All Forum Posts by: Blake Reynolds

If I am trying to rent out 2 spare bedrooms in a property that I own and live in can I be more selective as to which tenants I select since I also live in the house? Not that I would actually discriminate due to race/color/religion etc. but could I use personality/age as a reason not to accept someone who applies for one of my bedrooms. 

I want to be careful not to get in any hot water when declining prospective applicants. TIA.

I have used Rentler.com to list my spare bedrooms. I do really like the functionality and user interface. They also have tools to run background checks, collect rent, and put in maintenance requests once you have tenants. 

Thanks everyone for the input. 

I will make sure not to use the security deposit in this case and I am going to work with the roommate to have him cover the expenses. It does state in my lease that the tenant is responsible for damage like this so I will see what the next steps are.

Would it be acceptable to do this type of repair myself and charge him for supplies/materials? Would I also be entitled to charge him for my personal labor?? I am pretty handy and I think I could tackle this myself but I am not sure how that would work with having the roommate responsible for the damages. 

HI all, 

Here is my question/concern. I currently own a town-home which I live in and rent out the 2 spare bedrooms. Recently one of my roommates flooded the toilet in the upstairs bathroom and now there is damage to the ceiling Sheetrock on the floor below the bathroom. Am I justified in using his security deposit to repair the damages? He did admit to me that it was him that caused the overflow. 

I am having my homeowners insurance to come out and see if it is covered and to give me a quote on the repairs. I have never had to deal with a situation like this before so I am curious what the best way to handle this would be. 

But won't they look at your payment on those student loans and factor that into your debt to income. I can see them disregarding the overall loan amount but the payments are what actually make a difference on your ability to make a mortgage payment. 

One option I am considering now that you bring that up is seeing if I can restructure my student loan payments to have them lowered. I will for sure have to still talk with a bank to see what dollar amount I would actually qualify for. 

thank you for the advice @Monique Rene Coates. I will have to do some more searching into lease options. 

@Trey Read It's not that I'm not considering FHA as an option I just don't think I would be approved for enough to actually purchase anything based on my income and debt from student loan payments. I still plan on consulting with a bank about it but I spent most of my savings moving so I wouldn't be able to come up with even a 3.5% down payment quite yet.

Yea I would appreciate that. At least to go over some of my options. I am hoping to be able to do some sort of owner financing, however if I can find a good opportunity otherwise I would try to make it work. 

I have been on a hiatus from biggerpockets for the last few months. I started out looking to learn how to invest and get into the game but a few big life changes put that on hold for the time being. I ended up moving from St. Paul, MN to Salt Lake City, UT and I spent most of my time and focus on finding a job once I got here. 

I have finally secured a J.O.B. so my next step would be to start spending more of my time and focus learning about investing in real estate. That brings me to my main point. I am really looking to purchase a home as a primary residence as well as my first investment property. I would prefer acquiring a mutli family unit but I would be fine with a single family as well as long as I could rent out any extra rooms. As of right now I don't make enough to qualify to purchase anything traditionally so I am looking for advice or suggestions as to how to acquire a residence without having to go through traditional financing. I am aware of FHA and other government programs to assist in home buying but I really don't consider that a viable option at this point.

I am really looking for someone in the Salt Lake area to talk with about some different options as I am looking to gain experience in the process as a whole. Ideally I would like to be into a home by the end of summer. My lease on my apartment is up then and I would rather be paying money to build equity rather than wasting it on just rent alone. 

If anybody has any advice/suggestions on the matter I would love to talk more about it and I would really appreciate any input. 

Thanks BP

Thanks for the input. I actually do have the contract signed. For some reason now the owner has become extremely difficult to work with now that we have the purch agreement filled out. He technically has already voided it by not fulfilling his side of the terms but I will continue to be patient in hoping that it can still work out.

@Christopher Salazar Thanks for your input!

I actually got the deal under contract last night and I was able to negotiate it for $48K!!

Now I just have to secure a Buyer for the property. It is pretty exciting but also a little nerve wracking since this is my first deal but I have already learned so much just from going through this process. I am just thankful I actually decided to put the books down and take some action!