9 Tips to Make More Money with Your Rentals

This is a review of the Rental Income Podcast with Dan Lane. Today’s show featured 9 tips with Mike Connolly.

Tip #1 – Price your rental below market prices. When you do this you can get better tenants. He looks for 680 or better credit score, income three times rent, and an excellent rental history. This is an excellent tenant and they have many options. The way he does that is pricing below fair market value.

Tip #2 – 60 days before the lease expires do a rent analysis. Expenses have nothing to do with rent and all you want to look at is comps in the neighborhood. Have your leases expire in May or June by changing the time frame above one year leases to make this happen.

Tip #3 – 70% of inquires are coming from Zillow, Trulia, and Hotpads.

Tip #4 – Outline your requirements in the ad. This stops you from wasting time anyones time including your own.

Tip #5 – Always use professional pictures. Without question you get a return on the cost of doing this. The home gets more hits, rents quicker, and it helps you stand out from the crowd.

Tip #6 – Don’t over rehab a property. Start with the floors (laminate), then do paint, quartz kitchen countertops, and new vanities/faucets. Also don’t forget landscaping. Laminate flooring will bring $100 more a month over carpet.

Tip #7 – Most owners don’t want pets. There are benefits of allowing small pets. First you increase the market and second you can make more profit. Tenants with pets also stay longer. Get a $500 Pet Fee.

Tip #8 – Price your rental like stores price their products. Not $900, but $890. The psychological effect of the $10 is much greater than the $10 would suggest.

Tip #9 – Pay a referral fee. Existing tenants have a vested interest in who moves in down the hall. If you offer a small fee they will help you find someone that they wouldn’t mind live close to them which also makes them less likely to leave.

This summary was prepared by Casey Ryan Richards.

Denver. Is there anywhere left to invest?

Today I decided to listen to Greg Rand and see what he had to say about investing in Denver. It is a market I would probably avoid, so I wanted to hear what his opinion was on the matter. Here is his description from the podcast:

Denver is a massive giant right now, and many feel like they missed their chance. In this video I talk with Ben to see if there’s still anywhere in Denver that might still have a price low enough to get in and still reap the reward. I talk about the expansion I could see still coming out of Denver due to a new light rail expansion.
I want to do more of these calls with those who watch my content so if you have a question about an investment plan or market data send me an email at grand@renterswarehouse.com and we will try to set something up.

Greg rand

This conversation started between Ben and Greg on September 8th, 2019. Ben decided to move back to Denver right before the boom started kicking off. He wanted to get in at the time but thought that it was too expensive. He looked at a property for $200,000 that is now worth $600,000. The question he has now is has Denver peaked? If not, where should he go?

Greg Rand

Greg Rand actually predicted the rise of Denver back in 2010 on Fox News. He made the decision based on fundamentals. Greg believes that trying to buy houses at significantly less than the value is a craze. Instead, he pays market value and looks for valuable markets. The market price in a city that is about to boom is a deal and you can buy it right off the MLS.

Commerce City is an interesting area right now. The light rail is going in as well as new developments. There is new construction coming in. It is a late bloomer for the area with sections like Stapleton having already taken off. The city of Denver is expanding and moving out and it has now reached Commerce City.

The median home value in Commerce City is $356,700. Commerce City home values have gone up 3.6% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 1.7% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Commerce City is $193, which is lower than the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metro average of $268. The median price of homes currently listed in Commerce City is $385,000 while the median price of homes that sold is $373,800. The median rent price in Commerce City is $2,172, which is higher than the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metro median of $2,150.

Zillow.com

Greg says when transit lines are coming it is because someone thinks that in the coming years it will be too crowded and they need to build something now. Home Depots or shopping centers are great, but transit is even better. The best time to buy is before the train station is built. He looks for walkable properties near the station.

Another thing that is good to do if you like the area is to go to a planning board. Are they supportive of the expansion or are they resisting it? Most people won’t do this, but when you are there watching you can tell what is going on. Do they have the votes to build?

What happens if you go Northeast of Commerce City? Greg predicts that the prices will continue to go down and the opportunity will go up. Looking at Greeley, Co here is what Zillow Reports:

The median home value in Greeley is $293,000. Greeley home values have gone up 5.6% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 3.2% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Greeley is $212, which is lower than the Greeley Metro average of $212. The median price of homes currently listed in Greeley is $314,900 while the median price of homes that sold is $304,800. The median rent price in Greeley is $1,625, which is lower than the Greeley Metro median of $1,900.

Zillow.com

The moral of Greg Rand’s podcast is that you need to buy in the right place and nothing else matters.

Summary by Casey Ryan Richards

Researching Your Investment Market

Greg Rand of Renter’s Warehouse put together this podcast about market research. Here is what he had to say about it:

In this podcast we take several different audio clips from our short form clips on social to form an episode all about advice on how to begin researching your investment market. What signs should you look for and how can you do the research from home. We hope you enjoy.
Start doing your research now on https://renterswarehouse.com to see the charts I talk about in the podcast.

Greg rand

Everyone knows the first rule of real estate investing… LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! However, if you watch HGTV or BRAVO you would think the first rule is “getting a great deal”. The reality is that getting a great deal doesn’t matter if your location is wrong. Likewise, if you get a bad deal in the right location, you will still win! The best thing to do is focus on getting the location right and you will win every time.

Summary by Casey Ryan Richards

Josh Culler Interview on Think Realty

It has been a while since I’ve reviewed Think Realty Radio’s podcast. The primary reason for that is that they went offline from the station in Dallas which I listened to it on. Today I was reminded of the show though and I found they had a podcast. Today’s episode is an interview of Josh Culler from Culler Media by Abhi Golhar.

Josh got started in real estate when he was 19 doing wholesaling and various other tasks. Now that he has a good background and knowledge of everything real estate, he won’t ever fix a house again. He is now a private lender and mentor.

Abhi Golhar (Left) and Josh Culler (Right)
Summary by Casey Ryan Richards

The number one thing that Josh Culler has observed about successful people is the ability to problem solve. When you run into a brick wall many people just stop. Successful people find a way over the wall, around the wall, or even under the wall. Failure is normal, but the ability to problem solve and overcome failure is not.

Josh’s top books for real estate investing are:

• Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven Scott
• The Compound Effect by David Hardy
• Fearvana by Akshay Nanavati

According to Josh one of the best things you can do for your business is to create content that hits pain points. Start by figuring out who your audience is and where they are at. Next, figure out where they are at. Finally, you need to measure your own comfort level. Do you hate video? Maybe you should do something else. Content marketing works but only if you can figure out what you are good at. It is okay to start at zero. There is no reason to produce something fancy.

To hear the rest of the show visit watch it on YouTube.com. Josh is the author of the book The First 25. This summary was written by Casey Ryan Richards. Casey is a real estate investor and entrepreneur in Vermont.

What do setbacks teach you about yourself?

From Clayton Morris’ website:

Setbacks are a part of any business, and real estate investing is no exception. When many new investors experience problems in their business, it can be easy to begin spiraling into fear, regret, and insecurity. On today’s show, Natali and I want to talk about what these setbacks can teach you about yourself.

If you’ve ever gone through a hardship in your business, and found yourself regretting purchasing real estate, this episode is for you. You’ll learn about appropriately managing your expectations, how to get through a tough time, and the importance of thinking of your setbacks objectively. Please join us for episode 538 of Investing in Real Estate!

–Clayton Morris

Here is the scenario… you have a rental apartment and little Billy next door breaks the window. Now you have to pay for it and you didn’t expect it. You should have though… You should have a budget for unexpected things because they will happen. Maybe the first year it doesn’t work out and you are thinking you should have never done this. That isn’t true though. You still have an asset and a setback doesn’t mean failure. Assuming you didn’t put every penny into one investment, you still have the capacity to move forward.

You must avoid having emotional reactions to setbacks. It is natural to do this, but it isn’t the best way to move forward. The reality is that you will have challenges. Get over them and move on. Look at business not as a major problem, but as an objective.

An important step to changing your thinking is to realize how far you have already gone. Don’t think about what might happen down the road because you can effect the outcome of what could be by how you react today. You have options. You still have an asset that cashflows. Just because something that you don’t like occurs doesn’t mean it is the end of the world.

A friend of Clayton’s that invests once had a hurricane hit one of his properties. When Clayton told him he was sorry to hear that, his friend replied why? He got FEMA money and tax deductions for the next 40 years. He looked at it in a different light and turned a negative into a positive.

It is normal to have doubts, but you need to push through them.

Summary by Casey Ryan Richards.