All Forum Posts by: Wade Sikkink

@Thomas S. Agreed.  We did raise the rents on those remaining 2 units this year, just not quite as much as on the units we've renovated.  If I can keep bumping them up, but keep them a little below the renovated ones without having to spend the money on a renovation, I see that as a win.

Agreed.  Rehab them as the turn over.  We have a 14 unit building and have been doing this for 4 years.  When a unit turns over that hasn't been rehabbed yet, we gut it and update it, raise the rent and lease it back out.  In 4 years we've rehabbed 12 of the 14 units.  The last two units are occupied by long term tenants and I'm happy to let them stay put and keep paying rent.

We have a tenant that had a traumatic brain injury in an accident and his only source of income is SS disability.  We've had no issues with him.  He always pays on time.  I would agree that as long as they meet the income threshold you set then it wouldn't be a problem.  You certainly wouldn't have to worry about the tenant losing their job and not being able to make the rent.  this particular tenant has been with us for years also, so I would guess that someone like that is probably pretty stable too.  It seems to me that they might be more likely to get set up in a comfortable situation and stay put for a long time.

@Jason D. Lewis So far I just invest for myself, so I don't need any fancy reports.  There aren't any other tools I can recommend.  Sorry.

Here's a data point on cost for you. We recently put a forced air heating and cooling system in a 2 bedroom, 1000 sq ft house that we BRRRR'd. It originally had baseboard electric heat and window air. $6500 installed. They had easy access to the crawl space under the house to run the duct work.

I think you will be looking at significantly more than the $10k you've budgeted to convert your 8 plex to a forced air system.  In order to separate the cost you will have to have a air handler and compressor for each unit.  We have a 14 plex and that's how it's set up.  I'd figure on at least $6k+ per unit to put that kind of system in.

Good luck.

Seems fair to me...

@Jonathan R. Great example!  That's the silence technique.  People become uncomfortable with silence and they can offer additional concessions and basically start negotiating with themselves to fill the silence.  In this case they didn't offer a concession but immediately jumped on the counter because they didn't want to loose the deal.

This was also a good example of conducting your negotiation through realtors.  Awesome!

Good one @George Skidis  Staying power and patience are often what separate successful, wealthy investors from those that struggle to get ahead.

For people that like books, I classic that I can recommend is "You can negotiate anything" by Herb Cohen.  It's a bit dated but filled with a lot of great information.

@Cody Evans Here's another technique that I like to use.  Ask for something you don't want.  That way you can give it up as a concession at some point in the negotiation.

For example, let's say you are negotiating to buy a house.  You could ask that in addition to the kitchen appliances that the washer and dryer remain in the house even though you probably don't really care if the washer and dry remain.  It's likely that the seller is going to want to take their washer and dryer with them

Then later in the negotiation you might be close to a deal and maybe as an example you are $1000 apart on the sale price.  You could say, ok, how about this, you come down $1000 and you can take the washer and dryer.  You "give up" the washer and dryer as a concession to get a $1000 price reduction when you didn't really want the washer and dryer any way.

Asking for something you don't want is a favorite of mine.  Concessions can often be used to put the other party at ease and make them feel like they are getting something out of the negotiation.  The best things to concede are things you didn't want anyway.

Good luck.