All Forum Posts by: Mark Whittlesey

I have always tried to avoid complexes that have anything more than a nominal amount of studio/efficiency apartments.

And to avoid complexes that were "beyond" the suburbs (say 30-60 miles outside the large city I invest in).

I would love to hear what other multi-family investors have found about these 2 issues.

(It seems like I might be missing some deals but at the expense of added risk.)

Thanks.

I agree with Joe. Turn it over to a collections agency. There is nothing to lose here.

I have collected on two tenants (over 23 years).

But it cost me nothing to do so. Was basically found money.

I have long invested in Phoenix. I love the market. Very landlord friendly.

The biggest problem you will have with long distance landlording is going from rented to vacant to rented again.

You will need a team on the ground. But you can mostly manage it yourself if you get  good tradespeople and a good attorney. I have used realtors to find me tenants then I would take over the day to day to management once the property was filled. It worked out great. Of course full service property managers are also available although they are by and large VERY bad.

I would caution against the Vegas market. The whole city is more transient than others so your turnover will be higher.

Yes. Tenant paid water is better. It reduces your expenses dollar for dollar.

Eventhough the water is tax deductible, it only reduces your taxes based on your tax rate so NOT dollar for dollar.

Agreeing 100%. I think one of the biggest mistakes investors can make is not matching the duration of their investments with the duration of their financing. For buy and hold investors that means fixed rate, long term amortization (15 or 30). NEVER an ARM.

But simplistically... if you don't set her days and hours then you don't owes taxes etc. Think about a handyman. You tell him what you want done.. but you don't say you need him at the property from 8a-5p.

Maybe Antelope Valley ie Palmdale/Lancaster.

But as has been pointed out... CA is tough for rentals all around. Bad rent ro price ratio and terrible tenant/landlord laws.

I would caution against Vegas a bit as well. It's a very transient market so expect more turnover than in other markets.

In general, no to both of these. Moving has "costs" associated with it.. Hard dollar costs, time costs, packing, actually moving, unpacking etc. So there has to be something to overcome all that inertial. Typicalyl 15.00 is not enough to do that.

The tenant might get more upset with the repair, depending on the cost of it. But if it is clearly their fault it is normally not a problem.

No. The individual files. Can be the same for a husband-wife LLC if they so choose:

If a single-member LLC does not elect to be treated as a corporation, the LLC is a "disregarded entity," and the LLC's activities should be reflected on its owner's federal tax return

It depends. How many members are there? My LLC for example is a pass through entity...

More info here:

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Single-Member-Limited-Liability-Companies