Bought first one in 2012. Been buying yearly since. Most are down to studs rehabs. All within 30 mile radius. Around 45% LTV across the portfolio and average rents around $1500-1600. But a range from $1000-3400 a door.
Anybody else running a larger SFH portfolio out there?
I so don't want to be the bad guy. My Landlord is asking me to move. Honestly I don't blame him. I am 2 weeks behind in rent. I recently lost my job before I moved in his place. I only moved cause I paid $400 one week for the deposit and another $400 the following week. I knew that I would not get my $400 refunded if I chose to not move in. It's a room that I'm renting by the week, and I signed my lease for 6 months. When I first moved in about 2 months ago, He lent me money for a rental car from Uber so I could drive for Uber, but I know that it was mainly so he could have leverage over me and so that I would "Owe" him...(As If). Between the 2 weeks that I owed him when I initially moved in, and the cost of the rental car, I owed him $700, which I've repaid $600. Renting a car from Uber is the worst. It was an electric car, and between the cost of charging it, and the weekly price of the car, I was paying over $500/week. Normally an electric car would've been ideal, but running the air conditioner cuts the battery life in half. It was like trying to fill a bucket that had a hole in it. The car didn't pass inspection and I would have had to pay another week to get a different car and a new rental contract. I don't have anywhere else to go. No friends, and I haven't spoken to my "Family" in over 10 years (and that's a whole different story) I know that my Landlord cannot kick me out without filling the proper paperwork, I just don't want to be THAT guy that is seemingly manipulating the situation.
Would a 1% drop in interest rate be enough for you to buy another investment property, or would you still wait for prices or rates to fall further?
For those currently waiting, what would need to change before you feel comfortable buying again?
Investing $200k in a Duplex using financial leverage to maximize asset growth and rental income, or investing $200k in the S&P 500 prioritizes liquidity, passive management, and historic stock market compounding?
Which would you choose? Do you prefer active real estate returns or the peace of mind of index funds?
It's an interesting conversation.
The repairs are happening less often, but the maintenance budget has gone up because we're servicing equipment before it fails.
The challenge is explaining money spent preventing problems that never actually happened.
Has anyone found a good way to show the value of preventative maintenance to owners?
I was wondering how other real estate investors or property managers around the area find and vet their contractors?
A lot of times, the reason that people want to get into real estate investing is they hear real estate investors talking about passive income and how the property runs itself, the tenants pay their mortgage every month, and they just sit back and collect checks.
First of all, passive income doesn’t exist in real estate. There are things you can do to limit the amount of time that you spend on your real estate investment. They happen by having good systems and by having good management.
And so everybody wants passive income, but they don’t want to put in the work that’s required to build the right systems and management team that will cause that investment to be as passive as it can be.
When you have a management team that’s caring for your tenants, making them feel valued, when they’re sending you reports that are accurate and on time every month, when they’re being proactive about maintenance and not waiting for things to become a big problem before addressing it, when your vacancies are being marketed properly, when problems are communicated early and don’t catch you by surprise, those are what make people feel like their real estate investment is passive.
When the opposite is happening, your real estate investment could be the biggest stress driver in your life.
When I bought my first rental, I figured I'd take a few move-in photos, maybe snap a couple during inspections, and that would be it. Fast forward a couple of years and I've got folders full of pictures from maintenance visits, appliance serial numbers, before-and-after repairs, what not. it's honestly getting ridiculous. Half the time I know I have the photo I need, I just have absolutely no idea where I saved it.
How do you figure this out? I know dumb question but still
Over the last couple of months, inquiries have gone up quite a bit. Showings are busy, applications are coming in, but the number of signed leases hasn't really changed.
It is almost like people are shopping around a lot more before making a decision.
I am curious if this is just our market or if others are noticing the same thing. If you have seen this happen, did you figure out what was causing it?
Do you focus on cash flow, cap rate, cash on cash return, ROI, appreciation, location, financing or something else?
What's your process? What are the first numbers or factors you look at before deciding whether a property is worth making an offer on?
Do you have a checklist that you follow every time, or is it more based on experience?
We had an applicant recently who checked every box on paper.
Income was solid.
Credit looked fine.
Rental history was clean.
But throughout the application process they kept changing details, missing appointments and taking days to respond.
Nothing serious enough to deny them outright, but enough to make me wonder what they'd be like after move-in.
Do you ever trust your experience over the paperwork, or do you stick strictly to your screening criteria?
I'm 22 and have been working full-time for a little over a year now. I've managed to save a decent amount because I still live at home, and instead of upgrading my car or spending it on random stuff, I've become kind of obsessed with the idea of buying a rental property
The problem is the more I research, the more I realize how little I actually know 😭
One thing I've been looking into is buying in a cheaper market instead of where I live because there's no chance I can afford anything local anytime soon. I keep seeing people talk about investing out of state with a property manager & it sounds doable. But then how do i even trust someone to manage a property i can't personally be there to check
I've also been reading about DSCR loans because everyone online makes them sound like the holy grail for rental properties, but I can't tell if that's actually true or if the finance bros on YouTube are leaving out all the downsides
My rough plan was to buy something small that cash flows, let the rent cover most of the expenses, and just keep repeating that over time instead of trying to flip houses or get rich overnight. It sounds simple in my head, which probably means I'm missing something important
Please humble me, I don't mind😅
Anyone have any advice for negotiating rent? We love our neighbors and community we have helped drive elderly neighbors to appointments and some neighbors got us involved with local neighborhood clean ups so we would love to stay...Current apartment is ideal, but when they sent our renewal offer we thought it would be based on how we were as tenants and it would be less... However it was increased, which I get things are getting more expensive. We decided our actual apartment wasn't worth it and looked at other places in the area. We saw that the apartment was listed a day after declining the offer for $50 more than our renewal back then for new tenants. We're 3 weeks out from moving and saw our current apartments now listed for $450 less than our renewal offer for new tenants. We have never been late on rent or had any issues living here. We're quiet, calm and helpful tenants and have even helped the office with their events. The only thing we can think of was that it was just the max 8% rental increase they can legally do. We would love to stay but have never tried negotiating our rent or even know if they would offer us that rate. We would have been happy to just continue paying what we were renting but when we asked what made it go up they said that was market rate for apartment now... However, considering no one has applied/ qualified since then they have lowered it significantly which makes us weary of the leasing office.
Hi reddit, I have a weird situation currently going on I desperately need input on. I fell in love with this historic home for rent in my city. The two women living there posted it on facebook marketplace to sublet and I was just blown away! It's everything I want in a house and next to all the apartments I've seen its my favorite.
After I saw the house I reached out to their landlord to talk about me taking over the property and signing on a new lease. She was super responsive for the first 2 weeks then ghosted me once we got to the point of talking about a lease. This was in May, my lease was up in August which I would be signing for. I gave up on my dream place and started looking elsewhere with little luck.
In a turn of events, just last week I heard from the current tenants. They were asking for an update! I explained the situation, and they poked the landlord to reach out to me.
After reaching out, she almost immediately sent a lease. The problem is, the lease is for August and I've already pushed out my current apartments lease to September. When I brought this up she said to just cross out the August date for September. Would this invalidate the lease?
TDLR: is a lease I alter with the permission of the landlord still valid?
Also, is it crazy to move here with all the bad vides happening??
I've reached the point where spreadsheets, calendar reminders and folders full of PDFs aren't cutting it anymore.
I've looked at a few property management platforms, but every demo makes them look like they solve everything. Then I read reviews and people always mention things they wish they knew before switching.
I'm not looking for a feature list or sales pitch.
I'm more interested in hearing from people who've been using the same software for a year or more.
What are you using now?
What made you stick with it instead of switching again?
And if you had to start over today, would you choose the same platform?
Not talking about someone who completely messes up a job.
I'm talking about the contractor who's just... okay.
Shows up late occasionally.
Communication isn't great.
Work is acceptable.
Pricing is fair.
At what point do you decide it's worth finding someone new instead of sticking with what's familiar?
I've got a unit that's been sitting longer than I expected.
Price is in line with similar rentals nearby, and I don't think the property itself is the issue. It just feels like the listing has gone stale.
What do you usually change first in cases like this?
I've noticed sometimes a small update seems to generate a new wave of inquiries, but I'm not sure if that's coincidence or how the listing sites work.
Hey Landlords, I am not a landlord, just looking for advice from landlords! So basically my business (a small warehouse) is located on a short street with 5-6 apartments/single family homes. It’s not yellow best area, however everyone has been super kind and welcoming for the past 3 years we’ve been here….EXCEPT one nasty lady who rents a house with her husband and basketball team of children.
I had just arrived one day and I was walking my dogs around my property before I went inside and this lady pulled up to me in her car, rolled down her window and screamed “disgusting wh*re” at me. Mind you , I don’t know her. I brushed that off.
Today, this morning, I was walking one of my dogs down the street (across the street from her house). she starts screaming and hollering how it’s rude and nasty and disrespectful for people to be walking their dogs where her children play (mind you it’s the opposite side of the street and they don’t own it). I blew it off. On the way back, still on the other side of the street because I’m not going near her house, she starts screaming that again that’s it’s gross and disrespectful (at this point my dog stopped to sniff a weed). I could hear her calling someone and she said “hey Jim I just want to let you know PEOPLE are going on your property and p*ssing and sh*tting, I know disrespectful right” she 1) didn’t mention the dogs 2) were walking down the street 3) we always clean up after ourselves. Someone right after with 2 other dogs was also harassed by her right after this.
This woman is significantly larger than I am and seems like she’s looking for a fight. I don’t necessarily want to get the police involved at the point, and there seems to be no talking to her. My question for all the landlords out there is if this was your tenant, would you like someone to make you aware that they are harassing the entire street? Thank you! :)
My cousin decided she wants to get a job in Pittsburgh and now wants to room together for a bit till she starts grad school. I currently have a lease with for a 1 bedroom. Love my apartment and I can have my cousin couch surf for a bit. But I was wondering if it’s worth trying to get out of my lease so we can get a 2bed somewhere else, if I should look to get someone to take over, or if I should reach out to my landlord and see if they have any more rental properties that I can somehow switch my lease to a 2bd. I need guidance please and thank you <3
Hey everyone,
Beyond the 5 standard pillars to boost rental property ROI, what else would you consider?
For reference, here is the baseline list:
What else should be on this list? Please explain your reasoning.
What is your favorite hidden strategy or unconventional tactic for squeezing extra ROI out of a deal?