All Forum Posts by: Andrew Urban

Thank you @Anthony Thompson.  I appreciate all the feedback and advice.

I'm sitting down with a well established real estate company in RI this Friday.  This is after speaking with many companies in the area and weighing out the pros and cons. I will let you know how it goes. 

I see you are in RI as well. Maybe later in the summer we can get together and discuss real estate.  Thanks again.

Hello,

  My name is Andrew and I live in Rhode Island, and I'm 38.  I will be taking, and passing, my real estate test next week.

I have spoken with a few brokers and I think I found one that I like.  They offer a 50 - 50 split, which is a little lower than I would like.  However they offer mountains of training, pay for your advertising materials, set you up with a list of 50 to 75 addresses for mailers, and pay 25% of your photo and video expenses.  Overall they are looking for you to succeed and not just be another realtor under their broker.

My experience: I owned apartment buildings in Providence for years, and handled all the day to day items, including the evictions.

I'm looking for any advice or direction that others can offer.  Is working under an established broker a good route for me to take given the current real estate environment? Do you have any other suggestions for someone just getting start in real estate as a full time job?

Any other info you can provide would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you

Andrew

Hello,
I hope this is in the right forum. I looking to start a rental agency in my state or RI. I know that you need a Realtor license and starting and LLC would be a good start. My big question is how to go about obtaining properties to rent? In the past is has been word of mouth and a little luck with people contacting me for something else. I have contacted a few landlords from craigslist, but most of them are upset that I'm calling to offer my services and not calling to rent their place.
What are you suggestions to obtain properties for renting? Thanks for the info.
Andrew

I would like to start building a list of tips to help people rent their apartment quickly. Some of the strategies I use are:

* Post everyday by using multiple e-mail account
* Use Postlets to make a nice clean appearance, have the info saved for easy reposting, and it's more search-able
* I alwasy list the area in the title. Usually just listing the city is to vague and people will skip over it with so many listings
* Use lots of great photo's
*Always leave your number to make it easier for people to contact you
* Learn your market and what time is the best to post. Are there lots of apartments so yours is always being pushed down.
* Make and embed a video tour. You can not embed a video but you can make click-able pictures or just add the URL.

What other tips do you have to make sure your apartments get rented fast. What other sites have you had success with?

I have mostly B and C+ tenants and about 1/4 of my traffic comes from mobile devices. (data from Google analytics) I use Postets along with Vyoo.it to promote my apartments. Vyoo.it is a great site which redirects people searching for your apartment on a mobile devices to a very friendly mobile page. Vyoo also gives you you a QR code along with a sort URL. I post the QR code along with the short URL and a paper print out of my apartment on the front glass so passer by's and people taking a drive by first can see what the inside looks like. Mobile apps are here to stay. Some great apps will be able to show you all of the apartments in a given area while you are there and direct you to them. Now if we only had some type of system like Zipcar has we would be all set :)

If you want to see an example check mine out from your mobile device.
http://vyoo.it/awmgz

Thanks a lot guys. I really like the realestate411 bu they only have realestate411.info. Realestatea-z.com is also a great name. I will let you know what I can so you can all check it out :)

Hey guys,
So I have started a few different real estate sites here and there and some have done very well. I would now like to bring all that info together onto one main site. The site is going to be about being a landlord (with forms and tips), rehab propertes (what to look for where to buy), Green investment property (tips and suggestions to save resources and cut your bills), along with wholesale and short sale info.

I was thinking realestatediscipline.com
thescienceofproperty.com
thescienceofrealty.com

Can you think of any other good titles that I could use. Thanks guys.

@Curt- They are not an issue and I think your advice is correct about waiting till the lease is up. They always pay on time and are not very needy. As I mentioned I do not want to loose them.

@MBCrosby- I do not have the tenants kick in any extra for water. I would have to say that the water is included in the rent. The triplex only has one water meeter so it would be difficult to say who uses how much. Do other people split the bill between the tenants plus the rent?

@Jon- I do live in one of the units but there is only 1 water and sewer meter. I have thus far been charging rent to cover the sewer and water bills I know they are not dealing drugs. They are a very nice Spanish family with lots of family members. LOL

Hello,
So I have this couple, their mother, and their new baby living on the first floor of my building. They mentioned to me that they have a church group over on sunday's. That I'm all fine with. What I'm starting to not be fine with is the constant flow of people during the day and at night. I have not received my most recent water and sewer bill, but I'm sure it's not going to be pretty. They are not loud or destructive, it's just a lot of people that are now using the water and sewer all the time. Has anyone dealt with this before? They are in a 12 month lease that's only a few months in. Should I ask them to chip in a little more because of all the people? should I wait till the lease is up and raise their rent $75? I want them to enjoy the house and stick around for a while I just don't want to suffer with the extra expense. Thanks for any suggestions guys :) :help:

Thnank you Eddie.

Thanks guys for all the insight :)