I thought that I would give North Minneapolis Investment Properties a break this week. Unfortunately, I didn’t have to go far to find another funny installation. I was in South Minneapolis looking at a very nice $230k duplex. Although this property was in foreclosure, it was very well maintained with a perfectly landscaped backyard. It also had 2 garages: one double car garage for the owner that used to live downstairs and then a single car garage for the upstairs 1 bedroom apartment.

Today’s stupid property repair has to do with the below exterior light installation.

When I opened the door to the garage, I noticed it stuck slightly when it was open about 1-2 inches. I thought that was strange and realized that the light was hitting the door (not to mention the bottom of the light was at about eye level). Upon further examination, it appears the installer decided not to move the light over a little or buy a smaller light, but notching out the door was easier!

Well…I suppose it works!

Craig’s List is an excellent place to advertise your investment property vacancies. I wrote a post about doing Reverse Prospecting for Tenants on Craig’s List about 6 months ago. Although this is a very effective way to find new tenants, you should plan to post your apartment for rent. Here are a couple tips to get your best response:

• Include your phone number as some prospects will want to call.
• Make sure to check the email address that you set up in Craig’s list often, especially in the first 24 hours. I have had emails from prospective tenants within minutes of posting.
• Always post pictures of the property. Many tenants will not even consider your apartment or contact you without pictures. The pictures can be from a few years ago, just insure they show the property well.
• Craig’s list does allow some HTML in their postings. Check with your friendly web designer, but you can do bold and change the color of text.
• I always put the available date in the heading to allow readers to quickly see it. Such as: “Avail-June 1″
• Highlight anything unique about the property (pool, freshly updated, hardwood floors) in the title also.
• If you are a licensed Minnesota real estate agent, remember that you are required to disclose that fact on everything you publish (this included).
• Take a trick from retailers, drop the rent just below the $00 mark, such as $999 or $1099 or $599, instead of $1000, $1100, or $600 respectively.

With just a few changes to your ads, you will find you will generate many more calls and have your properties leased faster.

Have you always wanted to buy investment property, but never knew where to start? Don’t Wait! Get Started now.

Our next investor club meeting will be Wednesday, May 7 at the City of Bloomington Cultural Arts Center at 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington.   The meeting will run from 6:00-8:00 with 6:00-6:30 reserved for networking.

This meeting our topic will be “Capitalizing on the Foreclosure Market by buying Rehabs”.  Matt May and Josh Benson will be presenting how they have purchase and rehabbed over 70 houses in the last 18 months.  This will be a great opportunity for you to learn how you can get involved also.

This is open to anyone that wishes to attend, no need to RSVP.

For those of you buying single family houses in Minneapolis, this may affect you, please read on. On March 18, the Minneapolis City Council enacted a new rental license fee called a “Rental Dwelling Conversion Fee“. This new fee is a one-time fee of $1000 when you convert a property from homestead to non-homestead. You will pay it the first time you apply for a rental license. Here is the definition from the Minneapolis Rental License website:

Dwellings Converted to Rental: Whenever a dwelling is converted to rental usage, the dwelling shall be promptly inspected for compliance with minimum housing standards. The fee for this required inspection is one thousand dollars ($1000.00). This fee shall be in addition to the annual license fee. Exemptions: buildings containing 6 or more units; dwellings owned by nonprofit entity (as defined); new construction.

Recently, there are a significant number of single family houses in Minneapolis being purchased by investors and converted into rentals. This new fee will affect some of those purchases. Be prepared for it.

It is that age old argument, satellite versus cable. Not as old as Coke versus Pepsi or McDonald’s versus Burger King, but it does come up. As a landlord, your goal is to protect your asset; your Investment Property. While cable can add unsightly black cables running up the outside walls of your property, it is generally benign. Satellite dishes, conversely typically need to be (or want to be) mounted higher up on the wall or roof for best reception. This is where you as the investment property owner need to take control and set a policy. Installed incorrectly, they can lead to water penetration and damage by penetrating the weather-proofing of the building on the walls or roof.

Here are some recommendations about how to handle the inevitable requests (in order of most control to least control):

1. Just say no. Absolutely no satellite dishes on my building or property.
2. Install a 6×6 post in the ground at least 5 feet away from your building in the correct location where a satellite dish would need to be mounted. Then require that all dish installs be to that post. This keeps the dish (and the installer) from damaging your building or compromising the integrity of the weather-proofing of the building.
3. Meet each installer at the building and instruct them where to install the dish and then inspect their work when completed.
4. Allow the dishes to be mounted only on the wood trim of the walls of the building, never on the roof.
5. Have a roofing company install one dish base per apartment in the building on the roof and require the installer to use that base.
6. Lastly, let them do whatever they want and take your chances.

Whichever path you chose above, I would also have a logical plan for how the cabling connects the dish to the TV. Over the years, the cable installers have made a couple of my investment properties look like it had vines growing on it because of the amount of cable wires going every which way. Take control and set a path up front to enter the building and units.

Allowing the tenants to have satellite is not a requirement; it is a luxury. It is should always require your permission and be done to your specification. Thinking through this process now will help you protect your asset; your investment property.

By the way, click on the picture and see if you can count how many satellite dishes this 4-plex has on it!

Have you always wanted to buy investment property, but never knew where to start? Don’t Wait! Get Started now.