My client just bought several properties, his portfolio is an interesting portfolio, so let’s take a look of these 2 properties as case studies.
Property 1: 4 bedroom property in Ember Creek Estate, Mansfield
Purchase Price: Around $220,000
Condition: Updated
Improvements Made: Just some touch up walls
Rental: $1790 per month for 24 Months
Area is very desirable area, one of the most sought after communities in Mansfield area, close to shopping areas and schools. This area is primarily home owners and lots of families with kids. 4 bedroom properties continue to have much higher demand than 3 bedroom properties. It has received over 40 inquiries on this property. This was also Thanksgiving time, so it was the slowest time of season.
Little things helped: Sometimes little things really help properties to show well, we did several things to improve the overall condition even though the property is already updated.
- Touch up walls to same consistent color, make sure painting are painted evenly
- Carpet steam cleaning & carpet stretch in bedrooms – this is a good example how carpet stretch works rather than replacing the carpet
- Change all light bulbs to same type – not sure previous owner took out so many light bulbs, and some were broken, and this was a factor affecting showing as there were mix of color and types of light bulbs.
- Air duct cleaning – I recommend clients to do air duct cleaning, it will improve air flow to make HVAC more efficient, it will clean the dust and micro organisms sitting inside air ducts, and it will make the property smells better as well.
Property 2: 3 Bedroom Property in Ember Creek, Mansfield
Purchase Price: Around $190,000
Rent Achieved: $1650 a month for 24 months Lease
We also sold another property in the same subdivision – Ember Creek is really nice subdivision, with walking distance to schools and Debbie Lane make this area very popular for home buyers and investors. We like this area as it has a good ratio of home owners & renters. We typically like to have a balanced ratio – for investors, you want an area that has more home owners, and a mix of maybe 20% of households are good tenants. You don’t want to invest in area where whole entire neighborhood are renters, as that makes resale harder to home owners in future.
This is a nice 3 bedroom property, it has a huge kitchen, kitchen is also at front of property with bay windows which is an attraction for my client. Bedrooms are good sizes, it actually has a formal dining room which is rare for 3 bedroom properties these days. Overall, this property utilizes space well, not wasting too much space in hallways and unused areas.
Overall condition of property is good – just too may colors for walls, and some little plumbing repairs.
Strategies to find prospects.
We listed this property on Thanksgiving weekend, which typically is the slowest time of the year. As an agent, you have to be more proactive and take more initiatives and not just sitting idly, several tactics we used:
- Property Improvement: We did air duct cleaning (which makes property smells more refreshed), again, we did carpet steam cleaning.
- Direct marketing: We reached and extend our network to agents in Mansfield, Arlington, Burleson, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie and let them know there is a property available.
- Cross Marketing: As we are one of the top agents in Mansfield ISD areas, we have ever growing database of prospects / tenants seeking to lease in area, so we contacted them and see if they are interested.
- Lease Expiry Prospects: We also contacted prospects who had contacted us back in around this time in 2016 and check if they are in market looking for a rental property.
Thomas Su – Realtor
Team Leader – Thomas Su Group
www.myusasset.com
Keller Williams Realty
Email: rwp1688@gmail.com
Phone: (469) 347 1839