go to bank
find realtor
buy low
sell high
This
BINGO.
Jammer how much cash in the bank would be a good place to start if I wanted to get into that type of business?
For anyone that isn’t good with a budget or doesn’t know where their money is going I would suggest using www.mint.com. You enter the login information your bank(s) and credit cards, and it parses the account into very usable information. It separates out your mortgage/rent, food, auto loans, etc. This information allows you to quickly see what you have spent your money on and also has a bit of advertising on areas where you can save.
+1. I’m another big Mint.com fan.
For those that don’t like to trust a random App, it’s owned by Intuit corp and doesn’t link your name to the numbers.
Yeah I saw other apps that want you to enter your bank account info and didn’t use them, I trust intuit(quicken) and didn’t have any problems. I also use excel to track or some of my financials, but tracking my daily expenses and where my money goes mint helps. I don’t balance a checkbook and use my debit card 10 times a day and only really look at the itemized list if my balance doesn’t match some ballpark number in the back of my head.
Yeh Idk how i feel about Mint from a secure standpoint in all honesty.
I purchased a 3 family and occupied one unit. I pretty much lived for free during that time and it was a good way to find out if being a landlord was something i wanted to do
Being a landlord is not easy, especially you will come to find out the tenants have so many rights than you can possibly imagine; If you have a daytime job and try to manage one or two units on the side, it is still manageable. It will take effort and the key is screening (especially if you are living with them in the same property) and lease terms.
Going back to the saving topic. I save on stuff that I need and I spend on stuff that I want. I set a weekly grocery budget of no mare than $30, that includes lunches. If you are creative, you will be amazed how much stuff you can actually get for $30.
Pay up all the auto/bike insurance to avoid installment fees. I pay everything with cc’s to keep track of my spending and for points for gas cards. Try to make an effort to save on gas, combine trips and drive slow (ZERO speeding tickets). I make an effort to use no more than a tank of gas per month.
Rent movies/games instead of buying, use cc points for movie ticket coupons.
yeapp
Oh and I was watching extreme couponing today… I’m going to be that guy holdin’ errybody up at PChop!
For the people who have a lot of units, do you do that full time, or in addition to working full time somewhere else? Do any of you go through property management companies once you have more than 2 or 3 different houses?
i should really get into real estate.
I thought about that, but notice the majority of shit they buy isn’t healthy food, canned soups, pasta, candy. All sodium and carbs. Plus I remember watching that show and one of the people on there saying they can spend up to 40 hours a week searching for coupons. No time for that kind of nonsense LOL.
Most property managers get 6 percent. My father inlaw and his partner manage their own but he owns his own business so he has flexibility in his schedule. The reason i own suburaban rentals is due to the lesser amount if time required to manage them as i have a full time job.
lmao thats what i thought when i was 18 and got my property mangers license and real estate licences.
some people can make a living off it but it will not be fun. i have tried. i would rather have fun with my life than work in real estate.
my mom owns and operates a brokerage. its a small one but i can see first hand how things work.
there are only a few sucess stories and alot of failures.
it all depends on the contract.
i could ask for 1%. also if someone manages a multi million dollar property and gets %6 its alot more than %6 of $1.
so you have to consider that too
Nobody here other then jammer is even in the relm of properties like that.
how do you know
Im sure I am NOT the only one here with income property of any value… I just try to add food for thought here…
6%-10% is normal, depending on quality of property and likely tenants. Renting it usually comes with 1/2 month or full months rent paid to agent as well…depends
how its written.
There are many types of managers, or management companies. In the end, no one manages it with necessity, the way an owner might, if the income is a necessity. When one is fat and happy, its easy to let a place go unrented… just as a lazy manager might do… or a management company may choose just anyone as long as your written qualifications are met. The problem is judgement. Its hard to find management that will think and act like you might as the owner.
I just went 5 months unrented on a 1200 sq ft 4 br near union college by choice. In the end I got what i wanted, because I put a little time in, as did 518Realty. I had a few agencies prior try to place people and its funny how some of the same people I personally turned down, were painted wonderfully from a agency months later cause they were still looking. Meaning, If your not going to do it yourself, its best to have some beans in your pocket to deal with the possible mess of someone elses decisions that may not operate the way you would.
I had a management company handle all repairs once… and when they called in a plumber to replace a water heater, I was billed $1400 for a $375 unit… $1000 to install was no skin off the agency, but iIwas effin pissed. you get the point.
no one does it like you will…unless you suck at it too.