All Forum Posts by: Adam Martin

I would post a notice on their door with the incentive if they voluntarily leave by the end of the weekend that they won’t have an eviction on their record.  If you don’t think that you will collect on a judgement or just don’t plan on going after them you could offer to waive their balance owed minus the security deposit to see if that would motivate them to leave on the condition that after a specific date the offer is forfeited.  

I just got the email that they are charging in KY as well.  I have posted on a couple threads that while I'm not happy about it, I do intend to pay.  $10/week isn't that bad, usually postings aren't up more than 2 weeks and I get a lot of leads that tend to be quality.  My rents are over $50/day so in my opinion I'm only hurting myself not also posting to Zillow if it costs me a qualified tenant.  I encourage you to review where your leads have came from in the past and see if Zillow has paid off for you.  I may also consider listing on FB and Cozy for a couple days to see what interest I get before going to Zillow but realistically $10/week is a small cost of doing business and should not eat into your margins in any significant way.  

My wording may be a bit off I plan on retiring at 55 so I’ll pay them down for 10 years and continue to do so.  After expenses I generally cash flow about 500 or more each so that would put me at 50k/ year minus taxes.  I’m also saving money on the side in 401k, 529, and hsa accounts so it should work out.  The first home to pay off is mine since I’m not getting an interest deduction and then moving from there.  I don’t have a lot of expenses so if mine is paid off I should be good to go if not and I work longer than it won’t be the end of the world.

I only have a few so keeping track isn’t that bad but I could see how this would become a pain as I scale.  

Why does rent have to be paid on the first?  I love it when they are on the fifteenth because the funds should post well before the first and if they are late there is some wiggle room.  Also when they move out you have a couple weeks before the first to get the house ready and someone in on the first.  

I charge a refundable deposit of $600 plus an additional 35/month/dog and no one has complained.  I want the 600 to be refundable so they are going to try to keep the place in good condition at move out.  This is also just labeled as a security vs a pet deposit so it can be used for any damages instead of just from the pet.  

I would do a full if something happens to the main shower this one will be a spare but I always like to have a minimum 2 full baths so if something happens to 1 there is an alternative while I’m fixing it.

I think the best way to look at the paydown vs. leverage  is to have an end goal in mind and work back.  Personally my goal is to buy 7 houses in the next 13 years that will put me at 10 by the time I am 45.  At this point the plan is to snowball the payments to have paid off properties and semi retire.  The issue I have is my w-2 job won't allow me to pay those in cash so to achieve the end goal I need to use leverage as well as investing the cash I have to help buy homes faster.  I don't really need over 10 homes and even that may be overkill to cover my expenses but the point is to see where you are in life and what is important.  If your goal is to build homes as quickly as possible, that will be done through leverage.  After you have reached the point where you feel you have enough you will have to decide what is more important, do you want the financial peace of mind knowing that your properties are paid off and you get better cash flow, that's fine.  Do you feel you would be better off investing the cash in other avenues that have a higher ROE than what you are saving on the mortgage, that is fine too.  Everyone has a different risk tolerance and end goal in mind, know yours and stick with it.  

Everyone hates the rah rah cheerleader meetings at work where you talk about the mission statement and how you will achieve it.  While the meetings aren't the most fun they are done for a reason and I suggest you have one for your personal investing as well.  Mine is "To make the most money with the least amount of work."  When analyzing a deal or a strategy this is something I can go back to and if either of those will not be made, the deal isn't good. 

I don't know how enforceable it is in court however after a tenant left a house without the slightest attempt of cleaning I put on all new contracts that tenant is responsible for the cost of a professional service or $45/hour for any work I have to do.  I don't really know if it is enforceable in court but hope it would be more of a deterrent or something I can take out of the deposit.  I feel my time is valuable and there are a million things I'd rather do than clean or repair a unit after someone leaves because they were too tired to do it after moving and this is most likely cheaper than hiring someone so in my mind we are all winning.  The plan would be to keep a spreadsheet of my time and submit it with the statement on what was taken out of the deposit.  

I had this come up on my last listing and had to talk to my insurance broker about it.  They said if it was a service animal I could petition the insurance company for an exception but it would most likely increase my rates.  If it was an ESA it was a hard no on them insuring it under my general property.  If I wanted it insured I would need a separate dog bite policy which she said was not cheap but I didn't bother to get quotes.  Luckily she had a bankruptcy and the applicant I selected didn't so I was able to base my decision on the background check.  I'm sure I'll have to deal with it at some point but for now it seems like a grey area.  I know you can't charge more but I feel it should be completely reasonable to at the bare minimum have them make up the difference in cost for my insurance but have not researched how the courts would/have ruled on that.