All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

So I'm about 3 weeks from finishing my condo and making it available for lease.  Question is, is it normal practice to start posting ads out for it now, looking for tenants, having them fill out the rental app now, and even getting them in for a showing of the incomplete condo?  In other words, is it normal and acceptable to "hit the ground running" in this way, or is the accepted practice to have the apartment finished before starting the tenant search/screening/rental app process?  Thanks in advance!

Tried both. I am getting a general estimate on rentometer, and on realtor, I didn't find any rentals in my complex. Would this kind of historical information be something only a real estate professional with access to MLS would have? I wish there was some historical database I could access, I wouldn't mind paying a small fee for that either.

Thanks Steven, let me input my address in there and I'll post my progress here.

Hi everyone.  I'm close to putting up my condo for lease, but I'm having trouble finding comparable rental amounts for units already rented in the condo complex I'm part of.  Is there a resource I can use to find how much people are paying for rentals in the complex?  The problem is, I can get to open listing online with sites like Zillow, but once the condos are listed, they're removed.  So I'm looking for something more historical.  I need this information so I can properly price my lease.  Please let me know what you think.

Thanks Dana.  Tyler, good point.  Actually talking about that, since I only have one property right now, the one I'm about to rent out, is it worth starting a business relationship with a lawyer, so that I have someone on standby in case something happens, or do most people go at it on their own until they have a lot more properties.  I know those retainer fees are serious, and with on only 1 condo, it feels like overkill, but then again, I guess it all depends on what will happen with that 1 condo.

Art, that's true.  I just hear so many horror stories, and how hard it is to evict people despite those tenants purposely being vicious for sport to the landlord.  All I know is when I lived in a rental, I caused my landlord no problems whatsoever, but in our "tough luck, sue me" society, it's better to be paranoid sooner than later.  But one thing I realized, everyone on here is right, screen the tenants like you're screening your future spouse, because in effect, you're marrying each other for at least a year, and in some cases, for longer, for better or for worse ;)

Thanks everyone.  I agree, screening is the best bet.  If I had to choose between someone eager to move in without history or someone else dragging their feet but with good history, I'd rather be patient.  It's one of those things where if you jump on it too soon, you'll have to suffer much more later.  I too was concerned about the boilerplate online services, because every local jurisdiction will have their own gotchas which only a local entity would know.

Thanks Nicole.

Thanks Robert, wow, that's a lot of info.  I'm going to read through it to get a better feel for it.  Regarding going to an attorney, in your experience, is it better to go to a brick and mortar place or use one of those online places like legalzoom?  I like online because it makes the interaction easier, but in this realm, I just never did it before.

Hi guys.  I'm close to having my condo ready for renting.  I have to go year by year by the by-laws.  I'm putting in a lot of effort into making this property respectable.  My question is, how far can I go in the lease agreement with a tenant regarding damages.  What I mean is this, what's the standard way a landlord protects himself against someone just trashing the place, scratching the walls, breaking the applies, the worst case scenario?  Can I put in dollar amounts like if you do A, then you'll be charged X dollars, etc.  Or is the answer just depend on your landlord insurance.  Also. can I put in a clause that says if they do X, they will be evicted.  I live in PA.  I'm pretty sure these things are under the state's jurisdiction, but not sure, please comment if you know about this as well.  I'm just trying to protect myself against disaster, and I know without the right paperwork, the finish will be like always, me in debt and the tenant making his dinner toast to how inexperienced I was.

Thanks Brett, good point.  Everyone's experiences are going to be different, and having a positive attitude helps.  From the few experiences I had, getting a Certificate of Occupancy took so much out of me with all the phone calls and arguments and incompetence that I just got a bad taste in my mouth.  But it's not the right way to think about it, I agree.  It's important to forget the bad experiences and look forward to good ones.