Expectations
/I was at an investor meetup last night and a few people struck me as surprised when I told them what it’s like buying, flipping, and managing Detroit rentals. I tend to forget that my expectations are not the same as everyone else’s.
While I take you on a tour of our latest rental, I’ll let you know my four things in Detroit that you should expect. Then I will tell you about the tenant moving into this house and how my story about her shook up the Canadian guy I met last night. He said I must be wired a certain way to deal with that. But I’m not at all wired right to deal with what that was.
First, here are my four things to expect.
Furnaces and hot water heaters get stolen. I go into detail in my course about what we do about this.
Tenants can be hard on houses. A good tenant who moves out will cause a $3,000-$5,000 turnover. A regular tenant is closer to $7,000-$10,000.
Credit scores are not the most important thing when doing a background check because when a tenant is trying to survive, they cannot also work on their credit score.
The most important thing is the home visit. How do they treat their current property?
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Andrew found tenant. House was a ehhh. So maybe she will be a $5-7K turnover, but we have luck with longterm tenants.
The last video was about the inspection. We ended up needing to put up siding on part of the house before inspection #2 which would have to be after Thanksgiving.
November 30 was a Saturday and we were up north. She calls us December 1 and has nowhere to put her things. We coordinate the key. Should we have done that?
Then she calls again a few days later and says she has nowhere to sleep. Can she just sleep in the house? What would you say?
My point is I don’t like to be responsible for people’s lives. I have more so I must give. Or I would have nothing if I give that way.
Do unto others. Turn the other cheek. Love them more. But what about pearls before swine and love without wisdom? It’s an awful feeling and I never know if I’m choosing correctly.
Historically speaking, I chose correctly but I really don’t know. It all worked out so I will move on.
If you want to invest in Detroit and if you want to affect people’s lives, you’re left with some tough choices. We aren’t a welfare organization but we can also find ways to be kind and be good people.