Financial Freedom One House At A Time
Fighting for rental space This year has been very strange as far as rentals go. First off, rent rates have skyrocketed. In 2018, we have seen two-bedroom, one-bath houses rent for as much as 3/2 floorplans were renting for just two years ago. With the spike in rent prices, odd things have started happening. For instance, we’ve had con artists trying rent people our houses. In previous…
So, we recently had tenant applicants do some things that were new to us. One walked out of the lease-up, and the other called us rude. Let me explain what happened and why each instance was actually good. The first one happened on a Tuesday. We’d been trying to find the right tenant for a vacancy we have up in Dalton. We found some people who looked great…
So, you bought a house that you plan to hold as a rental property. You did a great rehab and really have it looking nice. Now it’s time to put it on market and get the rent money coming in. As you begin to look for tenants, I want to caution you on something. Landlords tend to use their application process to see if a tenant can…
Every industry has expenses associated with the cost of doing business. In real estate, however, those cost may not be as apparent, especially for new and aspiring investors. I know this because I got to explain some of those expenses to two different investors involved in two different deals this week. I would like to talk you through both scenarios so you’ll be better prepared to account for…
I had an interesting time with contractors last week. We have five rehabs going right now, which means we are dealing with lots of contractors and many different schedules. And last week’ workflow was, well, inefficient at best. I had one contractor go MIA. I chose that term because we didn’t know he was gone. He normally goes out, works and sends us his invoice when he is…
I’m a firm believer in the idea that rental property is an essential part of attaining financial freedom. It’s different from any other capital asset you can purchase. I mean think about it: for what other asset can you get a loan for the purchase price? I’m not aware of any bank loans for stocks. But I do know a lot of programs geared toward obtaining mortgages. Having…
I recently sat down with a property owner who was about to become a landlord unexpectedly. You’d be surprised how often this happens. Their scenarios range from inheriting property to going through a divorce or even just experiencing a job transfer. This particular owner falls into the last category. He’s being deployed overseas and received about a months’ notice. Like I said — unexpected landlord. Before I…
I did something a little gutsy this week. I decided to do a Facebook live video were I walked the viewers through a house we had just gotten back from some vacating tenants. What made this move gutsy was the fact that I had no idea what the condition of the property would be. I just turned the camera on, unlocked the door and began filming. The house was…
Boy, do we have a full plate right now. We have four active rehab projects, plus three rentals houses we need to fill. Put it all together: yep, that’s seven open properties. Woohoo! Rehab No.1 is located on Rush Chapel Road. Painting and light installation was completed Tuesday which meant I had to get cabinets and flooring ordered and delivered so the guys could keep moving forward. …
I’m often asked how I’ve learned to successfully manage rental property. You see, every landlord takes a course in property management, either via the school of hard knocks, or from a good teacher. I was blessed to learn my property management system from two great teachers, Bill Cook and David Tilney. And because of their philosophies and strategies, we have a track record of getting great tenants who…