All Forum Posts by: Aly W.

Ok, within 5 minutes of my last post, there's this; again from Facebook Marketplace.

Bianca: Yes, my sister and I both have high enough credit scores (625 is required)

Me: Great, what is your income? 

Bianca: Umm.....I think mine is $3000.

Me: Are you sure? How long have you been at your job and what do you do?

Bianca: 4 months, so I'm not really sure how much it is. 

Me: You're not sure? How much does your sister make?

Bianca: $6000 a month.

Me: Really? Combined, you make over $100,000 a year?

Bianca: Well, I'm not really sure. 

Me: If you make $3K a month and she makes $6K a month, that's over $100,000 a year. Is that accurate?

Bianca: Umm...no, I'm sure about mine but not about hers. 

Me: Where are you two living now? Do you have a rental history?

Bianca: We live with our parents.

Me: This probably won't work, but have a good night.

And this one gets today's prize for most ridiculous tenant exchange (from Facebook Marketplace). 

The address and complex name are listed in the post.

Robin: I don't see a unit number in the listing. I want to do some research and send it to my realtor.

Me: "I don't post the unit number until I have pre-qualified a tenant to go see it. I'm the owner and don't work with realtors."

Robin: That's unfortunate. I'm relocating to that area and know nothing about it other than I work there. 

Me, thinking: Hmmmm, this might end up on Bigger Pockets; let's see where it goes.

Robin: My best friend Mother's a realtor. I would like to scout the areas for us, including past history of the apartments. They're just looking out for us, but without a unit number they wouldn't be able to look it up. I have to say, the idea of working with a landlord who refuses to work with a realtor is off-putting to say the least. Can I ask why you decided not to?

Me, thinking: Yup, definitely a good post for this thread! Let's continue. "I've never needed a realtor to rent a condo. What past history are you looking for?"

Robin: There are only four units on the MLS and none of them are yours oh, so you definitely haven't posted it. To be honest, I'm looking for background on whoever the landlord or management company is. The last two places I rented had terrible landlords that weren't even located in South Florida so anytime we needed something it would take days to get a response let alone a solution. Also, to find out what kind of History the unit itself has. If there was ever a flood, fire, crime reported there in, etc etc. I have a 5 year old son I need to worry about silly things like mold in the walls, having them do all that background for me lets me ask the right questions.

Me, thinking: I'm done responding, but this is definitely going on BP!

Robin: Not that it matters, we really like yours because you would allow dogs and for his birthday this year we're planning on getting him his first dog, but to be honest this is already more trouble than it's worth considering their other units. I can appreciate you taking the time to speak to me, but I'm sure you won't I have a problem finding tenants, the photos you posted are lovely. If we decide Dragon passed by the community and look at units without my realtor I'll reach out to you, but like I said I live in West Kendall and won't be driving an hour north to just wander neighborhoods blindly.

Me, thinking: How much trouble did it take for him to type all this, plus it's probably not worth mentioning the unit's multiple murder/flood/fire/mold issue (just kidding) in a town he works in but knows nothing about. And I have no idea what he meant by Dragon.

Thanks Ray! I have 2 pre-scripted responses - "yes" and "It's in the listing". Those that respond to the "It's in the listing" (only 3 so far) continue to ask the most basic questions - where is it (the address is in the listing), how much is the rent (the 2nd thing in the listing), and how many bedrooms (the first thing in the listing). I've been a landlord for 10 years and thought I'd seen it all from those who don't read, but this is way beyond ;)

Thanks Patrick. I'm going to stop the ad. I realize the "is this still available" is the auto-response, and I don't mind the translator....but most have not responded after I say "yes", and those that do are off the wall ;)

Has anyone else gotten a flood of responses in Spanish from a Facebook rental ad? I'm not sure why it's happening, other than the rental is in Florida. But the majority of messages are from people who never read the ad (asking what the rent is, where is it, how many bedrooms, etc.). 

I've only used Craigslist, Trulia, Apartment.com, Realtor.com and Hotpads before. Is this worth it? I'm thinking no. The staggering ignorance of the potential tenants is mind blowing.

We have a 2/2 in Ft. Lauderdale for rent, $1365 a month, and today was the first day of responses. And yes, the ad is very detailed.

From a Facebook Marketplace ad, via Messenger:

Applicant - This place looks gorgeous and it's in my price range. Oh, I see there's a credit score requirement which I don't have, what would you accept for it?

Me: The condo association won't accept you without one.

She says she is from the Bahamas and has no rental history or credit history and makes $23K a year. When I explained that she would not be approved by the association, nor could she possibly afford the rent, she then said her sister would be living with her and she also has a job.

Great, does your sister have a rental or credit history? No, they've both only been in Florida about a month.

NEXT!

Students can be pretty brutal, too ;) And if you factor in property management costs (we self-managed), that's another hit. 

@Joe Crupi, you are so right about the taxes! 4 years ago, I appealed the taxes on the 2 houses we owned and won. So what happened after that? They raised the tax rate. No surprise, but the taxes and the insurance costs were ridiculous, and because we had great tenants in both properties, we never raised the rent in 5 years. Obviously, that wasn't going to be sustainable, but turnover is killer there. Once when we had a vacancy, the pipes were stolen. After both our tenants had to move last year, we decided to sell. Between the C/O's, the landlord licenses and furnace certifications (every other year now, but still), we'd had enough.  

If you own a good amount of properties, you can leverage the expenses, but we only had 2 and didn't want any more there. After owning those houses for 10 years, it was time. Fully invested in FL now.

Hi Spence, it was sold last month.

I have a property for sale in Trenton, 4BR/1.5BA SFR. It's been our best cash flowing property.