So I have three questions: 1) is it standard to charge owners for drive time from the prior job site or office; 2) am I crazy to think these are egregious overcharges; and 3) what actions can I take beyond requesting that they review and lower the charges?

- Family is full of General ContractorsGoal- Plan to live in 1-2 Years before doing a cash-out refi for our next property- Goal is to lower our monthly rent.

We went in & rehabbed a room on the lower floor to make it a large bedroom with a wide door so he could navigate his scooter that he is now confined to.

When interest rates were lower there were more deals to be had and cashflow was solid with even a moderate down payment.

@Amirra Besh If you call any agent, they will typically charge 1 month of rent to find a tenant.Just like in a sales transaction, where the buyer's agent and listing agent split the commission, an agent will offer another agent that brings a tenant 50% of the one-month of rent as commission.Many owners are trying to put pressure on PMCs to lower this fee because they think the monthly management fee should cover at least part, if not all, of this.Here's were penny-pinching owners screw themselves: PMC's will charge lower than the one-month of rent, but they offset it and do NOT tell the owner the negative repercussions!

I have 2 rental properties(a 2 family home that I bought 9 years ago that needs new roof eventually and a short term rental a few hours away up north that has a 5.2 rate and is very updated) I used a cash out refi in 2021 for the 2 family to take out 25k(and it lowered my payment, went to a 3.2 rate for 25 years for the 2 family) and then used that 25k to buy a 240k cabin up north to use as a short term rental and family vacation home.2023 was the first full year for the cabin and it brought in 25k, however expenses were 36k, so 11k in the negative.

i'm sure there would be a line around the block of investors wanting to buy the portfolio in one transaction with seller financing, so long as the terms are right. i'd look into it myself. but something to note: the copy and paste in a previous comment mentions 'to an owner-occupant.' does this mean those rules wouldn't apply if you're selling creatively to investors who will not occupy the homes?

Would you pay for a subscription model say $1000 a month where you got access to knowledgeable investor agent who had zero stake on if the transaction closed but provided you with local knowledge, strategies, ran comps, looked over deals, even looked over home inspection reports, talked in the phone, basically a consultant (you could possibly tack on services like writing offers or seeing a property in person) my thought is if you buy a property relatively quickly, it’s much cheaper than paying 2.5% even if you end up paying for the service for a few month’s and realize it’s not a good time for you to buy you are only out a few thousand dollars as opposed to hundreds of thousands of dollars, this would basically take the agent’s need to sell you a home out the process, presumably there motivation would be to keep you subscripted for as long as possible but you could easily just cancel and if you were interested in buying later resubscribe than.

You have a lower interest rate on the mortgage, but if you turn it into a rental and sell it in 5 years, you will have to pay capital gains tax. 

Well....This kicked up quite the storm with the seller's attorney (a divorced attorney) and he basically scared his client into the horrors of getting tenants out, so the seller outright canceled the Transaction.