I am somewhat new to this investment game and am curious to see what platforms, banks, and apps you investors out there use that you like and work well for you to keep track of financials as you scale to more properties? I just read the article about Baselane and that seems like it may work. I'm ...
Renting to a housing voucher holder in California? Here is the short list I use so the tenancy starts and stays smooth: Same written criteria. In California a housing voucher counts as a source of income, so voucher applicants get the same written screening criteria and the same checks as everyon...
The worst time to find out a contractor is unreliable is when a pipe bursts and a tenant is calling. We run 236 single-family rentals in Memphis, mostly Section 8, and we don't test a new contractor on an emergency. We test them in small paid steps, months before anything breaks. The first job is...
Move-in day is where a good tenancy gets set — or where the first month of problems starts. We run the same system on every one of our 236 doors in Memphis, mostly single-family, and we don't wing it. Here's the system: 1. The house has to be rent-ready first. We run turnovers on a 21-day schedul...
Most late-rent problems I see start with a payment process that's hard to follow. Four habits for owners: 1. Offer online payments so rent isn't waiting on a mailed check. 2. Put the due date and late terms in the lease, in writing. 3. Send a receipt for every payment and keep one ledger. 4. Foll...
The biggest mistake I see landlords make with Section 8 in Memphis is treating it like a completely different business from market rent. It is not. The house, the tenant, and the numbers still have to work the same way. We manage 236 doors in Memphis, mostly single-family homes, and a heavy share...
Turnovers used to run on hope for us. Now they run on a 21-day schedule, and the clock starts the day we get notice, not the day the tenant moves out. We manage 236 doors in Memphis, mostly single-family and heavy Section 8, so an empty house is real money sitting still. A 3BR here rents for $1,3...
Heads-up for anyone renting to voucher holders: the inspection standard is in the middle of a changeover, and which standard your unit gets inspected under depends on who administers the voucher. The old standard is HQS — the inspector literally works from HUD form 52580. The new standard is NSPI...
Most tenant problems I see are not repair problems. They are communication problems. A small leak becomes a big one because nobody said anything for three weeks. A late payment becomes a fight because the rule was never clear in the first place. We run 236 doors in Memphis, mostly single-family a...
When an inspector flags a life-threatening item — no heat, a gas smell, exposed wiring — the correction clock is 24 hours, weekends included. What actually solves it is having the on-call rotation and parts decided BEFORE inspection day, not scrambling after. How are your teams set up for that ca...
Our standard is 5 days door-to-door for a normal turn (paint, patch, cabinets touched up, floors, final clean). The schedule that makes it work: day 1 walk + list, days 1-2 repairs, 2-3 paint, 4 floors/fixtures, 5 clean + punch. What breaks it is almost never the work — it's waiting on decisions ...
With voucher inspections moving to the NSPIRE standard, habits built on HQS don't all carry over — the checklist, the scoring, and the correction clocks are different. For those of you prepping program units now: what's the biggest adjustment your teams have had to make? Gelu Mergl · NSPIRE Photo...
For anyone else renting to voucher holders: HUD is retiring HQS and NSPIRE becomes the inspection standard for the Housing Choice Voucher program on February 1, 2027 (Notice PIH 2026-18). Failed inspection = HAP abatement, same as before, but the defect list reads differently — NSPIRE scores life...
Before hiring a contractor for a rental repair, here is the short checklist I run every time: Look up the license. Check it on the CSLB (Contractors State License Board) website before you hire, not after. Get insurance on file. Ask for a certificate of insurance before work starts, so you are no...
In California, a housing voucher has counted as a protected source of income since 2020, so Orange County owners will see voucher applicants and can't screen them out. Running the tenancy well is what matters: - Same written screening criteria for every applicant. - Income standards apply to the ...
Buying Baltimore from out of state? Your photos are your eyes. Burned investors are rarely short on photos — they are short on the right photos, before money moves. 1. Wide shot, then close-up, of the same thing. A wide shot of a finished room tells you nothing. I want the wide shot plus a close-...
Hi, first post and relatively new REI. I just closed on a SFH in Springfield OR that I'm still contemplating on if I want to make it LTR or a MTR (it works both ways). I need to change the locks on the door and am considering one of those locks that has a key pad where a combo can be inputted to ...
Some landlords love buying rentals with an existing tenant in place. You skip the initial vacancy, avoid an immediate make-ready punch list, and collect cash flow on day one without spending weeks screening applicants. Other operators have a strict, non-negotiable rule: delivered vacant at closin...
I owned long-term rentals in Orlando for several years before moving into mid-term and short-term. When the market gave me the chance, I sold them for a very large profit. Today most of the units I own or co-host are furnished, with the calendar set for 30+ day stays. I see a lot of landlords her...
Landlords and property managers: what would you want in an insurance-readiness package before a loss? I recently helped some people pull their insurance documents together and built a personalized readiness package. It left me with at question for landlords and property managers. You pay for insu...
Setting the rent on a rental turnover, here is the short process I use every time: Pull real comps. Look at recent rentals nearby with the same size, beds and condition. Asking prices on listings that have sat for weeks are not comps. Price it as it is. Set the rent for the home as it is today, n...
It took me about six years to learn this lesson, and I’m going to share it with you in the next few minutes. It came from a commercial building, but it changed how I think about managing rental property: the condition of the property, the money behind it, and the agreement all have to work togeth...
Nobody buys their first rental dreaming about eviction court. I certainly didn't. But eighteen months into my first property, my tenant stopped paying — and stopped answering the phone. I did everything wrong, slowly, and it cost me four months of rent plus a legal bill I could have avoided. Thre...
We run 236 doors in Memphis, mostly single-family and heavy Section 8, and no unit gets called rent-ready until it passes the same turnover walk. Systems and safety first, cosmetics last. We test smoke and CO detectors, run plumbing at every fixture and check for leaks, confirm HVAC function and ...
A rental can show a healthy DSCR and still deliver a disappointing return on the cash invested. It can also have an attractive cash-on-cash return while leaving very little room for unexpected expenses. For a financed buy-and-hold deal, these are the five metrics I’d put side by side: Debt servic...