LukeMichelsen's Blog

Home on 10 Acres in Beautiful Smith Valley- $330,000

lukemichelsen — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:39:28 +0000

This is a custom home on 10 acres with mountain views, 2635 sq.ft. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living room with bay windows, formal dining room with hardwood floors and French doors and central vacuum system. Heated 15′ x 34′x 8′ swimming pool, detached 3 car garage w/ mother-in -law unit. Mature landscaping, horses are welcome near the BLM for horse back riding and hiking. Kitchen has hardwood floors, center island w/breakfast bar and eat-in nook, garden window and bay windows. Covered back patio and covered front entry area. A super deal you don’t want to miss. Call Ron at 775-720-4007

http://lukemichelsen.wordpress.com/

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Foothill Home With Mountian Views- $599,000

lukemichelsen — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:39:09 +0000

This is a custom mountain style home built in 2004. It is 2,840 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. The living room has high ceilings, a river rock fireplace, custom wood beams, and windows that have tremendous views of the Sierras. Kitchen has granite counter tops, slate tile floors, center island w/breakfast bar. Mature landscaping with pond and barbeque pit. Close to skiing, biking, and hiking trails. A super deal you don’t want to miss. Call Ron at 775-720-4007http://lukemichelsen.wordpress.com/

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What Not To Say

lukemichelsen — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:16:23 +0000

The topic of discussion today is the importance of communication between tenants and landlords. This might be with understanding the lease or stating what you mean to your tenants. I recently read an article on The Landlord Protection Agency website about what not to say to your renters. This immediately sparked my interest and to my surprise I had discovered that I had said a few things I maybe shouldn’t have. One of the statements they mentioned in the article was “Do whatever you like to the place. I’m sure whatever you do will make it even nicer.” Now I didn’t exactly say that, but I did imply jokingly that you couldn’t do as much damage to the place as my friends and I did to the house, making it kind of a challenge for them from certain angles, which in a lot of ways is worse. Some other statements included in the article are: “If you have a problem with anything, let me know. I’ll fix it.” This is definitely something that I mistakenly have said to my renters and immediately regret as soon as I say it. Everything is fine in that statement until you state “I’ll fix it.” Because you leave the door wide open for possibly fixing every little problem they have. “I’ve never been a landlord before and I have NO idea of how this whole land lording thing works.” I didn’t really say that either but I did imply that I’m kind of new at this, so bare with me. This is a mistake because certain people can take advantage of that or prospective tenants can be scared away. I think I’m naturally too friendly and don’t have that much experience as a landlord and that’s why I mistakenly say certain things. The main thing that I think is important in communicating with your tenants is that you’re clear on what you want out of them. For me, what is first and foremost is a monthly payment and secondly, respect for my house. As long as I get that, I think everything will workout just fine. As for what my tenants get from me I think they mostly want professionalism and fairness, and I can give them that. With good renters and clear communication I believe the relationship between tenant and landlord can be nothing less than good and professional. You can read 13 Things NOT to Say to Tenant Prospects at http://www.thelpa.com/lpa/what/not_to_sayto_tenants.html

Moving Out

lukemichelsen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:24:48 +0000

So I’ve completely under estimated the amount of work required to get my house ready for my new renters to move in. You don’t realize the crap you accumulate over two years until you start to move out. I wasn’t planning on doing very much work yesterday but luckily I had to wait for my locksmith to finish up and it forced me to dive in and get moving. I realized when I started to load my truck that I’m going to have to take more than one trip to Gardnerville. I never would of thought that I had so much #$%#. When I came home and unloaded my truck my mom said “You need a house for all this stuff.” I was like “I know that’s where it came from.”

Needless to say though, I’m getting organized and staying on top of things. Yesterday I changed all the locks so that they are all on one key as opposed to having five different keys like we have had for the past two years. This will also make me feel more at ease with my new renters. You never know who may have duplicated old keys or lost them. Probably not but it’s just something that makes me feel a little better. I’ve also been sorting through and putting into boxes various different things from different roommates I have had. I’ve called them and they have agreed to come pick up their stuff. It’s not a big deal and I don’t mind doing it, but in the future I may just sell or take what is left behind. If it means anything to them then they should make sure to take it with them when they move out.

Integrity Business

lukemichelsen — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:45:25 +0000

Yesterday my mom pointed out a very interesting article in a magazine I had received from my realtor. She had thought I would find it interesting because it had to do with architecture and running a business with integrity. The title of the article was A Partnership By Design,by Andie Orgain, and had to do with two architects who are co-founders of Battersby Howat design firm in Vancouver, Canada. They state in the article that their design philosophy is be “modest, modern, and with integrity”. David Battersby stated that “Integrity is at the core of our beliefs, and that is integrity in relationships and integrity in development and execution of a project. That is what makes a good project.” I thought this was very interesting considering lately we have been talking a lot about what truly launches a business into success in my entrepreneurial psychology class. We have talked about the importance of making meaning, authenticity, and integrity in running a business. Battersby Howat embraces these attributes in many ways and truly strives to form relationships with their clients and make something truly unique and special for each individual client. David Battersby states “We are not interested in knocking out things that are Battersby Howat projects. We want to have clients that invest a lot of energy in their projects. It is so much fun to see people be excited about their home environment.”

I personally thought this article was interesting because I’m interested in maybe becoming an architect and because it touches on a very good point and that is you don’t have to cheat and compromise your integrity to run a successful business. In fact running your business with integrity will not only enhance your relationships with people and potential customers but will also encourage growth and success in your business. This is something to keep in mind when becoming an entrepreneur. Many times I have considered cutting corners but in the end my relationship with renters and my integrity are the most important things to maintain. You can visit Battersby Howat design firm at http://www.battersbyhowat.com/.

Asset vs Liability

lukemichelsen — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:31:48 +0000

“An asset is something that puts money in your pocket.

A liability is something that takes money out of my pocket.”

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Robert Kiyosaki

I often think about this explanation from time to time and wonder whether I truly understand it. It seems simple but in fact its not. For me, I sometimes think that I’m always conscientious about these definitions when in reality I tend to forget the importance of my cash flow. It frustrates me sometimes being a college student, friend and home owner, because I feel trapped in a financial position where my money is constantly going towards expenses. As a college student I can only work so much, as a friend I can only charge so much for rent, and as a home owner I have countless bills to pay. It’s not like I’m stupid and just let other people run all over me or that I don’t have a very good business sense. It’s just that, it’s easier said than done when you consider all the factors, such as personality differences, friendships, time management etc. That is why as I said in my past blogs that I’m looking forward to moving on and making my house into a business rather than a fraternity house. Mainly, because I now may finally reach the point where my house becomes an asset rather than a liability. With the competition of lower rates in houses near by and the prospect of not getting renters at all it’s a double edge sword to get what I want. That is to say, responsible renters and a positive cash flow that would make my house an asset. I’m still learning and its an on going process, but I believe that as long as I keep a clear picture in my head of what an asset is and what a liability is at all times I will eventually “break on through to the other side.” You can visit Rich Dad Poor Dads blog at http://www.richdadblog.com/real-estate/hello-world/.

Mirror Your Renters

lukemichelsen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:49:06 +0000

Recently we had David LaPlante, a very prominent entrepreneur and business man in the community, come in and guest speak to our entrepreneurial psychology class. In his lecture he talked about personal branding and the change our society is seeing in the evolving web 2.0 world. Needless to say I felt his lecture was inspiring and very interesting. I must confess that even I felt behind on the times, in regards to technology and where our world is heading. It really reiterated what we’re learning about in entrepreneurial psychology, and that is personal branding is in deed important. I particularly liked when he talked about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how we interact with people that mirror us. This started me thinking about different relationships I have had with different people in the past. I have many different kinds of friends but certain ones that I hang out with the most certainly mirror me the closest. This in turn also started me thinking in regards to my relations with potential renters. In some ways I think it is important to find renters that mirror you. I think that if you mirror each other then you can form a sense of belonging for both parties, and that in turn may help one another’s esteem, which in the long run makes a great landlord/tenant relationship.

New Renters

lukemichelsen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:52:27 +0000

For my next chapter as a life as a landlord I have started to discover what its like to run a rental as a business per say as opposed to a fraternity house with a bunch of your friends paying rent. My first big step in making my house a business was listing it on craigslist and putting up fliers around the university. To my surprise not three hours after I posted my house on craigslist I had a group of students stop by my house and look it over. They informed me that they needed to find a place close to campus for the next year. Since they were all leaving and going home for the summer they informed me that they needed to find a place soon before they had to fly or drive back home. We met a couple of times that next week and went over the details. Meanwhile in between each visit I had to work on getting a proper lease written up. I have a friend that also has a house that he rents out to students and he gave me his lease that he uses, which I quickly read over and made some changes to before giving it to my potential renters to look over. The next time we met they each received a separate lease, which we went over as a group. It felt funny being abruptly put into this position but I felt it went well and I was happy that I got a group of what seemed to be reliable renters so quickly. Now I’m in the process of getting the house fixed up before they get hear in a few days.

Being a Landlord/Friend

lukemichelsen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:18:32 +0000

Being a landlord and friend is an interesting experience to say the least. I have had to juggle between making decisions that keep things professional and under control as a landlord while also maintaining friendships and a friendly atmosphere. This, as you can imagine, is easier said than done. Mainly because you don’t really know how each individual roommate is going to respond or handle certain situations until you start living with them. This being said, each individual is uniquely different and no matter how hard you try to maintain the same and equal authority with each of them, which you must in certain situations, your relationship with each individual should continue to be uniquely different. I say this because I was living with them and didn’t want any drama between us, nor did I want to lose our friendship that we had formed for as long as I can remember.

This being said I knew it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy from the get go so before everyone moved in I constructed a lucrative lease agreement that everyone signed. I didn’t care too much if they didn’t take it too seriously just as long as they knew where I was coming from and that these were my bare minimum expectations. They all are good people with good families so I really didn’t have any worries as to their reliability on the important things, like paying the rent. Never once in the past two years or so did I have any issues with anyone not paying the rent. Areas that we did have problems with consisted mostly of personalities clashing, something I didn’t look too hard at before buying the house. Suddenly I’m a landlord and father (godfather, sounds cooler) who has to deal with keeping the peace between siblings. For the most part I couldn’t do too much about it but in certain instances I had to rise to an occasion that was very awkward for me to say the least. Most the time it wasn’t that big of a deal and it was more of something I would fester and worry about in my head all the time. I was constantly on the look out as whether there was something I should do to maintain the peace in the household each day. Thus after about a year and a half it started to become a bit of a burden, going to school full time while also maintaining relations as a friend, brother,(my sister paid rent to me), and landlord. I wouldn’t recommend it for just anybody.

In conclusion, about two months ago I informed everyone that I was moving out and going to rent the house out to other students the next semester. Some roommates were a bit disappointed but others were graduating and moving out anyway. I will say that my experience has taught me a lot and given me a foundation as to what I want to strive for in the next few years as I rent it out to other students.

Buying a House

lukemichelsen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:45:12 +0000

Several years ago I started getting interested in real estate and entrepreneurship. I read a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and it really made me think about what sort of life I want to lead and what choices I should make in order to increase my chances of achieving a life of financial freedom. Robert Kiyosaki, explained in his book that one should look to being financially intelligent and strive for financial independence through investing, real estate, owning businesses, and the use of financial protection tactics. The book inspired me so much that eventually I bought a house near the University of Nevada Reno. Needless to say, I’ve been living in the house for about two years now, with friends who pay me rent, while going to college to get my bachelors in business management.