I've been discussing tenant screening a lot lately, and the subject came up as to whether or not it makes sense to check credit. As you can imagine opinions varied. What do you do?
This is a significant development in the rental market, especially if you rely on Section 8 tenants. I'm glad I have moved away from them over the last year.
This is another one of those "Captain Obvious" reports. After the Apartment Bus Tour last month a couple of offers came in on buildings we looked at that made me realize how important perspective and experience are with respect to pricing offers. And how they are not often easily transferable between different types of real estate investing.
I've been studying sales processes lately, and I picked up a really interesting book on the topic this week. It's called "You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar". I was surprised how relevant the title was to real estate investors.
Entirely by accident I listened to a few minutes of the mutual fund sales puke show on one of our local radio stations. Talk about selective perception. This clown takes the cake. When the market is up - it's a RALLY AND BUY EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. And guess what? When the market is down, IT"S AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUY BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS CHEAP!!!
I shot this on the way to play golf this morning. I'm curious - what has come up in the first half of the year in your business that was unexpected, and that changed your focus at least somewhat for the rest of the year?
Brian is another one of the experts that I rely on in my business. His focus is commercial property insurance. And that's REALLY his focus - he's not the guy that writes the homeowner's policy on your personal residence and then says "sure, I can give you a quote on that apartment building". Here we were talking about safety issues like security cameras, smoke detectors, and sprinkler systems. You'll see why it pays to bring your insurance agent into your Apartment purchase decision process ea...
I consider the people I use in my business to be a source of competitive advantage for me. John McAuliffe of Quality Home Inspection is one of those people. One of the properties on the June Apartment Bus Tour has some nasty looking brick issues on the back wall that could lead a buyer to think there is structural damage. Take a look at John's assessment.
I looked through the pictures from the Apartment Bus Tour and saw a lot of intent looks from the attendees. That's what I was expecting, because investing in apartment buildings, while a lot of fun, is serious business.
In the home stretch for the the Apartment Bus Tour this weekend. Looks like the weather will cooperate, which will be nice. This one is full, and I ended up with a half dozen folks on the waiting list, so I wanted to get an idea if there is an appetite for another one in say mid August?