|
lord1234 posted:Was thinking of this as a 6 month stop gap to speed us up a couple of months in our payoff plan. If this is your plan you can always just have a month-to-month lease with your tenant, which gives you more flexibility to get them out without an eviction for cause if they prove to be awful for some reason. But definitely screen your tenants, check employment and landlord references, and read up on all topics related to landlord-tenant law before you get into this, and understand that your taxes are going to be a bit more complicated if you take rental income.
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2015 15:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 23:49 |
|
|
lord1234 posted:BQ: I think it's a reasonable decision to not sell this place that you already own and rent it out, but I wouldn't consider this strictly based on the numbers an awesome rental opportunity that I would actively pursue. I would ignore the real estate speculation end of the equation entirely and focus on the cash and equity return on your time/capital opportunity.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2015 16:01
|
|
|
A tree fell one of my properties and it cost about 450 to fix the roof. So the guy fixed it, I pay him, and while I am paying him he tells me I should have the entire roof replaced for ~2,200. Which is fine, it probably is getting close to needing to be replaced, except he told me after I paid 450 to fix the roof. He said the 2,200 cost would have been the same if he did not do the $450 work. Why would he not call me and just tell me I should have the entire roof replaced before starting the work? To me that is a mistake by him. Basically if I decide to replace the entire roof I lit 20% of the price on fire. I feel like if I use him I should expect a discount based on this. How would you guys handle this? If he would have called me and said "Look, it is going to be $450 to fix this, but for $2,200 I will replace the whole thing" I would have probably replaced it right then, but now I will probably wait for problems. The bright side is this tenant is good at calling me if there is any problem so there won't be a slow leak for like 5 months before they bother informing me, which makes me lean towards waiting now that I already paid the $450. I have never used this guy before. He was recommended to me by someone else.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2015 00:19
|
|
|
Who knows why he did what he did but $2250 (or frankly even the $2700 you'd end up paying) sounds too good to be true for a roof replacement; I'd ask a lot of questions before accepting that bid
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2015 00:36
|
|
|
Its a mobile home which is why it is so inexpensive.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2015 02:54
|
|
|
Ribsauce posted:A tree fell one of my properties and it cost about 450 to fix the roof. So the guy fixed it, I pay him, and while I am paying him he tells me I should have the entire roof replaced for ~2,200. Which is fine, it probably is getting close to needing to be replaced, except he told me after I paid 450 to fix the roof. He said the 2,200 cost would have been the same if he did not do the $450 work. In my opinion it is on you to consider this possibility. You hired a guy to fix your roof and that is what he did. Yes, it would have been nice of him to tell you to consider just replacing the roof now but I don't think it is his responsibility or something you should expect in general. You should have asked for a quote for just the repair and for a new roof altogether and make the decision from there. It's a relatively cheap lesson to learn so don't sweat it too much.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2015 16:18
|
|
|
Maybe I'm wrong for this, but I would not replace a roof that had just been repaired and is not leaking. If it starts leaking in the next 6 months to a year, that means the roof was not properly repaired and you should call the guy back to make it right. If another tree falls on it, now you know to replace the whole thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2015 02:26
|
|
|
The roof is presumably larger than the part that was damaged, and is worn out overall. It's better to replace it than wait for the next leak.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2015 02:32
|
|
|
Anyone ever do a open house style rental showing? My property is about a 2 hour drive away, and I prefer to only go down once a week to show it. I have gotten a really good response from the add with more people than I can schedule in one day. It also really sucks wasting 30 minutes on the people that don't show up. I am worried it might be a bit off putting to some prospective tenants.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2015 16:43
|
|
|
Linco posted:Anyone ever do a open house style rental showing? My property is about a 2 hour drive away, and I prefer to only go down once a week to show it. I have gotten a really good response from the add with more people than I can schedule in one day. It also really sucks wasting 30 minutes on the people that don't show up. I am worried it might be a bit off putting to some prospective tenants. Not a bad idea, don't literally do an open house but just schedule people whenever is convenient for you in that block of time. I just assume like 50% of people I ever get a showing scheduled for are not going to show up.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2015 18:47
|
|
|
I went to an open house as a potential renter once. Nothing weird about it, actually made me want to apply sooner to try to get in before other people who were there at the same time.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2015 18:55
|
|
|
DNova posted:The roof is presumably larger than the part that was damaged, and is worn out overall. It's better to replace it than wait for the next leak. In a real house, sure. Mobile homes have a more limited lifespan and the current roof might very well last until it's gotten to the point where replacing it wouldn't be worth it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 05:01
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Not a bad idea, don't literally do an open house but just schedule people whenever is convenient for you in that block of time. I just assume like 50% of people I ever get a showing scheduled for are not going to show up. Seconding this. I usually block off some time and schedule with in those blocks. You will have about an overall 50% no show rate. I give 20 mins for a walk through and to answer any questions. You will sometimes have appointments over run each other but I have never had anyone complain or walk out.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 16:09
|
|
|
Well, it looks like I'm going to be staying in New Orleans a little bit longer so I thought I would come to this thread for advice. I am currently renting from a place that puts me about a 5 minute walk from the hospital I'm going to be working at. The owner of the house and I are going to sit down this weekend to talk about buying the house. I've lived in it for the past couple of years and know it pretty well; it's an older place and has a few problems that do need to be taken care of. My current plan is, if I end up purchasing the house which I have already had appraised at 150k, to move a a few blocks closer to rent a room from the hospital at about 400/month. This might sound silly, but I'll be taking call fairly often and the house is literally next to the hospital instead of 3 or 4 blocks away. This makes a huge difference, running home for food is more feasible and, even better, when I am on call I can sleep in my own bed since the hospital pagers and spectralinks (fancy internal only phones) work on the property. It's actually closer to the places I'll be than the call rooms we're supposed to be using. The house I'm looking at buying is a 2b 1ba. I've had very good luck subletting the spare room for about 720/month. There are 120-130 new medical students showing up every January, needing housing. There are somewhere around 200 new residents and fellows showing up every July looking for the same. Houses on my street that aren't as nice are renting out for 1200-1600 dollars. I've only ever rented to medical people and they're the only ones I'm interested in renting to. The room I sublet has routinely been listed in the official hospital housing guide given to all new medical students and residents and I have never had a vacancy, even when subletting only two months at a time for visiting medical students, and have always had to turn people away since when doing the short term thing I was booked up a year in advance. My current tenant signed on in January through next January and I'm still getting calls about the room. I haven't had a formal code inspection, just an appraisal, at this point but like I said, I've lived there two years so I know the house pretty well. It's structurally sound as far as I can tell. There was an inspection when I moved in since the property had been vacant for so long and it passed two years ago. The roof is 2 years old. The only thing I would plan on fixing at this point is electrical and probably plumbing since those destroy the house. I don't care what the utility bills are if I'm not living there so replacing the windows and all that isn't on the top of the list, nor is redoing the insulation. I don't have to supply a washer or dryer since most places in the region offer hookups at best and there are multiple properties where you are destined to use a laundromat. There is a washer/dryer in the house that would come with it, but I am thinking about just providing those "as is" because I don't need them or want to move them. If they fail they fail, the tenant can fix them or buy their own. I figure on offering 1400/month for rent with a 1400 dollar deposit, 900 of which is refundable and 500 goes to a cleaning fee when they vacate. Not sure what to charge for a pet deposit; or even if that's a place I want to go. Depending on what the bank's appraiser says I'm looking at around 800/month in insurance and mortgage costs according to my insurance agent, what I can put as a down payment and what the current mortgage rates a my bank are. Also the house isn't technically in New Orleans but is about three minutes from the county line that would make it actually in New Orleans. This means basically everything is cheaper and it's still maybe 10 minutes from the french quarter and all that stuff that people want to do when they're here. I looked up the flood maps and the property has never flooded; it stayed dry during the last hurricane and is on relatively high ground relative to everything around it. It seems kind of silly to buy a house and then go rent somewhere, but the advantages of moving are pretty overwhelming and from my experience subletting so far I expect to be able to charge rent far in excess of mortgage payments, to a small population of people that seem like they're going to be pretty good tenants. Is there something I'm missing or not looking at? Rhandhali fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Mar 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 16:44
|
|
|
You probably can't get a mortgage for an investment property unless you have 20% down and then you're planning to sink thousands into property maintenance, sounds like a big cash sink for a resident. If I were the owner I would probably try to sell it to you for more than $150,000 given the rental value case you've made, and that I had just dumped thousands into the roof a couple years ago (assuming I had some reason to sell it). Also remember that you'll owe taxes on most of your rental income. Another point, I charge first, last, and deposit to move in. Check your local laws, but generally it is easier for you to take prepaid rent if your tenant breaks a lease than security deposit, which are typically protected by pretty strict laws and can still leave you obligated to return it to tenants who gently caress you over. Quick advice on pets, my experience has been to just take pets and charge high pet rent and cleaning fees on the assumption that they're just going to damage your floors over time. Don't negotiate about a refundable deposit because you'll find when you start talking to tenants that every dog ever is perfectly behaved and has never damaged anything. If you don't allow pets your tenants will just lie about them. Check with your dwelling insurer though, because some exclude animal liability, especially for specific dog breeds. BEHOLD: MY CAPE fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Mar 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 17:42
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:You probably can't get a mortgage for an investment property unless you have 20% down and then you're planning to sink thousands into property maintenance, sounds like a big cash sink for a resident. If I were the owner I would probably try to sell it to you for more than $150,000 given the rental value case you've made, and that I had just dumped thousands into the roof a couple years ago (assuming I had some reason to sell it). Also remember that you'll owe taxes on most of your rental income. In some states you are not allowed to charge a premium for pets, not sure what the rules are there though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 18:09
|
|
|
Dragyn posted:In some states you are not allowed to charge a premium for pets, not sure what the rules are there though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 18:13
|
|
|
Dragyn posted:In some states you are not allowed to charge a premium for pets, not sure what the rules are there though. That could be, usually the problem is rent control and total deposit limits rather than specifically pet rent and fees, but yes be extremely familiar with your local laws on general principle.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 18:25
|
|
|
SiGmA_X posted:And there are also HUD restrictions that can come into play. My pitbull is a coveted animal due to medical needs, so breed restrictions never apply to her. Yep, you are basically obligated to accept a service animal without a fee. Unfortunately there is little or no regulation of what constitutes a service animal and there exists a certain clientele who abuse this fact to bring their pet into rentals.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 18:31
|
|
|
Keep in mind that making part of the deposit nonrefundable may be illegal, I'd just reduce the deposit and raise the rent by enough to make up for it. Also, interacting with tenants at work has downsides, since it may import drama if the tenant is behind on the rent or you happen to find out they are violating the lease in other ways.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 18:44
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Yep, you are basically obligated to accept a service animal without a fee. Unfortunately there is little or no regulation of what constitutes a service animal and there exists a certain clientele who abuse this fact to bring their pet into rentals. I don't think there are a large number of service animals being used by the resident/medical student population. Most of the ones I know don't have time for pets, either, (though I was an exception for about a year taking care of my parent's dog) but it's something I'll look into. Louisiana laws are very different than what I'm used to. Konstantin posted:Keep in mind that making part of the deposit nonrefundable may be illegal, I'd just reduce the deposit and raise the rent by enough to make up for it. Also, interacting with tenants at work has downsides, since it may import drama if the tenant is behind on the rent or you happen to find out they are violating the lease in other ways. Is it possible to require a separate cleaning deposit, and just have a fixed but fully refundable except for damages incurred deposit? I have thought about that; I expect that I'll be renting more towards medical students so I don't see much of a problem with conflicts as it is. I'm about to be a resident and have my current sublettor on service once I start so we'll see how that goes. We'll see what the owner wants for the house; if he's way out of line with the appraisal this whole thing will probably go away and I'll just move across the street into the hospital housing and forget the whole renting thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 19:47
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Yep, you are basically obligated to accept a service animal without a fee. Unfortunately there is little or no regulation of what constitutes a service animal and there exists a certain clientele who abuse this fact to bring their pet into rentals. Rhandhali posted:I don't think there are a large number of service animals being used by the resident/medical student population. Most of the ones I know don't have time for pets, either, (though I was an exception for about a year taking care of my parent's dog) but it's something I'll look into. Louisiana laws are very different than what I'm used to. 2) I believe that varies by state but is allowed in many states.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2015 21:07
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Yep, you are basically obligated to accept a service animal without a fee. Unfortunately there is little or no regulation of what constitutes a service animal and there exists a certain clientele who abuse this fact to bring their pet into rentals. The BBC had an article about that just this week: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31646970
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2015 02:15
|
|
|
I saw a study somewhere that pet owners will stay in your property a lot longer than non pet owners. I just tried to find it and I can't, but I remember seeing it. However, people who abuse the "service animal" designation are scum. It is not surprising people feel entitled to do it, because people feel entitled about everything, but it is just a lovely move. Why not pretend to be handicapped to park closer while you are at it? I love my dog and I'd like to take her everywhere, but I am not a lying piece of garbage so I don't order a fake "service animal" vest off ebay to take her into a bar. They have to figure out a solution to this fake service animal problem. I have some friends on the west coast and I they tell me how much people abuse it out there, which means they will be doing it where I live in about 5 more years here. I understand not being allowed to ask a person's medical condition, but I think you should have some official service dog ID you have to show to bring it into stores and stuff. Blame it on the assholes who lie about their dogs. Ribsauce fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Mar 28, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2015 19:48
|
|
|
Simple. Service dogs get chipped with a service dog only chip. Sell a phone rfid plugin and make money. I know its not quite that simple, but I saw hikers abusing the service dog exemption while on the AT.
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2015 20:26
|
|
|
What do you guy's typically look for in income to rent ratio when screening? I have a applicant I would like to rent to that doesn't meet my normal standard of 3X rent. He makes about 2.5X income to rent and has zero debt/good credit he also holds a very respectable public position in the local community. I feel like the position that he holds would mitigate the risk that he would be delinquent on his rent.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2015 13:40
|
|
|
Linco posted:What do you guy's typically look for in income to rent ratio when screening? I have a applicant I would like to rent to that doesn't meet my normal standard of 3X rent. He makes about 2.5X income to rent and has zero debt/good credit he also holds a very respectable public position in the local community. I feel like the position that he holds would mitigate the risk that he would be delinquent on his rent. I'd call his old landlords and see what he has been paying in rent and if he's ever been late, then ask first/last/deposit. I don't take less than 3x take home. As a side note I think you are taking a fair housing risk by having apparently subjective/flexible financial standards; IMO you should probably have firm rules and keep to them strictly. You also could ask the guy to cosign to meet your income standard if you think he's just too good a tenant to pass up other than that matter.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2015 15:57
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:I'd call his old landlords and see what he has been paying in rent and if he's ever been late, then ask first/last/deposit. I don't take less than 3x take home. As a side note I think you are taking a fair housing risk by having apparently subjective/flexible financial standards; IMO you should probably have firm rules and keep to them strictly. You also could ask the guy to cosign to meet your income standard if you think he's just too good a tenant to pass up other than that matter. Thanks for the comment it made me realize that I was making a emotional decision, and not a business one.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2015 16:09
|
|
|
BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:I'd call his old landlords and see what he has been paying in rent and if he's ever been late, then ask first/last/deposit. I don't take less than 3x take home. ALWAYS ALWAYS do this. If Bill Gates is renting your unit get first last and security. Or at least try for it. quote:
This is really important. If you wind up denying a person in a protected class for not having enough income, and you've let others slide, you have a giant lawsuit target on your back.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2015 20:29
|
|
|
Ribsauce posted:I saw a study somewhere that pet owners will stay in your property a lot longer than non pet owners. I just tried to find it and I can't, but I remember seeing it. I always kind of wondered how big of a thing this was. I had a neighbor with a "sleep apnea alert dog" who had the full service dog kit and everything. Why you would need a sleep apnea service dog, w I don't think those are a thing and if they are I don't see why you'd need them when you're awake. I was at disneyworld a couple of weeks back with my family and there looked to be a lot of suspicious looking service dogs in the parks. I've been around a lot of service dogs from my line of work and had a classmate who actually helped train them so I think I've got a reasonable idea of how they're supposed to behave and I don't think a single one of the dogs fit the bill. A lot of the dogs for things like autism don't seem like they're any different than any well socialized, well behaved dog and apparently there's a small industry of guys basically charging you tens of thousands of dollars for what amounts to a shelter dog with no special training. For a double shot of crazy google "fibromyalgia service dog". The appraiser for the house came by yesterday and should have his report to me in a few days. I'm still not 100% about renting the entire house out; I've had good luck subletting so far and have had to turn down a couple of people for the room this week already. I don't know if I want to renew my contract with the current subletter; I really want to jack the rent for the room up from 720/month since I'm still turning people away, or at least get her to start splitting utilities. I didn't intend to take someone on for longer than 2 months at a time; I just rented to visiting students who were coming in from overseas with no car or furniture and the rent includes utilities for convenience's sake. I was also competing with hospital owned housing which charged less for much crappier housing (i.e the toilets would overflow if it rained too hard,) but includes all utilities. There are enough students coming in who aren't eligible for hospital owned housing that I'm no longer really competing with them anymore.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2015 15:11
|
|
|
Rhandhali posted:I always kind of wondered how big of a thing this was. I had a neighbor with a "sleep apnea alert dog" who had the full service dog kit and everything. Why you would need a sleep apnea service dog, w I don't think those are a thing and if they are I don't see why you'd need them when you're awake. I was at disneyworld a couple of weeks back with my family and there looked to be a lot of suspicious looking service dogs in the parks. I've been around a lot of service dogs from my line of work and had a classmate who actually helped train them so I think I've got a reasonable idea of how they're supposed to behave and I don't think a single one of the dogs fit the bill. A lot of the dogs for things like autism don't seem like they're any different than any well socialized, well behaved dog and apparently there's a small industry of guys basically charging you tens of thousands of dollars for what amounts to a shelter dog with no special training. Did you investigate financing an investment property before paying for an appraisal? Also, you're way too nice for paying all your subletters utilities. They can get really out of hand if there's no incentive for then not to use less electricity etc.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2015 20:41
|
|
|
Have any of you set up rent collection methods aside from the standard check/money order? Any automated electronic ways? Credit card?
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2015 15:59
|
|
|
Ribsauce posted:Have any of you set up rent collection methods aside from the standard check/money order? Any automated electronic ways? Credit card? Check out Cozy I haven't started using it, but all the reviews I have read seem pretty positive.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2015 20:06
|
|
|
Why not just give them your bank account number and have them make a transfer every month?
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2015 21:58
|
|
|
Ribsauce posted:Have any of you set up rent collection methods aside from the standard check/money order? Any automated electronic ways? Credit card? I take popmoney and bank branded EBT services; I really prefer it over check/money order. Most of the drama I've ever had with tenants has been related to mailed rent payments. Electronic payments are just better all around. I don't take credit cards because I don't want to eat the fees and I'm a little bit wary of tenants putting their living expenses on credit cards...
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 04:05
|
|
|
I don't like the idea of taking a credit card payment either. I will look into those. Thanks
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 04:16
|
|
|
Ribsauce posted:I don't like the idea of taking a credit card payment either. I will look into those. Thanks Doesn't that also prevent your tenants from using a debit card to make the payment as well? I would think the old sales meme of "don't make it hard for your customers to give you money" would come into play and you would want to accept every form of payment under the sun.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 12:21
|
|
|
TouchyMcFeely posted:Doesn't that also prevent your tenants from using a debit card to make the payment as well? The old landlord meme of "you don't want tenants whose backup plan is to charge their rent to a credit card, and 3% processing fees are expensive bullshit" comes into play for sure. Also the more forms of payment you accept and the more tenants you have, your record keeping becomes exponentially more complicated.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 12:42
|
|
|
Is there a way to allow debit cards but not credit cards? Would the fees be lower? (this may be answered by reading all the info on the links. which I will do tomorrow) TouchyMcFeely posted:I would think the old sales meme of "don't make it hard for your customers to give you money" would come into play and you would want to accept every form of payment under the sun. For a one time sale that applies, sure, but tenants have to pay you every month, so if you let them use credit cards and they become more financially unstable all you have done is kick the can down the road and put them in a worse position long term.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 14:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 23:49 |
|
|
Ribsauce posted:Is there a way to allow debit cards but not credit cards? Would the fees be lower? I can see the argument, particularly against the fees, but if a tenant is in a position where they have to put rent on a CC card they're in a bad spot regardless and potentially facing an eviction either way. I guess I'm looking at it more from a position of convenience and saved time for both the renter/landlord. Payment is fast, you don't have to deal with going to the bank and depending on how you setup the transaction (say through Wave or a similar invoicing system) tracking payments is super easy. I would also think record keeping would be a lot easier in terms of tracking who paid when, if a payment was missed or late, etc. No room for arguments about when a check was mailed or if they handed you cash on this day vs. that. I'm not a landlord at this point but it seems strange for such an important part of anyones finances to not accept the most prolific form of payment around.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 14:53
|
|