All Forum Posts by: Ward Conville

I have had nothing but good experiences with  section 8.  The biggest benefit to section 8 is that if you keep the unit in good shape the tenants typically do not move.  Cost of vacancy and turnover can kill your profits.  Our section 8 tenants on average stay for more than 5 years.  

There is more paperwork on the front end and the hassle of an annual inspection, but in general these are minor inconveniences in exchange for the program paying all or part of the rent to you on time every month.  Also, you can request a rent increase annually if the market or property specific factors support it.  

We have begun to market vacancies on Craigslist and specifically state that we welcome Section 8 applicants. We routinely get a qualified applicant in a matter of days.  

From my experience, many of the horror stories that you hear about Section 8 come from landlords who have little or no experience with the program.  

Trevor,

Good evening,
I am in Hattiesburg and invest in single family and apartments here.  I have owned one rental in Meridian for 5 or 6 years.  It is a nice house, leases for $675/month.  My manger in Meridian passed way a few months ago and I have decided to sell the house.  I think it would appraise for 65K or more and i would be willing to do a quick sale with the tenant in place for 48K.  Let me know if you have any interest and i can send you more details.  Thank you,

Ward

I bought a duplex with tenants in place about 4 years ago.  It was bank owned so i did not get any security deposits transferred.  I did ask for an introduction to the tenants before we closed and got each to agree to continue leasing on a month to month basis.  It has been my best performing property for a cash-flow standpoint.  Both tenants are still in place.  

If you are keeping the tenants make sure all no heath or safety issues exists in the units, check smoke detectors, etc.

Where is your deal in MS?  glad to give you my thoughts.  

I have done this a few times and have had some success with it.  I bought a occupied foreclosure duplex 3 years ago and still have the same tenants in place, so it cashflowed from day one.  I suggest knocking on the doors and explaining you are and what is happening with the property.  Chance are they are not aware that it is foreclosing and their first question will be "can I stay."

 The upside is you have a tenant who has stayed put despite getting probably zero service from the current landlord.  The potential downside is that if the landlord is walking away he or she may have quit collecting rent, so you may have a tenant who has become used to living for free.

I have never had a potential tenant in this situation ever not let me walk the interior of the property.  If it does work out an you want them to stay make sure you get them to sign a new lease.  Good luck

The manager of my apartments uses triplicate maintenance request forms in a book format to log tenant requests.  The ones we have been using are sold by Peachtree and are $35.00 for a book of 50, which seems expensive.  Anyone know of a similar item that can be purcahsed for less?  thank you,

I have a 58 unit complex.  About half the units have W&D.  We have a laundry room with 5 washer and 3 dryers.  They gross an average of $450/month.  Utilities eat up about 1/2 of this.  These are older models and are not efficient.

I have a commercial building in the Birmingham area and am needing to have some gutters added, a French drain installed and some doors replaced.  Does anyone have any recommendations for who to use?  Thank you,

Ward Conville

I find that me paying for the $5 blinds gives my properties more street appeal and is well worth the cost.

Any idea of carry over passive real estate losses can be claimed when you declare full time real estate professional status. We are looking at filing this designation for my wife who handles the bulk of our accounting and all of our management. She easily meets the 750 hour threshold and spends more of her working time on real estate than in any other filed. Thank you,

Ward Conville