Finding the right Property - Dayton Business Journal:

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The professor asked the studentws to come back after a breakk if they wanted to learmn how tobecome Monroe, self-described as "young and dumb," at the returned. His professor told the classd that buying investment properties could makethem rich, if they did it Monroe kept that lecture in the back of his mind for about four years. In 1983, he bought his first rentakl property, a six-unit apartment building on Salem Avenuw in the DaytonView area.
Now a boared member of the and Realtofor , Monroe owns 50 housing unitds at 12 locations throughout Troy and Tipp After 22 years of owningh investment properties -- 13 of which were dedicatedx to full-time rental management -- Monroe emphasizess the importance of having a business plan befors investing. Aside from having a plan, potential landlordw need to realize that owning investment propertiezs likely will take more time and money than they investors say. They also need to choos e properties that fit their schedulesand lifestyles. Plus, landlords advise potentiao investors to approach the endeavor without emotion so they can make goodbusinessw decisions.
"I never fall in love with one of my business saidMarsha Grosmann, president of the and sole proprietor of the , the Dayton-basec company through which she manages her rentapl properties. Grosmann, who teaches real estate investment classes througbh a companycalled , took her time beford she and her husband, John, who is treasurere of the Greater Dayton Real Estatr Investors Association, purchased an investment The couple owns , a company that buys and sellsw homes across the country. John Grosmann, who has managed his rentalsd for decades, has a few tips for newcomerw tothe field. Prepare to lose moneu when an occupantmoves out.
To prepare a unit beforde new tenantsmove in, the landlor d may have painting and otherd maintenance costs. And unless the owner can find a newtenan fast, the unit will be emptyg -- and no rent will be paid -- for a Take the time to find good By law, landlords must dip into their own pocketds to move an occupant's belongings into storaged when they evict and John racked up a $1,000 bill for that very move in a recen t eviction, he said. Stand your ground with tenants. The longef an owner waits to evict atenanty who's not paying rent, the more it's goingv to cost. Always screen tenants.
Criminal bad credit and prior evictions can alertf a landlord to a potentiaklproblem occupant, he said. Write a specifif lease. John learns from past mistakes by addinbg sections to his lease whenever he has problems with he said. When he first his lease was one page; now, it'sx 11. As investors gain experience, they learn what type of propertiee are suitedfor them, Marsha Grosmann said. She sticksx with buying the types of homews that will be the most manageable for her and her For example, she buys one-stories so she doesn'ft need a ladder, and she buys brico homes so she doesn't have to It's hard to sell one-bedroom apartments because single people will want an extrqa room for a computer or television, she said, so she generall y buys units with two bedrooms.
Rentals will be easier to leasdeif they're in low-crime aread and away from busy roads where traffivc could make the home unattractive, Grossman said. Monroe has learned over the yearse how many and what types of properties are best for his In 1991, he bought 100 units in a bulk bringing his total number of investments to 300, but learnee in the next few years that managing all those properties was time-consuming. those properties were older and took more time to He has since consolidated and focuserd his purchases onmore expensive, newe r rentals that take less effort to maintain and less time in rentee management.
Now that he's down to a more manageable numbereof units, Monroe is making less money, but he's content. He now has time to sell too. "I do my real estate activities and my he said. "I'm always looking for other opportunities."