All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

thanks for the responses. I'm also curious if you find that you over calculate the vacancy amount.  I factor one month a year for tenant turn over but if your able to have the same tenant for 4 to five years, that would be an extended vacancy time to hit that 1 month per year. 

Just curious as to how long your average tenant stays.  I know there are extremes, but on average are you seeing one year and they are gone or are you averaging something like 5 years.  I'm in the $1250 range in a suburb so if you have experience in that range I'd love to hear it. 

Thanks for all of the responses! 

Don't be afraid to walk away.  Before negotiating know you're dream price, your realistic price, and your bottom price. Give the seller or buyer the reasons for your price so they see where you came up with the number. 

Thanks Michael, great questions!

I "educated" myself for about a year before talking a realtor.  I spent the last 4-5 months of that year looking at properties online before talking to a realtor.  I spent about 6 weeks looking at houses with the realtor before finding a really great buy.

From the time I made an offer until I closed was right at 30 days.  The mortgage company was a pain but it all worked out.  I paid $134,000 for the house and paid the 20% down ($26,800) plus fees put me at just shy of $30,000.  I think 29.5k.  

Putting in new appliances kinda cost me (see my other post titled Moral Question).  But actually making a lot of the repairs myself saved a decent amount of money.  I don't think I put $500 total into repairs.  I have all receipts but to be honest I haven't added them up and it was multiple trips to Home Depot.  

I've tried to make this story as short as possible.  I recently purchased new stainless steel appliances for my rental.  I was going out of the country and needed them delivered before I left so that the PM could list and rent the house.  I went to a BIG chain store and made the purchase of a fridge, range, microwave, and dishwasher and specifically selected the appliances that could be delivered before I left ( about a week out).  The day before the appliances are supposed to be delivered (2 days before I leave), the company calls me and tells me the appliances can't be delivered as the fridge isn't available for another week.  I am super frustrated with them and spend hours talking to a person who barely speaks English and finally go back to the store.  To make this quick, the salesman ended up loading a similar model fridge on his truck and personally delivered it.  The rest of the appliances are still supposed to be delivered the next day.  Shocker!  They don't come because the store canceled the entire order when they couldn't get the fridge on time.  Spend a few more hours with customer support and finally go back to the store (the last day before I leave the country for a couple weeks).  Same guy same story, he delivered the appliances in his personal truck.  

Here's where it gets a little more interesting.  As I'm on the plane to leave the country I get a call from the salesman and a person higher up the chain saying I need to call them as they messed up the order and can't charge the card ( I opened a store credit card to purchase the appliances).  The need me to call them so they can recharge the card for the appliances.  Another shocker!  I didn't call.  I get my bill and it only has the fridge.  I immediately pay the bill and close the account.  It's now been enough time that I know they aren't going to charge the card.  

What would you have done in this situation?  I spent hours on the phone with customer support going in circles, had to drive to the store 3 times, had the appliances delivered in the back of some guys truck, and dealt with a lot of stress.  Would you feel guilty?  Would you have called them back?

Closed on a house at the end of July.  Put in new SS appliances, painted pretty much every wall, did lots of little fixes (replace toilet seats, drain plugs, lawn care, etc).  Got the house rented at my list price in about a week after putting it on the market.  

I pay $670 a month for the mortgage and it rents for $1250.  My PM has been great so far, I told them off the bat that quick clear communication is really big to me.  They were suppose to waive a fee on the first month but didn't.  I notified them and they not only refunded that fee, but also waived all of their fees for the next month.  That's how you keep my business.

The tenants are a much older couple who have asked (and I said yes) to doing a few minor things like installing hand rails in the showers and a sink with an extendable faucet. 

This is my first investment property and I couldn't be happier.  Hopefully the smooth sailing continues.

Hahahaha.  I'm sorry man.  "Did screen him.  Looked ok."?????  What looked ok about the tenant, he had a shirt on with your favorite beer????

My understanding was that you wanted to know why there aren't more people who own 30 (or 12-20, still talking 360k-600k in down payments) turnkey properties.  One of the main reasons is lack of funds.  I do know a lot about finance and spending $50,000 a year is a lot of money.  You're a physician so you make a considerable amount more per year than the average person on this forum so maybe you don't see it that way.  Saving 50-60% of income for most people is hard.  So you're taking a small group of people that save 50-60% a year, out of that small group you are looking at a smaller sub group of people that make 100k+/year.  Out of that group you are looking at a smaller subgroup of people that LOVE Real Estate Investing (enough to put all of their 50-60% savings into).  Out of that group you are looking at a smaller sub group that only wants turn key properties.  And out of that very tiny sub-sub-sub-subgroup, you want to know why you don't hear about more of them.  This forum is flooded with people who are just getting into Real Estate investing, diluting the number or experienced investors.  There are people out there who own 30+ turn keys, but they aren't common.  

Agree with @Fred Grant  

Asking for money that she was suppose to pay five years ago is not a great way to start the new relationship. They people you are buying the unit from shoukd give you that deposit as part of the deal, it's their fault they didn't collect it.  I would also give the tenant some comparable rentals in the area to show that the current unit is renting under market value, and that you are going to raise the rent x amount after one year. That gives her time to plan a move or adjust her finances.