Archive for the ‘home buying’ Category

The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money and Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants

Friday, August 10th, 2012

The Arizona Network of Real Estate invited me to give a presentation to their group about my book “Fix em Up Rent em Out.”

I thought the video might be available to the general public but it looks as though that’s not going to happen.

However, so that no one feels left out, I am going to provide  a summary of the key points that I hit during the presentation. As someone who was regularly picked last for teams in gym class, I’m sensitive to people feeling left out. Casting modesty to the wind, I am also including exclusive photos of the event.

So here are:

The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money and Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants (based on an article by Andrew Stefanczyk)

1. Choose the Worst Possible Area

Location will determine the kinds of tenants you will attract, and how much rent you can fairly charge.

Do you want these bearded wonders as tenants?

The best approach is to identify target areas in your city where you would like to focus your purchases. I like to focus on “transition zones” (where there is a mixture of housing types) which are good for investors because we can purchase properties at lower prices, and there is high demand to live in these areas.

2. Put in the very best of things when fixing up  an investment property

Use new and expensive sinks, doors, refrigerators, light fixtures, etc. Never shop at stores that recycle construction supplies. Spare no  expense.

Of course, the problem is that tenants will not take care of our properties as well as we would,

Habitat Store

so we end up with many broken or worn out items. The better alternative is to shop at used building supply stores, and to purchase good, inexpensive, supplies for our rental houses. One such store is the Habitat for Humanity store.

3. Make sure you have absolutely no experience in make basic repairs

Not knowing how to change electrical outlets, unclog drains & toilets, and replace broken windows will cost quite a bit down the road.

The better way is to:

A. Learn as you go, and comply with EPA regulations

B. Take construction classes at junior college

C. Learn from handymen and contractors

D. Take the Zen approach to  house repair learn to do everything yourself

5. Utilize fix-up books, investing books, & YouTube to find answers on how to make house repairs

4. Do not screen your tenants

Being as uninformed as possible about who you rent to may be the best way to lose money as a landlord. Do not ask for or check references. Do not call previous landlords and ask questions like, did they pay rent on time? How was the condition of the house or apartment when they left? Did they ever disturb neighbors with loud music or shouting matches? How often would you have to make special trips for repairs? Being as uninformed as possible about whom you rent to will make a huge difference and will increase the chances that you will get tenants that will trash your property and refuse to pay rent.

However, the better way is to:

A. Use a checklist for tenants. Decide what kind of tenant that you want ahead of time.

B. Look at their paycheck to verify income.

C. Check county records to see what illegal activities they’ve been up to.

D. Know the Fair Housing Act. Never select tenants based strictly on “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (disability).”

E. To find new tenants, use Craiglist, put up arrow signs, and host an “open house.”

5. Make sure you have not learned about your rights as a landlord

Be completely unfamiliar with the eviction process to guarantee long, drawn out disputes with tenants. Don’t keep up to date financial records or copies of correspondence with tenants. Most states provide online information about tenant and landlord rights so avoid reading these.

The better way is:

A. Get an authoritative legal guide like  “The Arizona Landlord Deskbook” by Carlton Cassler.

B.  Copy forms and letters from your legal book to send to tenants.

C. Comply with legal ways to deal with bad tenants.

D. Use memos to communicate with tenants so you have a record of correspondence.

E. Use a month to month lease instead of long-term lease to more easily scrape off bad tenants like barnacles.

F. Reward tenants for paying on time by discounting their rent $25.  

G. Send good tenants Target  gift cards for Xmas.

In Conclusion

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–Albert Schweitzer

Carve Out Your Niche Update

My award-winning book on self-publishing, Carve Out Your Niche, is now available in Kindle format.

The Midwest Book Review called Carve Out Your Niche,

“Invaluable for anyone seeking to successfully write, publish, and market their own work.”

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Get in on the Greatest Real Estate Fire Sale in History

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

“The greatest  real estate fire sale in the history of the United States rages on.”

— CNBC

Foreclosed properties are selling like hotcakes. Now is a great time to get some great deals on investment properties  Besides the price, below are four reasons why you can count on real estate to provide you with security today and in the future.

Cash flow

With a good rental property, after all the expenses have been covered, including mortgage, vacancy rate, repairs, and property management, you can still receive a good cash flow. This provides a reliable monthly income for as long as you want to keep the property. As the amount of rent that you charge goes up, your profits go up. See Table 1 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012) for historic monthly rents in the U.S., from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Demand for Housing

There will be always be people in need of a place to live. With our growing population, a gain of one American born every 14 seconds, we will have a population of 400 million by 2050. Based on our current immigration patterns and population growth, there will continue to be a demand for housing well into the foreseeable future.

Appreciation

In the short term, housing appreciation seems to unpredictably rise and fall. However, in the long term, over a 60-year period, house values show a steady and consistent upward trend. According the U.S. Census Bureau, from 1940 to 2010, the average increase in the value of a house was about 5% per year, adjusted for inflation. Table 2 (U.S Census Bureau, 2012) shows historic home values.

While appreciation of 5% may seem low to some people, when we consider that we only put a small percentage down, between 5-20%, and we receive monthly rent checks that more than cover mortgage payments, it begins to make sense. If we don’t allow periodic dramatic rises and falls in home values to shake our confidence, we can count on steady, long-term, profits from our investment properties.

Tax savings

Our kindly Uncle Sam wisely gives tax incentives to real estate investors. The federal government allows you to depreciate your investment (or reduce your taxes to account for physical deterioration of the house) on Schedule E of your annual tax form. In addition, you deduct expenses related to your investment from your gross income on IRS Form 1040, and reduce the amount of income that you pay taxes on.

How to Force Yourself to Write

How to Get Money to Buy Rental Houses (Video)

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

During my interview with the inimitable Dan Ramey, at WBEX 1490 1490 AM in Chillicothe, Ohio, he asked whether or not people should be concerned about refinacing their house to make a downpayment on a rental house.

Naturally, people are nervous about making financial changes during a recession. But, refinancing your existing house to take down payment money out of your equity and buy a rental house is one of the safest ways to start investing in real estate. It’s the most common way that real estate investors use to purchase investment properties.

If you have a steady job and a good credit rating, now is a rare opportunity to get a loan in the 4% interest range. And, houses are selling at fire sale prices!

It’s a good idea to refinance a house that you have owned for a few years before reinancing to take some equity out of it.

Refinancing an existing property for downpayment money is a lot better than waiting until you have enough cash to purchase a rental house withouta loan. Having a loan gives you leverage, because you don’t have to use all of your own money, which could take 20 years or more, to save.

The great benefit is, after you have purchased your rental house, is that you have a stream of income that is in addition to your regular 8:00 to 5:00 job.

You can be laid off, or fired from your regular job, but you can never lose your rental property job!

Here is my new video that shows the process of putting your lazy home equity to work for you:

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Getting Started with Fixer Upper & Rental Houses (Video)

Friday, September 10th, 2010

I think that buying fixer upper houses and turning them into rental properties is the easiest way to make money in real estate. You can do it in your spare time and still work your 8:00 to 5:00 job. And, rental houses can create a steady new income stream, that could even allow you to retire from your regular job, as I did.

This video which provides a general overview of the process for starting up a fixer upper and rental house business.

How to Turn Your Home into a Rental Property – Radio Interview with Ron Ross

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

I was interviewed by the engaging, master radio host, Ron Ross of WJBC 1230 AM in Bloomington, Illinois this morning.

I talked about how to turn a home into a rental property, including:

– how to do the financing

– getting good tenants

– taking advantage of tax breaks

– and preparing the old house to rent.

Before the show I heard Ron going through the news and he said that ratings were so bad at CBS that Katie Couric was showing up to work in sweat pants, a tank top and a ball cap too.

So, during the interview, I mentioned that one of the advantages of working with rental properties was, like Katie Couric, I can show up to work in sweat pants and a ball cap.

Listen to the entire radio interview.

Upcoming radio interviews

September 2 at 7:40 am, Good Morning Rochester with Rich Peterson, KROC 1340 AM, Rochester, Minnesota.

September 2 at 11:25 am, John Brown’s Mindset, KTRS 550 AM, St. Louis, Missouri.

September 15 at 8:05 am, the Dan and Mike Show with Dan Ramey, WBEX 1490 AM, Chillicothe, Ohio.

Protecting Rental Properties: LLC vs. Insurance

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

I met Tucson attorney John Gravina following a presentation that I gave at the Tucson Festival of Books. We talked about different ways for rental property owners to protect their properties and safeguard their liability.

I asked John if he would write a post for my blog on this topic and he kindly agreed. Below are his insightful comments.

———–

Recently at the Tucson Festival of Books workshop, in addition to self publishing, you mentioned your underlying rental property business. I was more interested in your underlying business since I too have rental properties. I am also an attorney that represents claimants in negligence claims, workers compensation, social security disability, probate and estate matters.

So, I am one of the attorneys that will sue a landlord under premises liability if there is a case. What is frustrating to me is the fear of law suits against landlords that they will lose everything.

I have found at similar seminars (not yours) business consultants coincidentally selling limited liability companies and/or promoting their use as some kind of immunity or shield against law suits.

Protect Assets with Insurance

I advise property investor’s landlords to get insurance. If you have insurance, you really don’t need to worry about lawsuits since the insurance should defend you and indemnify you (pay) for any suit. The best asset protection is purchasing insurance.

Also, premises liability suits are some of the most difficult cases to take. Call around and ask for an attorney on a slip and fall case and you will be surprised by the lack of interest.

My advice to landlord property owners is to have a good insurance broker. Discuss with the insurance broker your specific concerns of a handy man being hurt and/or a tenant suit. It’s important that you are very specific at this meeting. Later if you are sued, you can bring this conversation up for coverage under reasonable expectations.

A landlord should have a business relationship with an insurance broker. All insurance needs such as liability, workers compensation, premises and an umbrella policy should be covered. If the selling agent states coverage is available, this should be confirmed in writing, such as providing a letter itemizing specific coverage.

Reasonable Expectations

Arizona had wonderful insurance law on reasonable expectations. If you go to an insurance broker for a specific example or insurable interest, the broker or insurance company can be bound. Under Arizona Law, reasonable expectations of a contracting party are to be enforced even if the written contract, such as an insurance policy/contract is contrary under the Darner decision/doctrine- 682 P.2nd 388 (Ariz., 1984).

There is a very famous landmark case in Arizona under reasonable expectations and insurance law. An auto broker went to his insurance broker requesting insurance on all of his vehicles. The broker wrote a small policy on one vehicle. The consumer was able to have coverage on all of his vehicles under the reasonable expectations.

It really should go without saying property investors need to be reasonable in their dealings. Underlying most premises liability issues, is notice. So, as a property owner if you are on notice of a dangerous condition, it must be fixed.

Notice of Dangers

The landlord obligation for premises safety may be summed up as Notice. For example, in Siddon’s, a four year old child was injured by a heavy door removed to allow access to the leased premises. The tenant asked the landlord to remove the door.

Another example is Shields, a landlord renting to a tenant repair shop that allowed pit bulls, that the landlord knew were dangerous.

I could go into some other areas such as fraudulent transfers, but that would be well beyond the scope of your inquiry. Perhaps in the future I could address this too for your readers.

John A. Gravina
Attorney at Law
John.Gravina@Azbar.org
http://gravinalaw.com/
520.795.4330

Interview with Mark Maxon Wednesday

Monday, August 10th, 2009

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In his book, Achieving Excellence in Life, author and radio host Mark Maxon states that a foreign-born individual relocating in the United States is four times more likely to acquire a net worth of one million dollars in his working lifetime than a natural born citizen. He identifies the reason for that as conditioning. Growing up in the US, we are taught “Money doesn’t grow on trees; “We can’t afford that, we’re broke;” and “The streets aren’t paved with gold.” While in other countries, people say, “The streets are paved with gold,” and “In America anything is possible.” I find that pretty interesting.

Wednesday, I will have the pleasure of being interviewed by Mark Maxon about my book Fix em Up Rent em Out. I invite you to join us. You can listen to us live at http://themaxonshow.com/, and selecting “click to listen live”.

Details for upcoming radio interviews:

August 12, Mark Maxon, KTALK AM 630, Salt Lake City, Utah, 10:00 am Mountain Time

August 14, Gillian Sutton, KRSN AM 1490, Los Alamos, NM, 7:30 am Mountain Time

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Closing day approaches on fixer-upper townhouse

Monday, July 7th, 2008


The purchase process is winding its way toward a conclusion for the fixer-upper townhouse that I am purchasing. I had the inspection done last Wednesday (naturally, I followed the inspector around so I could see the problems that he saw), the appraisal should have come in today, and we are closing Friday.

The good faith estimate from the mortgage company came in at around $650/month PITI. I plan to charge $775 for the base rent on the new townhouse. We put 20% down on the $105,000 sales price, and the seller cooperated by paying for part of the closing costs out of her proceeds at closing. (I’m going to discuss that in more detail in a future post.)

It’s a property that’s really worth a hoot because it has all the right things wrong with it. It needs paint, needs vinyl tiles replaced, needs wood putty in door holes, a few outlets are cracked, has some oil on the driveway, and it has a few leaky faucets. On the plus side, the A/C is only one year old and the roof is solid. And all the appliances work. It should take about week to get it in ship shape.

The best part about the deal is that my other unit, 3 doors down, rents like hotcakes. As soon as we put the For Rent sign up, we have people knocking on the door. I’ve been waiting for another one these units to open up at a decent price.

On another note,

There’s a good aritcle comparing oil vs. latex paints over at fliprent.com.

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Making an Offer on a Townhouse and Mulitple Careers

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

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House Shopping

I am making an offer on a fixer-upper townhouse. It’s a 2 bed 2 bath unit in a row of about 10 townhouses, where I already own another townhouse. It’s not the proverbial “worst house in the best neighborhood” but it’s located in a mixed lower-middle to middle-class neighborhood where there is good demand for housing.

They are asking $115,000 and I am offering $100,000. I’ll let you know how it comes out.

One Person/Multiple Careers

I began reading Marci Alboher’s intriguingly entitled book One Person/Multiple Careers. It’s interesting to read about other people doing similar multiple careers to what we part-time real estate investors are doing. I’ll post a review of the book here soon.

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Due Diligence Part 6, Tricks Sellers Use to Avoid Inspections

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008


Continuing the Due Diligence series for those who buy fixer-upper properties. The due diligence period is the time period between the acceptance of the offer and the close of escrow. It is the time to find out if you really want the property. If its not as good as you thought, you can ask the seller for adjustments, or get out of the contract. Following the outline in “Investing in Real Estate for Dummies,” here are

Two tactics that sellers use to avoid a thorough and detailed property inspection

1. The buyer offers the buyer a warrenty or property protection plan that covers repair costs for major systems and appliances of the property. Although they may sound good on the surface, in my opinion these plans don’t usually live up to expectations because:

a. they can have an up front cost of several hundred dollars;
b. there is a deductible of $25 to $100 each time you file a claim; and,
c. when you file a claim, you may find that what you thought was covered may not
actually be covered due to exemptions in the policy.

About four years ago, I bought a house with a pool and the seller included a property protection plan that purported to cover the pool too. When I called the company to get the pool repaired, I was informed that the contract included an exeption that excluded any work on underground pipes. This must save the plan’s company a lot of money, as I imagine that most pools have underground pipes. Granted, I never read the fine print in the contract. I just believed the splashy promises on the cover of the information brochures that said the pool was covered. My bad, but the brochures are misleading at best.

2. Sellers have a house inspection done ahead of time, so they save you the time and the money by providing you with a copy of an inspection report. If the seller was trying to put something over on you, they may contract with an inspector that has a reputation of not being diligent when examining the house. I think this can also be a good thing, as you can review the seller’s inspection report and pass it along to yourinspection team. It may give you a good general idea of the condition of the house to start with.

When to make use of inspections

Looking at it another way, when you are selling a house, I think it is a useful step to have an inspection done by a reputable inspector. This way you show you have nothing to hide, and it serves as a good starting point for negociations. The buyer may have another inspection done, and if it turns up the same things that your inspection did, it may serve to build trust with the buyer.

In his book “How to Sell Your House in 5 Days,” Bill Effros advocates having the house inspected by a professional home inspector, and if you have a well or septic system, have them inspected as well. He suggests using a company with reports that looks professional, and not a hand-written report with fill-in-the-blanks and check boxes. You want a report you will be proud to show to potential buyers. Effros says, by conducting these tests in advance, you answer buyers’ questions and reduce the time it takes to close on the sale. Since you’ve paid for tests often not performed by sellers, your home is even more desirable to buyers, who will save money and will know what they’re getting before they start bidding.

An earlier post with My Observations of a 5-Day Sale.

NEXT: NEGOTIATING CREDITS IN ESCROW

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