Fixer Jay’s Mom & Pop Millionaire Blog

What will set you apart from other landlords is how well you handle repairs. Tenants will always gripe about high rents. You can’t change that no matter what. However, when they get top-flight service for their money they will accept it better. As a result, they’ll remain your customer much longer which, of course, is what all owners want.

If you rent houses, you should think of yourself as a business person! Business people provide a product or service for money! You provide houses for rent – it’s basically the same. The point I wish to emphasize here is this: If you’ll provide top grade service to your customers, you’ll stay in business a long time. Also, you’ll beat the socks off your competi­tion.

Many part-time landlords get themselves into serious difficulties by “sluffing off” on repair call-outs. Here’s a typical “sluff off’ conversation – ‘Yes, Mr. Renter, I know it’s only Wednesday, but If you’ll just be patient and hold off using the toilet till Saturday ­that’s my day off, you know!” You should ask yourself this Question -If you were the renter I would you accept that answer? I rather doubt it – and neither will anyone else.

Every landlord should know and understand “Landlord- Tenant” laws in his own area. Once you know the laws, your fear of renters or of being intimidated will vanish. An overwhelming number of owners incorrectly assume these laws favor deadbeat tenants. I can assure you this is not the case, although sometimes it appears that way! Laws are mostly about equity. It’s well to remember – there are unscrupulous landlords the same as bad tenants I

Get the Money

Quite often, landlords ask me, “Should I accept partial payments for rent?” My answer is generally yes – If you feel that’s all your tenant has. Of course, you should always give him a Three-Day Notice to Pay or Quit for the balance~ soon as you take the money.

Let’s face facts: many low-end renters are lousy money managers. Most can’t save a dime. Let me ask you, is this the kind of person you should tell, “Don’t come back till you have all my rent?” Can you imagine how lonely you might get before that happens?

Tags: Fixing For Money by FixerJay
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For “hands on” type investors like my­self, I have long held the notion that the best type of real estate to buy, when you are just starting out, Is something between run­down and ugly and a complete “Junker”. The degree of rundown or ugliness will be mostly dependent upon how brave you choose to be. Personally, I think the braver you can be ­the better off you’ll be with your first several acquisitions.

To start with, sellers of these kinds of properties are not in a position to be very picky about who they sell to. They can’t play “hard ball” with the price and terms like owners of higher quality, nicer looking prop­erties. The main reason is because 95 per­cent of all potential buyers are “turned off” by the rundown condition and ugliness. Conse­quently, lack of buyer competition will greatly limit the owner’s ability to sell.

How can I make It worse?

What this means is, you can almost always buy these properties for much less cash up front (lower down payments). Also, it’s likely the seller will be forced to accept much weaker terms. Lower equity payments and carry back notes are very common. Many of these deals can be 100 percent owner financing.  Ugly-Junker type properties are generally older properties, too. Many of them no longer having conventional mortgages like bank loans or savings and loan mortgages to payoff.

When they do, they are most often low bal­ance loans with good interest rates and al­most always assumable to new buyers. For “start out” investors especially, let me say this loud and clear – Owner financing is the kind you want. Owners are almost always more flexible to deal with than banks.

One very important reason to start out with this type of property is because it’s a good experiment for you. It provides you with an opportunity to learn what you can and cannot do. If you purchase a rundown house or small apartment building that’s already an existing eyesore when you buy it, ask yourself this question: How can I possibly make it worse? Even with very limited handyman skills, your efforts are still likely to make some worthwhile improvements. If you don’t do things exactly right the first time, so what! Who cares! No one but you will probably even notice. Simply do it over again until you get it right.

Finally, there is another important benefit you get which I rank about as high as the others. It’s called confidence in yourself. Once you actually experience positive money coming in, you begin to realize – “Hey, it’s me! I’m really making good things happen!”

Confidence in yourself is worth more than the money. Yet strangely enough, money builds confidence faster than any­thing I know of.

Tags: Success Secrets by FixerJay
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Most buyers, at least 95 percent, place very heavy emphasis on LOOKS. Therefore, fix-up investors immediately have one major advan­tage buying rundown properties. 95 percent of the potential buyers won’t show up – that’s much less competition! Knowing what to buy and how to go about buying correctly makes the difference between profit makers and negative deals. Underline knowing how to buy correctly, then circle the sentence and read it again.

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The most difficult part of buying property right has nothing to do with contracts, paper­work, escrow instructions and presenting offers. It’s finding sellers who really and truly desire to sell their properties. You’re looking for sellers who have compelling reasons to sell. Some­times the fear of losing their property in foreclo­sure creates pressure. That’s an obvious rea­son. Many other reasons are hidden and not so visible however. Always remember this – A real need situation must exist for the seller, or you will have great difficulty meeting your purchase objectives. That is. buying the property with the kind of terms you need to make the transaction a profitable one for you.

Clean-Up Work Brings High Returns

With fix-up real estate, often a simple cleanup and painting, together with a change of tenants, will get you higher cash flow almost immediately. With increased income from rents, you now have a more valuable property. Several of these deals can “pump up” your equities quickly and allow you to build wealth much more rapidly than other­wise. I call this “fast track investing”.

Properties where the owners will carry back the low interest financing are the kind of transactions that allow you to buy real estate with minimum cash down payments – and still be able to get cash flow. Bank financing with higher interest rates or the variable rate mortgages are not the kind you want. Bank financing will seldom be much of a problem when you buy older, rundown type properties like I recommend. The reason is: original bank loans, if there were any, have long since been paid off.

Just remember, It’s the BOOKS (the numbers) not the LOOKS that really count in this busi­ness, unless of course, you want to operate your real estate as a hobby.

Tags: Fixing For Money by FixerJay
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Your first property purchase and the next several after it will be extremely important to your investing career. Although it’s very likely at the time you do it you probably won’t realize exactly how important. There are right properties and wrong properties available in the market-place. Choosing the kind that makes long-term profits and short-term cash flow is what you want.

Making a good solid “first property selec­tion” can easily spell the difference between establishing a strong permanent launching pad for your investment career or creating a deep financial hole that will quickly bury you, Your dreams of wealth can soon fizzle out and die if you purchase properties that cost you more than they’ll ever be worth, Buying the right property is the first step – and it’s extremely important because It’s usually make or break for new investors. What I tell you next will provide valuable information on how to buy your first properties right and what to look for before you sign the deal.

Think like an Investor

Before you begin looking at the specific types of properties to purchase, first it’s time to pause and think. It’s important to start out by adjusting your thinking to fit the situation. Ask yourself this Question: Who is most likely to sell their property for the best (cheapest) price and best terms?’

I’ll tell you who – IT’S SELLERS WITH SOME KIND OF A PROBLEM. Generally they won’t tell you about their problem. You will need to find out about the problem on your own.

That’s the situation and that’s the kind of seller you should begin looking for.

I can assure you that sellers like that are out there. It’s important to purchase properties from sellers who really and truly need to sell. Not from sellers who may wish to sell. That little three letter word may make a very big difference. The seller you must find will have a strong motiva­tion to sell; it can be one of many different reasons; however I’ve found the most common of these to be financial problems, management distress, divorce and Job transfers or moving. It’s not uncommon to find all these problems going on at the same time,

Forget “Blue Ribbon Deals”

Let me pass along some advice that works. Don’t overcomplicated getting started. Getting started ranks higher than finding the best deal in town when you’re first starting out. Don’t look forever trying to find a “blue ribbon” property. When you first start, chances are you’ll stumble over some good deals without even realizing they are! The point I’m making here is most of us don’t really know enough when we first start out to distinguish a real bargain from a “Grade­ B” dirty deal. That’s poultry jargon from my old chicken ranch days. The best approach in the beginning is to SPECIALIZE in whatever type of property you decide works best for you. I recommend the older fix-up types because profits come so much faster than with the nicer looking units. The reason is – you can quickly add value to rundown properties.

Tags: Getting Started Ranks First by FixerJay
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Landlording is not fun – so don’t consider it a hobby! You must prepare yourself mentally to deal with tenants (all kinds of tenants). They are your customers. As such, they deserve the kind of treatment you would normally extend to any good business customer.

Avoid personal conflicts over such matters as life-style, housekeeping (Inside) and moral issues. That’s not your business! If you feel compelled to change your tenants, try praying for them! All matters relating to their tenancy should be kept strictly business.

Obviously, it would be a poor business deci­sion to keep an unruly or destructive tenant because that would cost you money! Making money is top priority in the landlord business, same as any other business.

Tenant Urgency Is Not My Urgency!

It is your business to see that rents are collected and that rules and regulations set forth in your rental agreement contract are obeyed. You must never allow a tenant to intimidate you! It almost always leads to “poor decisions” on your part. Perhaps the most common mistake landlords make is to allow the tenants urgency to become their urgency.

After many years of doing this lob, I’m hard pressed to think of any situation, so compelling, that there wouldn’t be enough time to think it through!  For example; if there’s a fire at my property, the community fire department will handle everything. As for me, I’m protected by insurance on the building. Should someone die in my house, I’ve yet to meet any landlord who’d be of much help! The county coroner is the one you need.

In short, leaky pipes, broken windows and cockroaches are no more urgent to a landlord than dying patients to a doctor or raging fires to a fireman. They are simply part of doing the business!

Tags: Landlording Success by FixerJay
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