Women Invest in Real Estate

Welcome back to episode 11 of the WIIRE podcast! In this week’s episode we’re sharing with you about our very first (ever) rentals; how we found them, how we managed them, and if we still have them in our portfolio.

Amelia’s First Rental Property

Amelia’s first rental property was a triplex in a small town in her hometown, with a population of around 5,000 people. It was a 2-story property with 3 units; two bedrooms, one bathroom on the first floor, and two units with one bedroom and one bathroom each on the 2nd floor. Amelia found this property listing on Zillow and really, only by accident. She typically had only been searching for single-family properties and didn’t realize she had the multi-family filter selected when she came across this property.

She scheduled a time to walk through it and was taken aback by the awful tenants living in the residence. So she wrote what she now calls a ‘love letter’ to the owner stating how she was excited to purchase a property in her hometown and be able to give back by providing quality housing to the residents of her hometown. With the list price sitting at $99,000 she submitted an offer of $65,000 and after some negotiation they landed on a purchase price of $78,000. Amelia purchased the property for all-cash because the appraisal was taking a long time to come back so she made it an all-cash purchase with the intent of refinancing into a mortgage right when the appraisal could be completed.

This wound up being a blessing in disguise situation because the property needed some work and she was able to make them to the property before the appraiser came out. When they finally did come out to do the appraisal it appraised for $92,000. Part of Amelia’s contingency on this offer was that the property must be sold vacant, meaning no inherited tenants upon closing.

With only 45 days until they closed the tenants moved out and Amelia ran the numbers again on this triplex (crazy for a first rental!) and knew there was no way she wouldn’t make money on this property.

It’s been nearly two years and taking the risk on her first-time rental property as a flip, wound up being a huge success and now cash flows around $800-900 per month.

Grace’s First Rental Property

After looking for a few weeks Grace and her boyfriend purchased their first rental property when she saw a property for sale, called the seller, and asked for a list of properties they were interested in selling. He sent over a list of about 30+ properties and was trying to sell them down to about 8 or so. She told him she wanted to see the grossest property he had.

He did, and it was absolutely disgusting. An absolute gut.

Backing up a few steps to her Buy Box, Grace knew they needed to BRRR because they had the money for a down payment and for the repairs, but did not want to buy cash. They also knew they wanted it to be a single-family property, and the town Grace lives near. They also did not want inherited tenants so they could start work right away. Plus, they were going to DIY the project.

When it came time to start working on the property it seemed to be even more disgusting than they initially thought and found more trash than they could have ever imagined possible. After purchasing with 20% down, they told their bank they would be refinancing it ASAP so the bank put them on a construction loan so they only had to pay quarterly interest on it until they refinanced it.

It took about 6 months (which was 3 months over their initially estimated timeframe) and between $35,000 and $36,000 (when they had only estimated $23,000), which added a significant about of stress to the entire project.

One of Grace’s ‘fondest’ memories (and biggest lessons) of this particular project was that when they were roughly one month out from completion, they made a schedule of what needed to be done. The entire 3-story property needed painting (doors, walls, ceilings, trim, you name it). She scheduled herself 3 days to paint which quickly, and painstakingly, turned into one month.

Their hard work paid off and was roughly $120,000 and when all was said and done the property appraised for $185,000. They pulled out roughly 70% equity and walked away with around $8,000 extra to use on their next deal.

Today, Grace still has this property in her portfolio (renter occupied) and has learned some major lessons to take along her REI journey.

If you’ve enjoyed hearing our stories in this episode head over to Instagram and give us each a follow and see what we’re up to now!

• Follow Amelia
• Follow Grace

Catch you in the next episode!

Resources:

• G...

Welcome back to another podcast episode! This week we’re doing a deep dive into partnerships in the world of real estate investing. We’re so excited to share with you the different types of REI partnerships, how we have structured our own partnerships, and also things to consider when it comes to implementing partnerships in your own REI business.

Two Types of REI Partnerships: Debt & Equity Equity Partnership

With an equity partnership, both parties are owners of the property. They both have a piece of the pie. And while your partnership style will depend on exactly whom brings what to the table, in the end, you both own the property.

Pros of Equity Partnerships

Equity partnerships allow you to buy more property, with more credit available and more funds available in general. Also, with equity partnerships, you are merging two strengths together, making for a very powerful partnership and two parties who are typically willing to really give the project their all.

Cons of Equity Partnerships

If you wind up not getting along with your partner, in the long run, that can get quite uncomfortable. Make sure that every so often you reassess your partnership (agreement) and its functionality. It also typically comes with a longer timeline because these types of partnerships operate for years. Make sure the person you partner with is someone you get along very well with.

Also, many people don’t want to split the piece of their pie. And while 100% of nothing, is still nothing, you need to make sure you have a strong operating agreement for things that might come up. This partnership reduces risk and increases the availability of capital between the parties.

Debt Partnership

A debt partnership is at the very simplest, a loan. Think of it just like you are borrowing money from a bank, except these funds are coming from an individual person (often referred to as a ‘private investor’). This type of partnership and loan comes with a specific timeline, interest rate, payback period, etc.

Pros of Debt Partnerships

These partnerships are often much shorter, and once you’ve paid back your investor, you’re all in, on your own. There are also a lot of people looking for dept partners - maybe they have extra money they are looking to invest and you have the know-how and expertise to allow them to invest with your REI project. Ultimately, in our opinion, the biggest pro of debt partnerships is that they are short term and once you’ve paid back your investor, the property, and income, are all yours.

Cons of Debt Partnerships

Debt partnerships typically come at a higher cost. You have a higher interest rate to borrow private money, so typically you have a much shorter timeline for these; BRRRs, flipping, etc., where there is an exit strategy and end of a timeline. These types of loans also typically last under one year and you must pay off the loan in full by the end of that year.

How To Find REI Partners

A great place to look for equity partners is in your own backyard. Talk to family and friends, interact with colleagues, and post on social media that you’re looking for new partnership opportunities. Show them what you’ve done, what you are currently doing, and build that ‘know, like, trust’ factor with them to make them want to know more. Another place to find great equity partners is through your local real estate investing groups and meetups. All of the people in that room are already interested in what you do, so look there to network and structure new partnerships.

To find debt partners, look for investors who already have that extra money. Whether it is equity in their home, a self-directing IRA, or someone with a higher income (doctor, lawyer, etc.) but who doesn’t have the time to do the project themselves. These kinds of people typically want to be hands-off (ideal for a debt partnership), so you are their boots on the ground.

Tips for Partnering

1. Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to ask for partnerships, but don’t try to partner too early.
2. Negotiate and include a management fee if you will be doing the property management yourself.
3. Make sure you outline a reassessment of your partnership after 1-2 years.
   

A final piece of advice about partnerships:

Be cautious, but optimistic.

Thank you so much for listening! We would also LOVE to hear more of your burning REI questions or episode ideas so shoot us a DM on Instagram!

See you in the next episode!

Resources:

• Join the MTR Profit Academy
• Connect with us on Inst...

Hey friends, welcome back to episode 10 of the Women Invest In Real Estate Podcast! This week we are so excited to welcome Kayla Thorp, also known as thatlandlady on Instagram. Kayla is a residential real estate investor in upstate New York whose real estate portfolio currently sits at 40+ doors, mostly in the long-term rental market. Kayla is one of the smartest people we know in the REI biz and we are so honored to have her join us today on the podcast and dive into how she systemizes her business.

Kayla started out like the majority of investors, self-managing her rentals but since then she and her husband now have their own property management team they can rely on to keep their units and operations running like a well-oiled machine.

After purchasing their first couple of rental units, they started out using Cozy.co, and when Cozy merged with Apartments.com they realized the service was not serving them well, nor was it meeting their tenant needs. They pivoted and made the switch over to Buildium, and ultimately switched again to AppFolio, which is what they still use today.

One thing Kayla impresses on other investors is that if you buy a property and don’t factor in a management fee, you are not buying an investment. You are buying a full-time job. The reason for this is that eventually if you want this to become a more passive business, you will need to hire a manager (which hopefully you will see a good ROI with appreciation and rent growth).

For Kayla, that time came sooner than later and they were quickly glad they had factored in that management percentage from the beginning. Being able to keep that management percentage to fund their own business and lifestyle, while building their portfolio, became super valuable for them. At that point, they were already ready to put more systems in place to be able to hire out different pieces of their business.

Their first property management hire was an internal hire. Because Kayla had done her due diligence and created SOPs for each step of her business in the early stages, it made this transition much less painful. They could continuously point back to all of their documented systems and procedures for every detail of exactly how to screen a tenant, turn over a unit, review standards for rental criteria, and so much more.

Being in New York, a very tenant-friendly state, Kayla has had to adjust her management style in a much different fashion than most others operate. Because New York has a unique set of laws and regulations regarding things such as evictions, collecting pet fees, the inability to check previous eviction history, and so much more. They have developed a problem-solving style that has really helped them get through most of these situations, without having to go through the eviction route.

Kayla and her husband also started the Rochester Housing Coalition, which is a group of housing providers and also nonprofit organizations that deal with homelessness in their city to address some of the housing policy concerns and to help the city work through those things in a way that's beneficial to everyone.

Eventually, Kayla and her husband were able to pivot their business and hire their first external property manager, who was actually an old friend of their business partner. They began to hand it off piece by piece starting with maintenance ticket coordination. They began by introducing them to their maintenance team. Introduced them to their ticketing system, worked out all of those kinks, and handed off just that piece. Next, they handed over learning the rent collection system, collecting outstanding rental payments, and so on.

Ultimately Kayla’s goal for herself and her husband was to get down to only working in their business for a total of 10 hours per week before they would consider the stand-up complete. Finally, they were ready to really test their systems and booked an Airbnb, out of town, for a full month to allow their team to really run the show successfully with their hands off.

Kayla’s Tips for Property Management

1. Do not be afraid to reach out to your investing community.

For the most part, the real estate investing community is so welcoming and genuinely wants to help one other. We all want each other to succeed.

2. Visualize the absolute worst-case scenario and piece togethe...

Hi everyone, welcome back to the WIIRE podcast! In this week’s episode of the Women Invest In Real Estate podcast we’re going to talk about the five property management mistakes that you should not make. We’ve each learned some of these the hard way and want to help you avoid them at all costs too!

First and foremost, a reminder...Do as we SAY, not as we DO!

5 Property Management Mistakes

1. Not using a property management software!

Yes, they cost money but hear us out. This investment will not only save you time and energy but will streamline your processes, tenfold. We love TenantCloud and highly recommend checking it out. There are a few key things a property management software should do for your business:

• Allow you to collect deposits, rental payments, fees, etc.
• Submit maintenance requests
• Sign rental agreements/leases
• Communicate with clients
• Bookkeeping (you’ll thank us come tax season!)

2. Not setting (and sticking to) regular business hours

What that means is don't train your tenants to think that you will reply instantly on Saturday and Sunday, or even instantly at all. We are huge proponents of setting business hours so our tenants know when they can reach us and what our rough turnaround for requests is, aside from emergency situations of course.

What does this look like? If you are on your computer at 7:30pm on a Sunday evening and you see a question come in (not an emergency), let it sit until Monday. Then on Monday, respond by letting them know you just received their request from the weekend and add the rest of the response to their request.

Unless you want property management to be an around-the-clock business, set your business hours, and stick to them. (There will be situations that are clearly emergencies or more urgent and this does not apply to those.)

3. Failing to properly onboard a tenant

Onboarding tenants is definitely more work on the front end of a move-in, but it is so beneficial in the long run. Setting ground rules and training your tenants on expectations from the start is going to help save you a lot of headaches down the road. After they sign the lease, provide them with a simple welcome packet. This could include:

• Instructions on submitting maintenance requests
• How to setup utilities (bonus points for adding websites or phone numbers)
• Expectations for property/community

You should also include a move-in checklist where the tenant goes through the property in the first few days, notes anything that is broken/needs repairing/is damaged then turns it in so they are not held responsible for those upon move-out.

4. Not having an Estoppel Agreement in place for inherited tenants.

An estoppel agreement is a fancy way to describe a document that reiterates the terms of a lease for an inherited tenant. It includes anything that might be a verbal agreement between the tenant and the current landlord. With estoppel agreements, we also ask for all outstanding maintenance requests to ensure there are fewer surprises upon purchase of the property.

Key components of an estoppel agreement are:

• How much their deposit was
• What they pay in rent and any fees each month
• Who is responsible for the utilities
• Who lives at the residence
• Any verbal agreements in place between landlord and tenant
• Lease length

5. Last but certainly not least is doing quarterly, biannual, or annual walkthroughs of your units.

This is so important because it gives you a chance to get into your units and make sure they are being properly cared for but also allows you to look at general maintenance that needs done to keep the property in top shape and not degrade over time (looking at faucets for water leaks, checking for mold, pests, etc.). It will allow you to stay aware of any issues that may arise or what to expect when a tenant moves out and how much work you could expect to have to turn that unit over.

Avoiding these 5 things is simply about being a proactive landlord, rather than a reactive landlord. We too are guilty of (likely) all of these, and like everything in business, there is always room for improvement.

See you next week!

Resources:

• Check out TenantCloud
• Join the Property Management Academy