been lurking on the boards for a while, and I really appreciate the wealth of information, and the general kindness of folks on the site.  I've never seen so many civil discussions on the internet, and I hope to contribute as much as I take away.

I'd like to second the Craigslist idea.  I check monthly to make sure my rents aren't too out of line.  

Also, I drive to a couple of local property management offices and pick up their fliers of available rental units.  I do this on a roughly quarterly basis.