Jason E. Brown's Blog

One of My Favorite Tips for Managing your Rental Properties

jasonhere — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:07:57 +0000

One of the hardest parts of managing rental property is: What to do when something breaks in your propert? Who do you call? How much is it going to cost? How am I going to coordinate the repair?

Its one of the reasons why some people shy away from becoming a landlord and ultimately reaping the financial rewards that come with owning real estate over time (cash flow and appreciation).

I like to always spread risk in my real estate business which is one of the reasons why I get a home warranty on each of my properties. Its is like getting insurance on your home appliance and system repairs. Some of the benefits include:

Protecting yourself agains large unexpected system and appliance repair expenses. Instead of having to pay $2000 or more for a broken furnace, you can pay a $60 service call. It only takes one bad break down to cost you all of your profits for the year.
Having a single clearing house for licensed and bonded repair men
Assistance with resolving any conflicts between you and the repairman
Paying the warranty with regular monthly payments.

Typically, if a appliance or system breaks. You call the home warranty company and they assign a local technician. You can pay the service fee over the phone and the contractor can come out and meet you or the tenant at the property. There is only as single service fee even if the technician must come back or order a part or another technician must come up because the problem originated in another system.

The alternative is to try to find a local contractor that is qualified, arrange payment for the service call, and hope that he can fix the problem in one trip, doesnt have to order parts, and there is no major replacement required.

I prefer the home warranty The one I use is American Home Shield, but there are others out there. They charge about $460 a year to cover the systems and appliances for a typical single family home. I recently renewed with them and added some new properties so that I can have it as a 2009 expense.

Hope you found this useful,

Jason

www.PrivateMoneyWealth.com

I wish I would have known about this when I bought my Condo

jasonhere — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:12:57 +0000

One of the best tips I give new home buyers is to learn about NACA. In my opinion, it is the greatest loan products available for the typical home buyer.

You can check them out at www.NACA.com. NACA is a non-profit group that helps make home ownership affordable.

The loan offers no down payment, no closing costs, and you dont have to have perfect credit. Right now they have an interest rate of 4.625% (Fixed 30 Year). Everyone gets the same terms.

A friend of mine recently went through the program and got a great deal. The program does require that you attend a workshop and use one of their approved agents and inspectors. It also moves a little slowly but it is well work the time.

Check it out if you are in the market for a new home.

Jason
www.PrivateMoneyWealth.com

Bad News for Investors from Fannie Mae

jasonhere — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:43:27 +0000

Fannie Mae recently changed the rules for how they are selling foreclosure. Investors (non-owner occupants) must now wait 15 days to place offers on Fannie Mae foreclosures. This new rule is intended to give owner-occupants first chance at purchasing the homes.

Overall this will help non-investors compete for those foreclosure properties that are in high demand. It will also increase the likelihood of multiple offers driving up the eventual sales price.

Ultimately, this will be good for the market but will force a lot of us investors to update our strategies.

Jason

www.PrivateMoneyWealth.com

www.ExponentialProperties.com

No. 14 on the Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World

jasonhere — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:45:42 +0000

Did you know…Number 14 is Ursula Burns. She was was recently appointed CEO of Xerox, and is the first African-American woman to run a major U.S. public company.

Awesome! Read more about her here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Burns

Jason
“Be Encouraged.”

www.PrivateMoneyWealth.com

Rental Comparables for Atlanta Metro

jasonhere — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:38:04 +0000

There are a number of good websites out there that can help you determine what the market rates are for rental houses in a given neighborhood. If you are a renter this information can help you negotiate the best rent with a private landlord or determine if you can get a better deal when your lease ends.

If you are a landlord, then you can determine what the competitive rental rates for houses that are similiar to your properties.

I have found two sites in particular that I like:

www.zilpy.com and www.rentometer.com

Zilpy seems to be a bit more realistic but they are both good. Also, they both map out the comparables on a Google map so that you can judge proximity. Check them out.

Jason

“Be Encouraged.”

One of My Favorite New Websites

jasonhere — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:33:52 +0000

I stumbled upon a great website. If you are a music fan, you will love Grooveshark.com.

You can search for and listen to music streaming over the web. The big difference of this site over others is the huge selection and how you can search for an instantly listen to songs and whole albums.

You can even find Audio Books. I was listening to the Audacity of Hope the other day.

Best of all is that it’s FREE.

I’ll post some of my favorites finds over the next couple of days.

Check it out and enjoy.

Jason
“Be Encouraged.”