All Forum Posts by: Rick Bassett

Stay Zip code specific when looking at rental comps in Greater New Haven; it matters a lot for rent prices and value, especially in cities with multiple zip codes. Also, keep in mind that rentals on busy streets, like Whalley Ave, are probably not going to command the same rent amounts as those in residential neighborhoods. 

I don't think there is a magic number of properties/units, but I am probably there...unless another good deal falls from the sky. I picked up three good deals in 2022, in a very tough market, as all of the numbers made sense, even though we went into the year saying we weren't going to acquire any more.

A few years ago a tenant sued me personally in a security deposit dispute (In New Haven CT) even though the lease was in an LLC and all payments were made to the LLC.

When I pointed this out to the court (Judge?) they said they just wanted to push ahead as all parties were present and they would make a substitution of names on the court's paperwork. I suppose I could've made them re-file and come back another day but time is money but the Judge didn't seem like he was having any of it.

We've been managing 24 doors in the Hil section of New Haven (06519), and it's gone surprisingly well. It's an affordable area that seems to be rebounding (walking distance to Yale Hospital) as many out-of-state investors are buying there and a large project (194 apartments) has just been approved.

Hi Ryan, please message me when you are going to set up another meeting, I'd like to start attending again.

You purchased this condo in 2005, probably at the top of the market, and it took 17 years to climb back to the purchase price plus a little bit. We had a similar situation when we purchased a condo for 200,000 in 2005 and it didn't climb back up to being worth 200,000 again until 2021; most of the time in between the value was hovering around $150,000. For us the condo pretty much broke even on a cash flow basis for the 16 years that we held it and sometimes it lost a little bit. BUT over the 16 years, about 50% of our mortgage balance was paid down by the tenants, and because it was a condo, we took big depreciation deductions every year (all building, no land), which helped out on our taxes. In 2021 we sold it for $205,000, which was slightly more than we paid for it; we ended up doing a 1031 exchange into another property as we did not want to pay federal and state capital gain taxes and recapture that depreciation. We patiently waited for an exit point that made sense; unfortunately, it took 16 years to get there... By the way, did I mention how much I dislike HOA's? Putting up with the HOA for 16 years was one of the most significant negatives in this equation for us, we will never own another investment property that's part of an HOA.

We've had similar things happen when we've taken over properties on more than one occasion. As long as the owner doesn't enable the tenant behavior by responding to or taking their calls, we can get those tenants 'trained' pretty quickly; when the owner keeps themselves in the tenant loop, it's tough to break that tenant behavior. I tell the owners that in these situations, the tenants are like the children of divorced parents just playing us off of each other trying to get the best situation for themselves, and all that does is to cost the owner money if they allow it to happen. When the owner finally gets out of the way it's easier to rein the tenant in or to plan for their departure with a nonrenewal. 

Do some research and make sure there is still demand for STR's in your area. There has been a lot of buzz lately that the STR party may have waned. There are many more hosts in this space then ever before. We were running 3 - 5 of them full-time heading into the pandemic, and now we only offer STR's when we have a tenancy gap of a month +/- between tenants. Glad we pivioted away from full-time STR's, they were too much work.

We just started a program this year where we are replacing 2 - 3 EOL (end-of-life) roofs and 2 - 3 EOL furnaces/boilers per year; we aren't waiting for full failures. We were reacting to this stuff in the past; now that we have grown, we are trying to be more proactive.

We manage many small multi's - the most significant issues that we have are with trash policies, noise between floors, pets, and parking.

Trash is tricky as there is often a tenant, a neighbor, or a visitor that fills the waste receptacle up causing stress on the rest of the tenants...and sometimes us if they drop a tire, paint cans, furniture ...etc. 

Noise issues always come up; much has been written here about it. As much as we hate carpet, we try to put it in the upper units to dampen the sound but not the first-floor units.

Pets - we try not take them in multi's, but we can't easily avoid the army of ESA's, when possible we try to keep them located on the first floor. Pets & carpets aren't a good mix.

Parking - is always a contentious issue if you allow assigned or numbered parking spaces, as there will always be violators and angry people. We spell out how many cars tenants can have on the property and do not allow assigned or reserved parking. 

With all of the above, we aren't going to mediate disagreements between angry tenants. We tell them they need to work it out on their own or invite them to move out if they can't. Our mistake was getting involved with these squabbles in the past...no more.