All Forum Posts by: Andy S.

When you look at the data, the #1 reason why people move is because the landlord sucks. So, don't suck

There is no benefit to a landlord in signing long-term leases, only downside. 

In Wisconsin a lease of 365+1 day requires longer notices. So be careful to write Jan 1 to Dec 31st and not an 1 to Jan 1 which is more than a year.

Frankly, it's in landlords best interest to rent only MTM. The irony is that most tenants prefer that as well. A lease will not stop a tenant to move. The best thing you can do is make your property nice and offer a good quality of living. 

Some are more expensive, but others don't cost much. For example, we install dimmer switches in living rooms and kitchens, we install nicer light fixtures. We also do an annual inspection and fix little things. We do a weed & feed service in spring, which is incredibly inexpensive for how much better our properties look. 

@Andy S.  There is a downside to 3 year leases, in the last 3-4 years rents have sharply escalated, locking yourself into a lease that becomes less than market affects the bottom line. It a balancing act between maximizing rent and maximizing tenant longevity.

My experience when a tenant has a stable job, and they have savings (not a huge amount) but some savings. For example in my area if they 3-3.5X the security deposit in savings they will be in a good position to stay for longer than one year unless they have some family emergency or something uproots them. If the tenant has 100K in their account or even 50-70K in their account they will be buying a home sooner than later and will be making a move quicker than someone you are looking to stay for 2-5 years. More money more options.. Of course stable job and same family local is another good indicator that will keep them there for longer too. 

You should price your rent so that it factors in a month of vacancy and any predicted repairs when the tenant (probably) moves out in 12 months. Longer leases can be a problem as @David Krulac says.

One tip I have: I raise the building's rent every year around $50. When the tenant is at 11 months of their 12 month lease I present to them the option of signing another year's lease with a $25/month discount. If they sign, they are likely there for another year. If not, I expect them to be leaving soon and can plan for it.

We ask, "If we rent to you how long do you plan to stay?" We sometimes offer 2 or 3 year leases, but not usually as the first lease. We look at how long the tenant has stayed at their last 2 leases. And we ask "Why are you moving?" One tenant had stayed at their current leased apartment for 16 years. They wanted a a single family detached home, which I provided and thought they might stay a long time. They only ended up staying 2 years and bought a bigger house on the next street over from my rental. So the technique is not 100% fool proof. Another current tenant said, the LL is selling our current house. I check to see that was correct and their current property was being list in MLS and was being sold. They had lived there 10 years. They currently have lived at my property 11 years now. Another tenant prospect told me that they wanted moving to move to my house for the acclaimed public school system. They stayed for 13 years until their youngest child graduated high school, before moving. (Even though the father traveled 75 miles to work for those 13 years.) I have another tenant, who had specific wishes/needs for their rental property. I did not have anything that fit their criteria, so I showed them properties listed for sale, which I would buy and rent to them. We found a desirable property for sale and I reached an agreement that I would buy and they would rent on a 3 year lease. They stayed 25 years. Why would they move this was their dream house! Once that worked I first time I rinsed and repeated for another tenant who had specific wants. First step, do I have anything that fit their needs? Secondly is there a listed for sale property that fits their needs in the MLS? If not, I went into phase 3 and decided to build them a very specific house that fit their needs. I gave them some limited control of the design of the house to be built to satisfy their requirements, but also make sure I wasn't creating a white elephant that would be difficult to sell or re-rent. Same 3 year lease requirement, and happily they are working on a lease until the 27th year of their tenancy. But they're NOT my longest tenants; I've had several tenants that have stayed more than 30 years. One of which started on a 1 year lease and another started on a month to month lease. I'm not opposed to making accommodations to satisfy a tenants needs and wants. I've been renting a long time and have tenants stay an average of 12.5 years.

Credit unions should be able to do this at no cost to you.  Banks are becoming increasly inflexible with many parts of their policies that are alienating their customers, I find.  Unless there is a local/state requirement for doing so, I would put all the SDs into a single account for efficiency's sake - and just keep an accurate accounting of that the balance is for each tenant.  In my annual rent increase letters, I state what their balance will be once they deposit the additional SD to match the increase.

Hi @Andy S. I do not bank with Well Fargo so I cannot comment on them directly but when you speak with representative make sure you are talking with manager. I found over the years entire level employees at banks will sometimes confuse escrow account with regular checking.  Make sure to ask specifically for a tenant escrow account for rental.  Most banks will provide this for to honor relationship and keep your business. Long story short if someone charged me monthly fees on an escrow account I would simply take my business elsewhere.  I know Chase offers them, that's where mine are held.