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17 November 2011 | 7 replies
IMO in todays market, your best option is to find an old, tired landlord, one who may not need the lump sum of money right now, but has properties hes looking to unload. find someone getting out of the everyday work, and would be willing to owner carry and just collect his check every month!
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26 November 2011 | 50 replies
On commercial properties there are many reasons why a properties full information is not disclosed.1.The property is a vacant REO building and has no numbers besides taxes.2.The bank or receiver took the property over recently and no data was given to them by the old property management company or by the previous owner for adversarial reasons.In these situations you price in the worst case scenarious to be safe.3.In commercial you get many off market properties because the seller doesn't want the sale made public.4.The seller has demanded that minimum info be listed on the listing and only when a buyer is qualified as credible and serious and has signed a confidentiality and disclosure disclosure agreement then the info will be shared.The seller might not want the information of how their property is operating to get into the competitions hands.I do agree that many investors will keep different reserves based on individual preferences.Where this comes in big though is there are industry averages where unless the buyer will be paying all cash or owner finance they will be getting a loan from a commercial lender.This commercial lender will price in reserves to the numbers and marketing costs because if the lender giving the loan has to foreclose they will operate it and value it based on their expenses and not the owner who self manages,does their own pest control,makes their own repairs,etc. to increase margins.This is a number one reason loans do not get funded.An investor shows a deal cash flowing 5,000 a month on a apartment building and the numbers are real.However the commercial lender comes to 3,500 a month cash flow after their analysis of how they would run it an dhow it would perform if they took the property back.This is why owner finance and putting little to no money down to preserve liquidity is the name of the game.Leveraging yourself into as many properties as possible UNDER THE RIGHT TERMS with smart growth taking advantage of the down markets is key.We have real estate niches for a reason.There are different flavors for everyone.It also depends on the investors goals.If they have millions already and are just trying to get a certain return and stay above inflation each year with not much headache then yes turnkey might be the answer for them.If you are going to do that I would go for triple net corporate rated tenants and collect mailbox money than deal with toilets,tenants,and termites,and eviction headaches.I deal with this on my apartments but my returns are way over 7 to 8%.So what you take on versus the expected return is key to doing a deal or not.I find generally landlords once they hit a certain age and life just get tired and want someone to take over their problems.This is when at 36 I still have gas in the tank and I am willing to take on big headaches for big returns.Later in life that might change what kind of portfolio I want to hold and grow.I personally stay away from buyers wanting these little houses for 35,000 that give off 700 a month rent.The investors are out of state and want you to micro-manage for them at 60 bucks a month and it's not worth it.I own many apartment units and even with a maintenance guy and a property manager living on site it can be very intensive to run correctly.It is not as easy as everyone thinks it is especially when most investors will be buying older buildings on value add deals.It's easy when a building is brand new and tenants want to sign up left and right and there are little to no repairs to speak of.When you buy new though you pay a premium for it.If you want to create wealth you need accelerated returns.I have really enjoyed this discussion so far.
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20 November 2011 | 12 replies
My apartments are 30 years old.I have a maintenance guy do unit checks every 2 weeks.Basically checks water heater,heater,outside unit,light bulbs,ceiling fans,electric,plumbing,etc.We have water included in rent so stuff like replacing springs and o rings in the showers to prevent drips and replacing flappers in toilets to keep the water from running all the time.Sometimes the shutoff valve at the wall for the toilet doesn't close all the way to off or the float mechanism goes bad.You can buy a water pressure tester at Lowe's for 9 dollars.Just screw it on check for pressure.Should read 60 to 80 pounds.If it's higher than that you have to find the pressure regulator valve next to the water cutoff for the unit and adjust it.After adjusting if the pressure doesn't go down to 60 to 80 you have a bad pressure regulator that needs replacing.The importance of this is pressure is set for the cities and counties at around 160 for the fire hydrants.If pressure is high inside the apartments it can cause leaking and premature failure of plumbing parts.On the insurance we are required for replacement value and can't do market value.
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14 December 2011 | 1 reply
A seller is looking at doing owner financing.I would be wrapping his note.Property insurance is not escrowed so that causes fewer issues.Sellers main concern is that we owner finance and in say 3 years I get tired and just give the property back to him.I am putting nothing down which he is fine with.Looking for thoughts and ways to make him feel comfortable with this issue.He owns other classes of assets besides apartments and is focused on them.I already own a bunch of other buildings in the area and told him I have staff on site so it wouldn't be an issue.This is for a quad building.Many investors buy with one thing in mind and then sell to you down the road for other reasons.Since I am a commercial broker I have multiple exit strategies already planned out for the property.
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3 May 2014 | 80 replies
I like my job, it is rewarding but I am getting tired of 50 hour weeks, and vacations once every 10 years.
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20 December 2011 | 31 replies
She got tired of being stonewalled...I'm running out of time.
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2 May 2012 | 20 replies
There aren't many tire kickers at this time of year.
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25 February 2012 | 5 replies
That statement alone often separates the tire kickers from the motivated sellers.LISTEN more than you SPEAK to all sellers.
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24 July 2015 | 7 replies
You may just be a 'victim' of one of such calls.An issuer may call its debt (prematurely pay off initial investors) for a plethora of reasons especially if it has a cheaper source of funds, ability to fund its functions with internal or alternate funds or just due to adverse drastic rate changes in the market.
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4 February 2012 | 3 replies
If I decide to proceed with the line i'll keep what you said in mind- i did not think that the bank calling the line prematurely was a risk.