Up until recently becoming a Realtor or a Loan officer was the career choice for anyone who lost a job....The thought was "Oh crap, I got laid off from the factory....Why not start selling real estate, I heard of dude that makes lots of money doing that".....It's no wonder that many Realtors are useless...Yes they are licensed, yes they are supposed to go by a standard of ethics and I truly believe that most Realtors don't have any bad intentions....The problem is in what I call "Unconscious Incompetence" meaning they "Don't know, what they don't know"....Sure they don't intend to do any harm....but using a misinformed realtor can be one of the most expensive mistakes you will ever make..And to make things worse...They think they know alot..and they truly believe that they do...Making them even more dangerous...Thats my two cents.

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?