Getting a coin-operated laundromat is a profitable strategy for rental properties. There are many reasons to get a coin-op laundromat, but we cover the major benefits in this article.
Why Get a Coin-operated Laundromat
As a landlord, I frequently hear, “I don’t have laundry in my building,” or “I have regular laundry that isn’t coin-operated.” Should I switch or add coin-operated laundry?” ”
In every single building that I manage or own myself personally, I always switch to coin-op laundry. Here are the reasons why.
1. You can save on bills and repair costs.
Normal laundry increases your bills. When you have laundry that isn’t coin-op, your water bills will skyrocket.
In addition, regular washing machines are additional appliances that you will have to repair. For a two or three-family home, instead of having one laundry in the basement with a coin-op that I have to take care of, I might just have one in each unit.
That means I have three sets of washers and dryers to fix or replace if and when these things break down.
2. You can prevent floods.
Normal laundry machines being on higher floors makes your property prone to floods. This is because there is a lot of water transitioning through these machines when laundry is done.
So what does that mean? Potential floods. Especially when you have the laundromats on higher floors. Imagine a waterline bursting—which insurance companies hate—flooding your other units. It will cause damage, and your tenants will have to move.
We want to try to avoid that. So we put the coin-op laundromat in the basement and have it on a platform. So even if they did burst or we have water issues, it will just be in the basement and won’t affect units on other floors.
3. You get an additional income stream.
Instead of the water bills being paid for out of your pocket, you can help offset that with coin-op laundry. Most machines will limit between $2-2.50 cents per load, which means about $4-5 loads with a washer and dryer.
But if you have some of the higher-end models, you can digitally set them out to what you want. Depending on the distance between where your other laundromats are and your competition, you can set that amount higher or lower.
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To know more about the steps of obtaining and installing a coin-op laundry set, join the Landlord Tutor community and sign up here.
Are you thinking of hiring a general contractor? Your Landlord Tutor is a general contractor as well! So if you need general contracting services, here are the things to look for in a general contractor to take charge of your property renovations.
Why You Need a General Contractor
Now maybe some of you don’t need it. Perhaps your properties are brand new, and you don’t need to work on them. But in the city of Boston, getting a good property or one with good value will require some renovations.
You may have heard that general contractors sometimes aren’t responsive, are very expensive, or their guys don’t show up on time. Sometimes the costs go over budget, or the project goes over the timeline.
So how do you resolve that when picking out your general contractor?
What to Consider When Hiring a General Contractor
Here are some things you should consider when picking a general contractor to take charge of the work needed for your property.
1. Find a reputable general contractor.
When trying to find a general contractor, talk with several contractors. Check their references, go online, find some reviews, and even call up their former clients.
The key is finding someone you’re comfortable working with who will give you the service you need. You are probably spending a lot of money on it, so don’t just call one person who might claim someone is the best person in the world to do your work.
2. See their work in general.
If they know that they specialize in a certain area, go talk to the building inspectors even. Talking with them is a great approach to finding out how general contractors do their job.
If you’re new to the world of general contracting or just curious about the effect a change or delay can have on the process, ask them if they can provide a timeline. What happens if there are changes or delays? Do they get penalized at all?
The answers you get will give you an idea of how they approach their work and help you determine if they are the kind of service providers you want to work with.
3. Ask about their team.
How many people are they working with, subcontractors versus employees? You have to know this because they can control employees.
Most contractors use subs that are in their own world. When issues happen, they are not liable for it, and they are just going to pass that buck.
Furthermore, typical contractors bill by the hour. Many rookie contractors have never worked on a home improvement project before, so they have no idea how long it will take or how many people they need on their team.
You want a team that remains engaged throughout the entire renovation project to ensure that you finish on time and save money in the process.
How Your Landlord Tutor Can Help
Among my many certifications, I am also a general contractor. I can guide you through selecting one and looking through a renovation: seeing what you need to do, and looking at the numbers with you.
And if you’re in the city of Boston, I might be able to help you out because, at my property management company, we manage properties that we do general contracting on.
We only provide general contracting services for properties under our management. This allows us to control the timeline and the cost to know that the work will get done because we will be liable for more than just the renovation project.
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If you or anyone else you know is looking for help with renovations and guidance on selecting a general contractor, join the Landlord Tutor community and sign up here.
Most of my landlords come, and many will try out property management themselves. So they ask me, “Jarrett, should I self-manage my property or hire a property manager?”
Property Management Is Not for Everyone
The thing is, property management is a full-time business.
So I’m partial, obviously. I’m a property manager. I love to help out other landlords. But at the end of the day, if you have the time, ability, skills, knowledge, and experience—which is a lot— to manage your property properly, then go ahead and self-manage.
But you have to realize that to do it right. You want to make sure that you are not putting yourself in a standpoint of liability because you can do a million things wrong.
The state of Massachusetts is not very landlord friendly; it’s actually a very tenant-friendly state. And if you mess up things, you can be reliable for triple damages. Imagine a security deposit that’s $3000, then paying $9000 as a result of it, tenants that are withholding.
Again, property management is a full-time job. It should be done professionally.
You don’t go to the dentist or the doctor saying, “well, I googled that. I kind of know how to do it.” And I’m not saying that there aren’t millions of landlords out there that don’t do it fantastically.
But for the small price you pay when you hire a property manager, it gives you peace of mind.
What a Property Manager Does
A property manager will take care of things such as your financials, bills payment, and rent collection.
Generally, they make sure things are easy and set up. They will ensure all the security deposits and last month’s rent are handled properly.
They will also be responsible for marketing the property, the renewals, paperwork, and compliance requirements that come along with it.
They also guarantee your property gets out to other agents to maximize your exposure. More importantly, they qualify the residents and ensure they meet certain minimum requirements.
Landlords don’t have the same ability or knowledge to do it. At the end of the day, the hardest one is probably maintenance: finding vendors to make repairs and checking that they are doing right. You don’t want to get hosed by a plumber or electrician and wait for them all day.
These are the type of things that are property manager does. And they usually handle it for a very small percentage or a flat fee, such as us at our company.
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If you or anyone else you know is trying to consider whether you should self-manage or hire a property manager, join the Landlord Tutor community and I’d be happy to walk you through the process.
People always ask me, “why did you get into owning investment properties, and why should I?”
Where It All Began
The story behind this is that my grandmother bought a property for $10,000 in a brown paper bag in one of the worst parts of Boston. When they came over as immigrants, they did not speak English.
Over the years, this building has helped feed my family. It has provided so much for every single generation after my grandmother. The building is now worth over $3 million, which is just crazy to hear.
To think that this all started with one person buying a property—one property—and to be able to pass it through generations where I am still benefiting from it. My grandchildren hopefully will as well.
And all you need to do is to take care of it. Whether you do it yourself or hire a property manager is up to you.
Freedom With Owning Investment Properties
Now, think about it. If you buy a property every few years or every year, what you can do for the next generation is to be able to give them a choice.
I saw this, and I started buying investment properties myself because I want to have the freedom of choice and the ability to do what I want.
So now, my team takes care of my properties, and I can do what I love: travel the world and serve.
I can do this remotely because most of the time, all I need is an admin staff to be in charge of the property: making sure the maintenance is taken care of and that we lease it out once a year (because it’s a 12-month lease).
The Landlord Tutor Promise
If you or anyone else you know is looking for this type of freedom of choice to be able to give and, perhaps, benefit the future generations in your family, join the Landlord Tutor community, and I’d be happy to help you.
A zero vacancy rate is not impossible. Today, we talk about how we maintain zero vacancies and how you can adapt these strategies to your own rental business.
Zero Vacancies are Possible
In my home state of Massachusetts, specifically in Boston, we have low to zero vacancy rates. So, my property management company can turn over a unit the next day.
To make things better, we can even turn the unit over on the same day that a previous tenant moves out. That means someone might move out at midnight, and I got to get a new tenant moving in at 6:00 a.m.
You are probably wondering how much work I can do in this time frame because certain tenants have some expectations, such as the walls and floors to be painted. In other states, I hear that they leave properties vacant for a month so they have time to do repairs and renovations.
But in Boston, we don’t have the benefit of having too much time between an outgoing and an incoming tenant.
So what do I do, how do I do it, and what should you do?
3 Ways to Maintain Zero Vacancies
Here are the strategies that have served us best in maintaining zero vacancy rates.
1. Conduct annual inspections
With annual inspections, we see what we can do to keep up the property during the year. Our team conducts a thorough walkthrough to ensure no issues can hinder a turnover. That way, we don’t have to worry about anything when it is time to turn over the unit.
Annual inspections also allow us to maintain the same high standards during off-peak seasons and address potential issues before they get out of hand.
2. Opt to end leases early
Every two to three years, we paint the entire place. But, of course, tenants are living in the unit. They might have things up against the walls, so doing a paint job might not always be possible.
So what we do is have leases end a couple of days early, especially for big units or major houses with three to six bedrooms. For example, leases typically end on August 31, but we would have them end on August 29.
That setup will give us two days to paint the unit. It’s not a lot of time to paint or do some floors. So we also line up our vendors to try to knock that out.
3. Negotiate delayed move-ins
If ending the lease early doesn’t work out, we will try to see if we can work with the incoming residents to do a delayed move-in.
By delaying their move-in date, we might be able to work with them to get their floors done or do it room by room. It’s a lot of work, but at the end of the day, it’s important.
Bigger bedrooms and apartments will get beat up. And you don’t want these properties looking bad throughout the year because it will lower their value. The tenants aren’t gonna take care of it, and, long story short, no one’s going to want to rent it in the future.
So you have to do everything you can to keep up the value of your property. And remember, typically, as with any other business, the money you spend on it is a write-off. So it’s actually very beneficial for you to spend the money to improve your property and keep that value up.
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To know more about zero vacancies and how to do a turnover with ongoing property improvements, join the Landlord Tutor community and sign up here.
Whether or not you’re new to the real estate business, it’s easy for any landlord to get overwhelmed and commit mistakes.
Here are the common landlord mistakes you should avoid.
The Importance of Proper Planning
My motto has always been the 5Ps: prior planning prevents poor performance. I say this because proper planning is also key to finding good tenants.
As a property manager, I want to ensure you get a good tenant in the unit. That means avoiding tenants who don’t pay rent, break stuff, or cause other tenants to complain.
As a property manager and fellow property owner, I want to help you minimize your mistakes and, more importantly, avoid making them. And you can do this by having plans on managing your tenants, your property, and your financials.
Top 3 Landlord Mistakes to Avoid
Experience is the best teacher, but we can also learn from the experience of other people. I share the common landlord mistakes I have encountered over the years.
1. Skipping on the screening process
I put a premium on screening tenant applications, so I interview every applicant. To ensure their credibility, they must meet the following qualifications:
a stable income, at least three times the monthly rent
a credit score of at least 640
a positive landlord reference
I also put in place a formal pet screening process. You need to stick to these standards and not just approve tenants based on their personality.
Remember that these tenants will live in your property for at least a year. If you discover they are awful tenants, it would be impossible to get them out.
2. Putting off maintenance
It can be easy for a landlord to defer repairs and not pay attention to the nooks and crannies of their property. Landlords usually have little to no free time to conduct maintenance checks as they juggle new tenants moving in, emergencies, and due dates on rent payments.
With so much going on day-to-day, it can be inevitable to ignore necessary maintenance issues until the damage is already apparent and begging to be repaired.
For example, a minor leak can turn into full-blown water damage that will eventually cause mold. This can lead to health hazards that make the residents sick or involve the city in mold remediation.
Make sure you or your property manager conduct regular preventive maintenance walkthroughs on your property. You would want to start with the key areas that are usually prone to cause you liabilities (or worse, lawsuits), such as handrails, steps, and staircases.
3. Mismanaging security deposits
While we are on the topic of liabilities and lawsuits, your financials must be in place. In Massachusetts, the number one cause of landlords getting sued is mismanaged security deposits.
Security deposits must be held in escrow, in an independent interest-bearing account that is unrelated to you. The interest that accumulates each year goes into that account, which must be opened under the tenant’s name and on their ID.
You have 30 days to start the account, and if the tenants move out, you have another 30 days to build a return on the security deposit.
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You can avoid mistakes with proper planning. To know more about the common landlord mistakes to avoid, join the Landlord Tutor community and sign up here.
