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Listen to Gary’s interview with Pat Hiban

Listen to Gary’s interview
with Pat Hiban

“Interviews with Real Estate Rockstars…
Radio Station”

hibanInterview

Investor Agent Live Weekly Q and A Webinar: Analyzing Rentals

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

Rehab Advice For Those Who Flip Houses

 

Flipping Houses
Flipping Houses

Rehab

What to rehab, how much and how far do you go?

Knowing what to rehab, how much you spend and how far you go with it is a moving target. Always keep in mind that you are not living here, tenants are. You need to rehab according to the market that your rental property is in. This means the socio-economic market. You don’t put $50/yard carpet in a rental that is located in an upper low end neighborhood. Likewise you don’t put indoor/outdoor carpet in the living room either. This is a skill you will develop over time. My intention here is to help you shorten the learning curve and avoid as much expense as possible.

So let’s go over the basics. First we’ll discuss carpet since we mentioned it above. In these rentals use a good brand name like Shaw carpet. Get a very neutral color like Candy Truffle. I call it the color of dirt. And it looks nice! Get the lowest grade or weight. Then put a middle grade pad underneath. This is one of the secrets. A better pad will help the carpet last longer. The color will hide a lot of crud. It is appealing to the eye. It is a 10-year warranty carpet and is a standard in the rental business. I think Shaw carpet owes me some love. What do you think?

When it comes to painting, always use a good paint at least as good as Behr. Stick with one color for the wall surfaces like off-white satin and one color for all the trim like white semi-gloss. I like the two tone look and I always use semi-gloss on trim. Use can use flat on ceilings and even walls if you’d like. The challenge with flat paint on walls is that it doesn’t clean well and you have to repaint more often. You can also use a more appealing very light neutral color on the walls other than off-white. The two tone look is very appealing and it really doesn’t cost that much more. Hiring a pro to do the painting is a must. They’re better and faster than you and I, and your time is much more valuable than theirs and you will use that time to find more deals.

When it comes to plumbing fixtures don’t make the mistake everyone else makes when they first start out, and that is buying cheap plumbing fixtures. If you pay $29 for a kitchen faucet you will get what you paid for — CRAP. There’s an old saying in plumbing, “If it ain’t heavy, it ain’t good.” If you buy a plumbing fixture and it is loaded with plastic it will be a waste of your time and money. I like American Standard products. The product you and I get off the shelf at the Home Depot is the same one the plumbers get at the plumbing supply house. This is not true of other manufacturers. Also, the American Standard warranty is like gold. No fuss no muss. If you have a problem they take care of it. You won’t have a problem though. Their products stand up to a lot of use and abuse. I think American Standard owes me some lovin too!

Don’t go cheap on windows. For rentals I use American Craftsman. They are good, double hung, double pane, and all vinyl clad windows with a good long and solid warranty. If you get the cheapies you will be wasting your time and money.

My favorite subject is contractors. OK, it’s not my favorite subject. This is one of the worst parts of this whole business. It’s hard to find good contractors and they don’t last forever. I have had contractors I’ve known for years turn bad on me. At the first sign of trouble like with women, trucks, alcohol, drugs, money or health they seem to disappear into the dark side quite rapidly. Not all of them do these but an alarmingly large percentage relative to society seem to. I have friends who are contractors. I love them like brothers. But when %@#$ happens I have to cut them off. They can harm you as much as they can help you. Always remember this: When you are hiring contractors, even if you have solid referrals on them you must do a background check just like you do with tenants. Always make sure they are insured and bonded. Ask for these credentials. If they screw something up and they are not insured, the liability will fall directly to you as the owner of the property. This is not something you take a short-cut on. Period!

I had a pair of contractors working with me for years. They became friends of mine. They were twin brothers and worked well together. One was the straight man and one was the booze swigging, whore mongering derelict who I don’t even think had a valid driver’s license. They were some of the first guys I ever hired. I hired the straight man and he later brought in his brother. I still should have checked him out. What I discovered after years of good work was a little bit of fraud. Nothing major but I decided not to take any chances. I caught them cheating on supplies. They would buy more than enough supplies and charge me for it… then return the excess to Home Depot after job was completed. It may not sound like a big deal especially since we are only talking about a few measly dollars and cents. However, my knowledge of human nature, and the propensity of people to keep taking when they get away with a little bit, dictated that I act and act swiftly to send a message to everybody else working for me. I had another guy try this prior to this occurrence. He was dumb enough to turn in a receipt for some lumber that he already charged me for. He didn’t turn in the receipt before and thought he could use it on this next job. The problem was that he had 4 X 4 pressure treated lumber on there to the tune of $400 and this current job was an inside kitchen job requiring no pressure treated lumber. What an idiot. He must have assumed I didn’t check receipts. I did. I have friends who have been ripped off by their own family in business. One such situation involved over $100,000! You can never be too sure. Embezzlement and employee theft is a huge problem in business. My parents owned a business before they retired and they had an accounting category just for theft. And it was about 10% of business. That is ridiculous. But it is real. You need to have systems to track your income and your expense. Expenses will already eat you alive if you’re not careful. Throw loss due to theft on top of that and it’s no wonder so many people go out of business.

You can find good contractors. They are out there. Always ask for references. Look at other work they have done. Ask their prior customers how the contractor was when it came to keeping to the schedule and the budget and how well they communicated. Start new guys off small before you give them big jobs. Look at their appearance. Do they look like they are living the clean life or do they look like hell? Who do you want to give the keys to your property to?

Whenever you are involved in a big job – more than a few thousand dollars — don’t pay all at once. Give the contractor a little supply of money up front. Then give them a little more when they have the basic work done. Then give them another payment when they are near completion. Hold on to the last payment until the job is complete to your satisfaction. No excuses here. If you go to the final walk through and the contractor says, “Oh, I’ll come back tomorrow and finish that little bit myself,” do not give him the last of the agreed upon payment. If he is good to his word, he’ll finish completely and then you can pay him the rest. A lot of investors fall prey to this little gimmick. Even if it is innocent it is still a problem. Don’t do it!

For more information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinRealtyAdvisors.com

Written by Gary Wilson, June 30, 2014

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

Turning Rental Problems Into Profits

Managing Rentals
Managing Rentals

 

Managing Your Own or Your Clients’ Rentals

 

Introduction

No Pain, No Gain

 

Exercising your anxiety threshold

I believe every beginning investor must go through some trying experiences in order to really test their mettle and push through their perceived barriers of stress and anxiety. I was no exception and I have a pretty high tolerance to stress. The third property I bought was 49 Grant Street in Etna. Over the years this property was a real cash cow. To this day I can’t understand why. The lady I bought it from said the same thing.

I was in for a rough ride from the day of closing (actually before). The seller delayed the closing once so she could collect unpaid rents. This should have been my first warning. Fortunately, I poured over all of the property documentation including the leases, where I discovered she had collected the last month’s rent up front. No one else knew this and she didn’t disclose it.

So what would have happened is that I would have not been credited with that at the closing had I not discovered it, and when the tenants’ leases were up they would not have paid the last month’s rent – properly pointing to their leases. She, of course, had conveniently forgotten this little tid bit of information. This should have been my second warning.

When we went to close for the second time, the title company had information from the municipality that there were outstanding water and sewage charges. The seller insisted she had paid them. She convinced the title officer but not me. The title officer insisted on closing which meant I would have been breech had I not closed. The time of this second closing, as required by the seller, was at 5:30 in the afternoon (after the municipality had closed for the day). How convenient for the seller. This should have been my third clue.

As it turned out I fought the title company for nearly a year to clean up the delinquent and unpaid water and sewage. For those of you who are new to investing in Real Estate, water and sewage are typically lien-able items, which means they don’t care who owns the house or who used the water, if it’s not paid they place a lien on the house, so whoever owns it at the time wins the prize and inherits the problem.

I know, we are entrepreneurs and we don’t have problems, we have challenges. I’m telling you this was a problem!

This was all just the beginning. It turns out the nice little man on the 1st floor who was the single parent of the cute little girl in kindergarten, was a professional deadbeat and tenant from hell. His cute little niece and her fiancé lived on the second floor. But that’s OK, because I had a crackhead on the third floor. He was a social guy so he shared some of his crack with the cute young lady on the second floor who quickly became what is known as a Crack Ho. I didn’t know what the H@#$ crack was or how bad that could be. I would a few years later. Anyhow, back to Mr. Wonderful on the 1st floor.

Trying to get rent out of this guy was like trying to extract a molar from a bull by going through his ass. It was difficult and messy. Oh, I’m stubborn. I got my rent but not without a lot of work. This was my first experience of course and I learned a lot of lessons from it. I must have had this guy in court 3 or more times. Each time he would come up with the money at the last possible moment. I finally beat him but not without him causing me a lot of extra work and getting me so agitated with his games I nearly resorted to violence.

In the meantime, because the second floor girl was spiraling downward into the dark world of crack addiction. She lost her job and while her fiancé was still working trying to make ends meet, she resorted to having sex with crack dealers in order to get her fix. Her fiancé eventually found out and kicked her out and moved out him. At one point I went over to the property to make a repair and assumed she was home. I knocked and yelled but to no avail. I eventually let myself in and when I got close to the bedroom I thought someone might be in bed. So I yelled again. This time the girl, buck naked, jumped up from her near coma sleep and screamed. I screamed too and got the heck out of there. Luckily, I didn’t get in trouble for that and I learned a valuable lesson. Never enter an apartment on your own if you suspect someone is there and no one answers your calls – especially if you are of the opposite gender.

The third difficult requirement was to rid myself of the zombie on the third floor. This at first appeared to be difficult but ultimately I got a lucky break. The guy got hit by a car in front of the house.

One evening I went over to the property to see the third floor tenant after making arrangements and leaving a reminder notice on his apartment door. When I arrived at his apartment I knocked and yelled numerous times. I knew he was there and so I eventually opened the door and walked in. Sure enough, about three of them were there. None of them were moving. Lights were on and so was the television. I tried to wake the ring leader up but he wouldn’t budge. He wasn’t dead and he wasn’t asleep. He simply believed that he could either: A – fool me into believing he was dead, B – fool me into believing he was in a non-waking form of sleep, or C – believe he could make himself invisible.

He and his two genius cohorts eventually opened their eyes. They finally realized I wasn’t giving up. I had him sign an agreement that stated he was to vacate the apartment by the weekend if he could not make good on his rent. He signed it and moved out the following weekend. In the process he got hit by a car in front of the house. He refused medical attention and we never saw him again. Halleluiah!.

Now, as the new Sherriff in town I was able to clean house and refill it with nice young female tenants complete with jobs and checking accounts. The next several years were good times for this property and profitable for me. But not without a cost to myself.

While all of the aforementioned circumstances were taking place, I hit my own wall. It was my first real test dealing with tenants and I eventually prevailed. However, one fine day in October as the leaves were changing colors I had to get out of there. I don’t mean the location where I was at the time but rather the state of mind I was in. I was either having a nervous breakdown or an anxiety attack. I told Susan we had to go somewhere, anywhere. It was beautiful outside and I wanted us all to go together: Susan, me, Annie and Andrew. We hopped in the car and I just started driving. We eventually found our way to Squaw Run Park, near where we lived. We got out and started walking down a path – any old path would do. Annie and Andrew kept looking at me and Susan, not understanding what we were doing. Quite frankly neither did I. They kept asking what we were doing there when they could get at least one more swim day in at the neighbor’s pool before the weather turned too cold. I don’t even know if I answered them. I was numb. It all seemed surreal. I knew they were there but I was not engaged with them or anyone or anything.

While walking I spotted a rock and just sat down on it and melted into it. I remember faintly hearing Andrew asking Susan “What’s wrong with Daddy? “ I don’t remember what Susan said but no matter. I was having my moment. And it worked. I eventually came out of the fog and we went back home. From that moment on I was able to handle whatever ridiculous tenant problem (challenge) that came my way. I was always able to keep things in perspective and I kept my cool for a lot of years.

Oh, I eventually grew tired of outsmarting deadbeat tenants and found myself lowering myself to their standards of uncivil language and treatment. That’s about the time I realized I needed professional property management. But that’s another story for another time. For the moment, I was determined to profit from my real estate–my way. I had to learn a lot the hard way. There was plenty of ways to learn how to buy rental property but not much was available to guide me once I owned it. I eventually got so good that I started my own Property Management Company and named it “Win Rental Management”. I also started teaching and coaching fellow investors how to realize the pleasure of Rental Profits Without The Pain.

For more information on this please  call me at 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinReatyAdvisors.com. You can also learn more by visiting MyInvestmentServices.com and look for Rental Profits Without The Pain and Turning Problems Into Profits. Would you like to learn from my lessons without having to repeat them yourself? Good. You should also take the training courses for Rental Profits Without The Pain and Turning Problems Into Profits.

Written by Gary Wilson, June 25, 2014

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

Wholesaling Real Estate the Correct Way – For Investors and Agents Alike

Wholesaling so everybody wins
Wholesaling so everybody wins

If you are a real estate investor or agent who works with investors then this article was written for you.

 

Real Estate Wholesaling

How It Works

If you have a short term memory then make sure you implant permanently what I am about to tell you. The way wholesaling works (in fact, the only way it can work) so that everybody wins, is that you, as the wholesaler (Party B) must find your buyers first! That’s right. You first market, advertise, capture and nurture a growing list of people who are interested in finding great real estate deals, whether they be flips or rentals, and have the money but don’t have the time to do it. Then and only then do you go out and find great real estate deals and get them under contract. Nothing could be more damaging to your reputation than getting properties under contract than not being able to sell the contract or follow through on the purchase of the property. Those who teach that it is easy to get out of a contract if you can’t sell it (so it is not something to be overly concerned about), are damaging to the world of investing and wholesaling in particular. This implies a lack of proper execution of the principles and if you have to break a contract then you violate the principle of “Everybody Wins”. In this case the sellers (Party A) lose. And you lose too because you will develop a reputation of someone NOT to deal with. Don’t fall into this trap. Follow the easy, simple processes that I teach you here and you will profit so that everybody wins! All you are doing is filling orders. Part of nurturing your buyer clients is asking them questions, listening to their answers and understanding what types of properties they want. Then you go out and find those properties, get them under contract and sell the contract to your buyer.

How Do I Find Buyers for my Wholesale Deals?

Marketing and Advertising! That’s right. You market yourself as the Go To guy or girl in your area who knows how to sniff out those awesome real estate deals. You can easily market yourself by creating an impressive image on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and even more social media venues. You should also create your own website. All of this is simple. It may not be easy because it does take time, but it is simple.

You advertise by sending messages through LinkedIn, and posting messages on Facebook, to those who are following you, showing them the deals you have done and promote the one(s) you currently have. You can also use Postlets to advertise your current deals. Furthermore, you can identify, through public records, those who are regularly buying properties in your area. You can send them, through the US mail, your latest deals and entice them to sign up with you as their provider of great real estate deals. Of course you can use Craigslist, Bask Page, bulletin boards in your church or grocery store, and yard signs. Here is a rundown of available advertising mediums:

Craig’s list – Bar none. This is one of the best ways to reach your marketplace. It’s free and has a wide audience. They even have a tutorial for you to learn from.

FB, Twitter, LinkedIn – Use your network(s) in Social Media to get the word out. Be careful how you use social media. There are rules of etiquette you must first learn for each one. The number one taboo is spamming your network. Never abuse the privilege of social media. If you do you will be shunned, un-friended, un-liked, un-connected and unsuccessful!

Church – Churches usually have weekly bulletins in which you can advertise your vacancies. This works well for large congregations but I would use it in small churches as well. Look in your church’s current bulletin and there should be instructions or at least contact information that you can use to get started.

Grocery store – Usually have a bulletin board where you can pin a flyer with tear off phone number tabs. You need to check this regularly. Sometimes they disappear. Sometimes other people will post their notice right over top of yours. If you’re really lucky all of your number tabs will be gone!

Restaurants – They often will let you put a stack of flyers or business cards near the checkout. The next time you’re dining at one of your local favorite restaurants speak to the owner or manager. Someone with the authority to act is always on duty at a restaurant. Please note that there are some other great marketing and advertising opportunities here. For example, ask the proprietor if he/she will offer a discount or free meal coupon (get several) for you to use as a reward to give to your good tenants who refer other good tenants to you. Use your imagination!

Local publications – Penny Saver, Green sheet, they’re in every community and are very inexpensive. Unlike large publications like your big city paper, I have had a lot of success with these types of publications. Call and ask for their rules and regulations. Learn the rules of their advertising game and you will master the game. Some ads you will place for one to two weeks. Some you will place for a year. You will also learn where in the publication to place your ads, how big, how small, special features, etc. Hint – Any time you can have your ad placed in a box you will get better results!

Pick up a copy of the e-Book “Wholesaling So Every Body Wins”. Available at MyInvestmentServices.com.

For More information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinRealtyAdvisors.com

Written by Gary Wilson, June 23, 2014

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

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