Rental and Cashflow Property - Management, Strategies and More

I bought a property through property direct in Warren, Michigan. It is managed by Motor City Property Management & it has been a total disaster. Can anybody recommend a good property manager in Warren, Michigan?

Hey DG family, I have a lease option tenant and she called me today to ask me if she can have her sister and her 2 kids move into the house for a couple of months and if I said yes will I charge extra on the rent. The house is a 2 bedroom, 911 SQ FT, not that big. My lease option tenant already lives there with her husband and her son. There is a basement but its half finished so I wouldn't know where the extra 3 people would sleep. What should I do? Have anyone been in a situation like this? And If I do decide to tell her yes, how much should I raise the rent?

The rent I'm currently charging her is $1,100 a month. In my lease it states that no one could live at the property unless their name is on the lease and guest has 2 weeks to stay.

We could just use the approach that charging really high rent will maximize profits. Of course, that only works if we have a half dozen tenants for every available unit. That doesn’t happen often; in fact rarely. Tenants have this annoying habit of moving on when they think they’re paying too much in rent. Sometimes they also drag their feet on meeting payment deadlines when the rent is a burden. Those pesky ‘vacancy and credit loss’ calculations are where we see the impact.
The quest for the highest ROI involves a lot of market research and some commons sense marketing strategy.

If you own or are planning on owning rental property, one of the first fees that you will pay when your property is rented, is the Property Management fee - unless you manage it yourself, of course, which by the way, I don't advise you do, because that could easily detour you into being a landlord instead of an investor.
The Property Management fee is usually 8%-10%, and some charge the first month's rent as well.

If you're wondering where all this money goes, the following article by Vanessa Smith shows us a break down...

Rental property owners enjoy some unique advantages when it comes to profitability and return on investment. Between tax breaks, lower homeownership rates, lower inventories and higher rents, it’s been a pretty good 3 to 5 year period. There are still some foreclosure bargains out there, and it’s still possible to cash flow well with appreciation potential.

NEW OFFER - different owner & town
7 units may be able to get it for $175,000. All currently rented gross rents $4150. other income from laundry & garages = $6600 TOTAL GROSS RECEIPTS = $48100 owners pays gas & water = 7000/yr, taxes @ 1740/yr, ins @ 1740/yr, this is in MT largest city. Building needs cosmetic TLC on outside, all apts are good as is except for one - it will need quite a lot of cleanup/repair. I fount 70% of purchase @ 8.5% and $65000(bal & fix-up)@ 4%. We will manage it our self and do most of the fix up. Roof, furnace good, not sure about water heaters.

I think this is too lean as well right?

I joined a company that provides discounted pricing for TV (cable or satellite), Phone (voip), Internet, Gas, and Electrical service. In addition, when a customer applies for service through my website, I get a residual payment every time the customers pay on his/her bill. By adding this tool to their arsenal, a landlord could create multiple cashflow streams to their business. I have offered this same opportunity to landlords in my area and they all say "no". This is a legal and ethical business. Could there be some potential liability that I'm missing?

I found a 6 unit apartment (2-2BR & 4-1BR) in southeastern Montana. FSBO $249,000 asking. In a very small town just off reservation, closest town 40 miles away had in 2012 a population of 2333 & Median income in 2011 of $76000.
Average annual rent collected for the last 4 years @ $30597/yr, taxes & insurance $2620/yr, utilities $8065/yr.

I would need 100% financing. Also am a newbie so don't know what I am doing.

Owner will replace all windows with vinyl & paint exterior and hallways.

Good deal?

There has been a lot written about how buying a home is less expensive than renting one in most parts of the country. Rents are skyrocketing and homes are still at great prices. These two situations are also causing some sellers to consider renting their home instead of selling it. After all, a homeowner can get great rental income now and perhaps wait until house values increase even further before selling.

This logic makes sense in some cases. There is a strong belief that residential real estate is a great investment right now. However, if you have no desire to actually become an educated investor in this sector, you may be headed for more trouble than you were looking for.

There is little argument that this real estate market that’s developed since the crash is very different than any other multi-year period in our history. There’s news this week that the housing market is stagnant when it comes to sales. This is a turn-around from previous markets in that prices are also rising; not the norm in a stagnant market. Much of this is due to low inventory and demand from investors, but it’s still notable that people aren’t buying, so they must be renting.