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Sorry to ask a beginning question here, but since this thread is five years old, I'm not sure if the references early in the history are still decent sources. Where would you recommend starting reading / learning if one was maybe interested in owning rental property? I know jack poo poo and want to do some general reading.
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Jul 10, 2018 21:14
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What's the appropriate amount to raise rent? Property values are not really increasing. 3% seems like a lot.
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Jul 10, 2018 21:27
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FogHelmut posted:What's the appropriate amount to raise rent? Property values are not really increasing. 3% seems like a lot. Whatever people will pay; we have no idea what you have or where you are. The people renting from me are paying $3500/mo and they make 300k a year. When the lease is up I'm bumping it to $4000 because they love the location, can clearly afford it, and I underpriced it to begin with.
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Jul 10, 2018 21:34
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Zero VGS posted:Whatever people will pay; we have no idea what you have or where you are. The people renting from me are paying $3500/mo and they make 300k a year. When the lease is up I'm bumping it to $4000 because they love the location, can clearly afford it, and I underpriced it to begin with. Yeah I'm at $1350 and that's averagely priced. Other units in the complex ranging from $1300 to $1400. I don't want to leave it the same, but I don't want to blow them out and have to pay a realtor to find me a new tenant. I know they're not wealthy, but I have to raise it some amount.
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Jul 10, 2018 21:46
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I just bumped my tenant's rent from $1550 to $1650. I under-priced it originally, so I could have gone up more, but they're excellent tenants, so I'd like to keep them. Property values in my area have been steadily increasing the past couple years, so I could have bumped it more.
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Jul 10, 2018 22:05
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FogHelmut posted:Yeah I'm at $1350 and that's averagely priced. Other units in the complex ranging from $1300 to $1400. I don't want to leave it the same, but I don't want to blow them out and have to pay a realtor to find me a new tenant. I know they're not wealthy, but I have to raise it some amount. If it's average price, and you have solid tenants, I wouldn't budge. They will appreciate if you tell them you're not raising rent because they never give you trouble (this will make them think twice the next time they want to nitpick something). Do you really want to risk bumping them out for $50 a month? Take even two weeks to get someone back in the place and you'll have lost a year's worth of that extra $50/mo.
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Jul 10, 2018 23:02
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Excellent, long term tenants are worth several hundred dollars a month, easy
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Jul 10, 2018 23:13
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Sundae posted:Sorry to ask a beginning question here, but since this thread is five years old, I'm not sure if the references early in the history are still decent sources. Where would you recommend starting reading / learning if one was maybe interested in owning rental property? I know jack poo poo and want to do some general reading. I think they are still relevant. State specific stuff may change, plus national tax changes, but otherwise should be mostly relevant.
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Jul 10, 2018 23:14
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I always love to hear what people are getting for rent. I have a nice 2400 square foot 4 bdrm house that I'm doing good to get $900 out of. Rural-ish midwest, FTW!
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Jul 10, 2018 23:38
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Thermopyle posted:I always love to hear what people are getting for rent. Also nowhere Midwest and renting 3 bedrooms out to roommates for a total of 560$. I'm not sure what I could get if I rented the entire house. 2000 square foot 4 bedroom (5 if including the "room" built on). But probably not a whole lot more... Edit: can't math right Goobish fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jul 11, 2018 |
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Jul 11, 2018 00:48
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crazypeltast52 posted:I think they are still relevant. State specific stuff may change, plus national tax changes, but otherwise should be mostly relevant. okay, thanks. 
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Jul 11, 2018 04:31
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FogHelmut posted:Yeah I'm at $1350 and that's averagely priced. Other units in the complex ranging from $1300 to $1400. I don't want to leave it the same, but I don't want to blow them out and have to pay a realtor to find me a new tenant. I know they're not wealthy, but I have to raise it some amount. If you are charging middle of the road rent for your unit and your tenants are outstanding I would just leave it alone. Keep in mind you can pretty much always raise the rent by $30 or $40 and say your taxes or insurance increased, and this is virtually always true.
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Jul 11, 2018 16:26
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Thermopyle posted:I always love to hear what people are getting for rent. I get 800$ a month for 250 square foot studio (detached though, with private entrance). 101 Reykjavik ftw! Edit: that's super low too. We haven't raised rent in 4 years. Could easily get 1k or more but we long since paid off the mortgage so don't want to. Edit 2: 1,350$ for 560 square foot two bedroom And if we rented our primary residence, which is the plan soonish, 3,500+ a month for 3 bedroom 1,100 sq foot poopinmymouth fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Jul 11, 2018 |
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Jul 11, 2018 17:44
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My tenants complained about water bill going up by $1 and gave their 30-day notice.  That's cool, you were month-to-month and I was going to offer you $1k to move out in the next 2 weeks anyway so I could sell it. Saves me a grand! Henrik Zetterberg fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jul 26, 2018 |
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Jul 26, 2018 19:38
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I want my tenant out by Sep 1st, as he's paying $800 for an apartment in a building where identical units are getting $1300. And he's been up to 3 months late on rent multiple times before catching up. Anyway, he paid last month's rent when he moved in. So, should I tell him I'm evicting him and August is his last month? Or should I tell him I'm increasing the rent to $1300 starting Sep 1st, plus a fee if he's late, in an attempt to get him to move himself out willingly? Henrik Zetterberg posted:My tenants complained about water bill going up by $1 and gave their 30-day notice. I've never heard of passing the water bill to a tenant before. For my condos it is mixed in to my condo fee that I pay, and for my multi family house there's only one meter so I cover that too. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Jul 27, 2018 |
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Jul 27, 2018 00:47
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Zero VGS posted:I want my tenant out by Sep 1st, as he's paying $800 for an apartment in a building where identical units are getting $1300. And he's been up to 3 months late on rent multiple times before catching up. What does your lease say for notice that you won’t be allowing him to continue? Is he month to month? If you’re going to evict rather than not renew him, make sure you have your ducks in a row with documentation and everything that eviction requires in your jurisdiction If he’s late paying $800 you probably don’t want to sign him to a $1300 lease, whether he agrees to pay late fees or not.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:03
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Devor posted:What does your lease say for notice that you won’t be allowing him to continue? Is he month to month? If you’re going to evict rather than not renew him, make sure you have your ducks in a row with documentation and everything that eviction requires in your jurisdiction He's month to month with first and last, no security, the place looked fine a month ago. He was my first tenant so it was mostly verbal. These days everyone else is rock solid paperwork with my lawyer, but he's a loose end. He's very meek and polite so I think raising the rent might just bluff him out of the place willingly. I just don't want him to try to dig in to the place and draw out an eviction.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:09
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Zero VGS posted:He's month to month with first and last, no security, the place looked fine a month ago. He was my first tenant so it was mostly verbal. These days everyone else is rock solid paperwork with my lawyer, but he's a loose end. He's very meek and polite so I think raising the rent might just bluff him out of the place willingly. I just don't want him to try to dig in to the place and draw out an eviction. How sure are you that he’ll decide to move if you raise rent? What’s his income to rent ratio for the raised rent? Make sure you’re in compliance with your state’s/municipality’s minimum notice period and maximum rent increase. Some only require 15 days for verbal month-to-month. Give him notice immediately (phone call and mailed before Aug 1) that September’s rent is increasing to the new market rate. Apologize and present it as a business decision—cite increased expenses like taxes, utilities, condo fees. Once he tells you he’s not renewing at the higher rate, mail a boilerplate Move-Out Reminder Letter right away. If you had a verbal lease and didn’t collect a security deposit, is he going to remember that he had already paid last month’s and not a deposit? If he remembers not to pay you August rent, I’d be awfully worried come August 31 with nothing in escrow. Have an eviction notice or Pay or Quit ready to go on August 31.
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Jul 28, 2018 04:32
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Hey guys. This probably isn't the correct thread, but I wanted to get your input. I'm renting a 3 bedroom 1200 sqft townhome in PA for 1065/mo. This is expensive and I can find nicer options for about 100$-150 less per month. The entire property (~100 units) was sold last November to a new owner and property management company. Since then, everything has gone downhill. They refuse to mow and maintenance requests are ignored. They refuse to clean gutters and we are in a semi-wooded area and I've got black streaks coming down the outside of my unit from the decay in the gutters. I've been doing most of my own maintenance since then, replacing furnace/AC filters, fixing the garbage disposal, etc. Maintenance literally never comes by. Whatever. Got a letter on my door today that it's been sold AGAIN to a new property company. My current lease is up December 31st. If they try to get me to sign a new lease, can I just say no? I want to move out anyway -- what the worst they can do? Not honor the old lease and give me 30 days notice? That would be awesome. I probably need a lawyer, but any input would be great. 3 years in this poo poo hole without a single late payment and this is what I get. Go figure.
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Jul 30, 2018 22:35
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Mourne posted:Hey guys. This probably isn't the correct thread, but I wanted to get your input. I'm renting a 3 bedroom 1200 sqft townhome in PA for 1065/mo. This is expensive and I can find nicer options for about 100$-150 less per month. The entire property (~100 units) was sold last November to a new owner and property management company. Since then, everything has gone downhill. They refuse to mow and maintenance requests are ignored. They refuse to clean gutters and we are in a semi-wooded area and I've got black streaks coming down the outside of my unit from the decay in the gutters. I've been doing most of my own maintenance since then, replacing furnace/AC filters, fixing the garbage disposal, etc. Maintenance literally never comes by. Whatever. Are you asking whether you can legally just not renew a lease? Yes, that's why it's a lease and not a permanent agreement. You may need to provide notice of your election to not renew subject to the terms specified in your lease to avoid certain penalties or additional rent due, and should provide this anyways as a courtesy, but the lease is over when the lease is over. Are you asking whether you are forced to sign a new lease when the property changes hands or management? This requirement is unlikely to appear in a previous lease agreement and (IANAL) unlikely to hold up in court if it came down to it. It's hard to say what response you might get from the new management company, but unless they have some explicit ability assigned to them by your current lease, they shouldn't be able to alter the lease at a whim.
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Jul 31, 2018 02:38
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Yeah, you can't force someone into a new contract just because...unless you've agreed to that in a previous contract. Of course they're free to get rid of you in whatever ways your previous contract specifies.
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Jul 31, 2018 14:30
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2500 sqft 5 bed/2.25 baths Built in 1991 Attached two car .5 acres Worth around 220-230 North side of Richmond, VA on the Henrico County side. I’ve been charging $1595 since 2015. First tenant was found within a week of listing, renewed once. Second tenant was found at the first open house after turnover. Both tenants have been excellent. I wasn’t able to raise the rent as the first tenant broke early and paid the difference until it was rerented. Values have gone up about 10% in the last two years, but I’m fine with the rent. I’d only bump it up as a screening tactic at this point.
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Jul 31, 2018 16:25
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Jealous Cow posted:2500 sqft Is there a question there I'm missing?
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Jul 31, 2018 16:30
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Thermopyle posted:Is there a question there I'm missing? Someone last page was curious what and where we were renting our poo poo for.
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Jul 31, 2018 18:49
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Jealous Cow posted:Someone last page was curious what and where we were renting our poo poo for. Oh that was me! It feels like I asked that ages ago, lol.
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Jul 31, 2018 19:11
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Does anyone have a recommendation for background checks on potential tenants?
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Aug 22, 2018 15:50
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spf3million posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for background checks on potential tenants? You can do it yourself if you get them to sign a generic background check form. They tell you their SSN, employer, previous landlords, and sign saying that you have permission to run these checks (their employer will want to see the signature). I paid $40 for a background check from RentPrep.com and they completely half-assed it, they told me they couldn't verify my tenants employment at Google (hmm... maybe Google how to do it?). I had to spend about an hour figuring it out myself.
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Aug 22, 2018 17:00
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I don't do a background or credit check other than looking up their name on our county's courts website to look for rent and possession suits and other stuff. I live in a fairly low population area so this method works fine. It might not work for higher population areas. It's not terribly uncommon for us to rent 20 apartments in a month so the cost of background and credit checks are a real kick in the nuts.
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Aug 22, 2018 17:26
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We're just renting a single in-law suite, worth it for us to spend a little extra (money and time) for the peace of mind. Most people in our area charge at least a $40 application fee.
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Aug 22, 2018 17:51
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spf3million posted:We're just renting a single in-law suite, worth it for us to spend a little extra (money and time) for the peace of mind. Most people in our area charge at least a $40 application fee. Yeah, I'd definitely be doing it for low volume.
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Aug 22, 2018 19:56
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Tenants in my area pay for the background check in their application fee, typically around $80 or so. Also, selling my rental property at a nice profit. Getting out of the game.
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Aug 22, 2018 20:43
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Tenants in my area pay for the background check in their application fee, typically around $80 or so. Wow that's really expensive
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Aug 23, 2018 03:17
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Zero VGS posted:You can do it yourself if you get them to sign a generic background check form. They tell you their SSN, employer, previous landlords, and sign saying that you have permission to run these checks (their employer will want to see the signature). Personally I would avoid the liability of collecting and transmitting SSN from tenants. Running a simple background check and calling their employer and current landlord should really suffice.
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Aug 23, 2018 03:19
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Wow that's really expensive That’s $80 per person too. 
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Aug 23, 2018 05:07
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Anyone used mysmartmove.com, cozy.co, tenantbackgroundsearch.com for background screening?
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Aug 23, 2018 14:52
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I've used mysmartmove; no complaints.
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Aug 24, 2018 19:28
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Well we have our first tenant, they seem great! fave this post We're subletting the in-law suite out back and it's now covering >50% of our rent. The Bay area housing market is so hosed.
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Aug 31, 2018 15:00
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How is a rental's landscaping usually handled? Our yard has a lot of xeriscaping, but you have to stay on top of the weeds. There's a small back lawn, a variety of trees and shrubs, but no sprinkler system. Is it best to just assume that the yard is a lost cause and to clean it up when someone moves out? We'll be living out of state, so we'd be outsourcing everything to a property management company. If I were in town, I'd feasibly be able to keep an eye on the exterior.
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Sep 8, 2018 00:13
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In general, tenants can't be expected to do anything beyond mowing just enough to prevent the neighbors complaining to the HOA or city. Even that might be too much to ask if the property isn't a detached single family home in a neighborhood where people take care of their lawns. Tear out the xeriscaping and put in the same grass everyone else in the neighborhood uses.
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Sep 8, 2018 02:48
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Man, speaking of xeriscaping, I get irrationally irritated when people refer to it as zeroscaping. What an eggcorn. Then again, I'm also insufferable. This week at soccer, one of my teammates mentioned how a family had been paying expensive rent on her parents' Texas lakehouse for around a year, and then suddenly moved out back to California and broke their lease, vaguely citing medical problems. Her family went to visit the house and it was completely covered in animal waste and the place was wrecked. Based on their proof of income and the amounts they had been paid up until that point, they were expecting to be able to sue and recover cleaning fees, loss of income during renovation and because now it's out of season for new renters, and lease breaking fees. But some Moe searching suggests these pale have a record of fraud in CA and there may not actually be any assets to take or income to garnish. My parents have been trying to convince me to get a new house and rent my current one because they have had very good luck/success with renters over the last few years, but stories like these scare the bejesus out of me. I'd rather update and sell.
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Sep 8, 2018 04:41
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