know the market you are purchasing in and the demographics.say for instance you had rentals in a city where manufacturing was huge. what happens to your rental when/if the factory were to close?

Unfortunately, the days of the assembly line factory really ended about 30 years ago.

I will contact him and let you know if he is looking to take someone under his wing.There are some good modular home factories in that area aren't there?

Mat,I know exactly how you feel, since the underlying factor is theft (usually).

-DeuceSevenOffDeuce- 7k includes down payment assistance so I agree that factor is more import to them in the negotiation than purchase priceThe critical piece is what type of loan they are going after??

Oh, there is also a deductible IF the repair is covered. that's after you pay for factory-certified "estimate".

That's the opportunity we have today.Perhaps a second factor I have realized is that the home I might buy is in too good a condition for renters.

Remember the audit is there but the big x factor is the lawsuits.E and O quotes higher rates for property management.Even if the landlord and or the tenant or BOTH are at fault they almost always blame the real estate brokerage.Sometimes it is merited and many other times it is not.So to run a property management company you have to be very meticulous with everything.Many investors are out of state so they will want turn key management (one stop shop).Rates will depend on what type of asset and the size.When you go to IREM there is different training for different classes and sizes.For example the scope and management on a 20 unit apartment building will be very different from a 200 unit complex.Generally for apartments fees are 8 to 10% for 50 units and below and 50 units and above 5 to 7 percent of gross rents.Retail can be as low as 4% management fee.Houses you will be competing with low ball agents who are having a hard time selling real estate.The problem for landlords is once the managers start closing real estate sales they could care less about the rental.This is just like many agents doing bpo's now and when sales pick up they will dump doing the reports fro 50 bucks.If you want to be serious about management do it full time.In my area for houses the most reputable companies charge about 10% plus half of first months rent for houses.It's not about what you charge but what you provide for that fee.You will get landlords trying to squeeze the management fee because they overpaid for the property.That is not your problem when taking on rental property.I don't do property management but one of my broker friends manages over 400 homes with 10 property managers for his company.He likes the residual income it provides.He also land sales off of it as a side benefit.

If it's some small factory town, how will you find out that it was announced last month that the factory will be closed in July?

A majority of the rentals are 1 units.What happens is one units people move a lot.With a 2 bed unit even if it's a couple with 2 kids you can put a bunk bed in there and the space is fine.With 1 units rents don't appreciate as much and the turnover frequency is very high which is probably why partly the cost are so high.Another key factor is are the utilities separately metered and billed or does the landlord have to include utilities in the rent payment.I specialize in multifamily and this is a key component and a concern for buyers.With utilities rising it can eat into future profit margins.I will also expand on the 3 to 6 months point.The lenders I know at a decent rate won't touch something at 3 months.They will want 6 months to 1 year of average rents and occupancy levels.Now in your situation you can use hard money and the points and rates will be high but you can even get rehab money built into the loan.Then you can refi once stabilized or sell off or exchange into another project.These type of value add plays we call "forced appreciation" deals.A regular bank will not touch stuff usually below 85% and some want 90% occupancy average over time.The reason is if they lend at 50% occupancy and it needs repairs the bank looks at it with risk you will not be able to turn it around and they will have to foreclose or take a big loss.Most banks unless they just opened in the last few years have a bunch of crud on their books they want to unload already.So to take down this deal you will need all cash,some partners with cash put together,or a hard money lender.In these 1 bedroom situations we look at "highest and best use".Even though it was built as one bedroom the highest and best use might be to tear down a wall between the units and convert a majority of the 1 beds to 2 bedrooms.Rent might be a little less than 2 bedrooms but you will have less turnover.Laundry is a big issue as well.If the tenant has to drive down the road to do laundry your rents will be less.If the building has a laundry facility that is on site that is better.The best and highest rents is when you put In-suite laundry in each unit.Pro-formas are CRAP.You NEVER and I mean NEVER pay on a properties potential.If the seller wants to sell based on that they need to put the hard work in.Otherwise you pay on the actual numbers going in.When you do the rehab it's important to get the city or county involved ahead of time.When updating they might require sprinkler heads,fire rated walls,etc.