All Forum Posts by: Mark S.

@Kevin Costello

Are you paying cash for properties? There are many threads about personal liability policy vs LLC, but the big kicker for me was that I need to finance the properties and it's been said that most lenders won't lend to an LLC (and if you later transfer from personal name to LLC that they can call the loan due immediately).

Tom Yung and Jon Holdman Thank you for the comments. I agree that there are likely to be more tenant issues with residential vs NNN, which is why I'm considering property management. I thought I heard (Podcast, maybe?) or read somewhere that when you first get started, you should self-manage to learn what you're doing before outsourcing. Someone also referred to this in one of my first posts as "buying a job," which really stuck with me. I think that was partly due to the numbers I posted and the fact that the deal wasn't very strong. In any case, this PMI company near me seems like it could be a fit. I know the second guy in charge there from previous business dealings. We're supposed to be getting together soon, so hopefully I can get more info at that time. I just don't want to buy my first rental, immediately turn it over to property management, somehow get burned and be forced into doing it myself without any real experience. I guess that's part of the gamble, though, right? To Job's point, since I'm not handy at all, I'd likely be calling the same people for repairs, etc., so hopefully their pricing is slightly better due to economies of scale with their other clients. To me, it sounds like 10% off the top for a truly passive investment. Sounds okay to me.

James Wise , even people that live in the same town / next town over? I just want this to be truly passive. I work full-time and would rather not be too involved unless I really save $. 10% might be do-able.

Has anyone had much experience with a property management company called Property Management, Inc.? It appears to be a franchise and there's one in my local market. As a new investor (have yet to acquire my first rental property), I'm wondering: 1.) Am I crazy to consider hiring a property manager from day 1? 2.) Does anyone have any information on what they typically charge for full property management services? Any advice is appreciated.

I'm writing from my phone, and the punctuation works just fine. I think we put more effort into reading it than you did into writing it. Okay, enough of me being a smart ***; I would think about the type of tenant each property is more likely to attract. In my area, and quite possibly in many areas, it's much easier to find a SFH in a decent area than it is to find a multi.

So, should the survivor spouse do this to avoid a hassle for others later, or does it not really matter? The other thing is the deceased person was 65+ and getting break on property taxes. The surviving spies is under 65.

Husband and wife own home, free and clear, in both their names. Husband dies. I'm assuming wife must have deed changed to reflect ownership now in just her name, correct? What's the process and can this be done electronically? Is there a time limit for completing this? I feel dumb asking this, but I figured this is the place I'd get the best answer. Thanks in advance.

Chris, I'm replying to your post from the BP app, so I can't quote it and go back and forth without losing my reply thus far, but here it goes. I don't think any one of your reasons individually is reason enough to fire your realtor, but the combination of them might be. Taking calls during an appointment with you is rude. Unfortunately, people do this all the time in all lines of work, but it's rude. If he's expecting an important call that can be urgent enough to interrupt your meeting and cannot wait, then he should tell you that up front. Otherwise, that's what voicemail is for. Shutting his phone off for a certain period of time around the holidays seems fine, unless you're actively working on a deal that's going to close around/during that time. Everyone needs some down time. Not knowing the term ARV is a little surprising, but I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker. Not responding in 24 hours consistently is inexcusable as a realtor. I've had a not so good experience with a realtor that I would almost consider a friend. In fact, he's on BP and might even be reading this! Sometimes you just need to move on and try to work with someone more compatible with your style. I would recommend you start searching for another realtor. Best of luck!

@Michael Wentzel , I'm totally with you on the creating passive income philosophy. Eventually, I'd probably want a property manager to handle everything and just collect a check, but I feel like as a new investor I need to have some experience to really know what I'm doing, and ultimately to have a comparison point in terms of value I'm getting for paying a property management company.

Also, if I'm buying smaller properties and acquiring them gradually, I'd also think it's be difficult to find a property manager right away that is good at what they do and cost effective for me as the landlord.

In your case, you have multiple units, but let's say you had only one that was renting for, say, $600/month. Do you really think someone is going to do a good job for $60/month? Yes, it's probably one of their many properties they'd manage, but would you roll out of bed and take on another responsibility for $60/month?

Originally posted by @Elizabeth Colegrove:

How much are investors require to put down? Per the link it say loan to value at 70%. I thought investors only had to put 10% down.@Dawn Anastasi you mentioned 15%. Any idea how this came about.

I think it depends on the HomePath lender, assuming you're using HomePath financing (and not necessarily the HomePath RENOVATION financing). I had one lender tell me that, as an investor, it's 10% down on SFR and 25% down on MF, with a $75,000 loan minimum.

I had another lender tell me they do not have a minimum loan amount, and they'd do 15% SFR and 20% on MF.

Hope this helps.