All Forum Posts by: Chin P.

Christina Dunn Something is wrong somewhere in the process if you have 2 houses and one has previously sat empty for 5 months and another was previously empty for a year. Insufficient advertising, too high of a price, tenant screening, horrible property, etc. I'm not saying this to be mean, but something is wrong in how you lease up that needs to be fixed because that shouldn't be occurring. It's costing you a lot of money and forcing you to lower your standards in situations like this. I'm a newer landlord like you and have taken a few months to rent each of my two properties the first time and I can point to several reasons why that occurred on each one and what I would do differently the next time. Take a look at your process. Maybe get a referral from a local investor you trust about someone good who can help you with tenant placement. Let them do the next tenant placement and see what they are doing and take notes. After that you can decide if you like their help or want to do it yourself again.

Great post. Always interesting to see how others started and what they are doing. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

If your family still likes you and they are in the area, move back in with them and save your rent money. If not and you're living by yourself, change to a roommate situation or something where you are renting someone's in-law suite or something that is cheaper. If your student loans are at a higher rate, look into whether something like SoFi would get you a lower rate or longer term. Cut cable, use the time you no longer spend watching tv to get educated on real estate and investing. Find a more stable source of side income, preferably something related to real estate that gets you some experience and contacts. Lots of investors are looking for some part time help and your accounting background could benefit them while at the same time making you a contact who can help you when you start to invest. Just some suggestions on things to think about. If you can find a few things that people wouldn't normally do to give yourself a boost, you'll be far ahead of those who won't do such things. Best of luck.

Good luck on your properties Neil Timmons It was interesting to hear you talk about them the other night

If you house hack, check the HOA docs if you have one. Some of them prohibit or limit rentals. My HOA doesn't allow partial rentals of the property, just full rentals--meaning you can't rent rooms, can't rent parking, can't rent basement separately. I can just rent the whole thing all at once. That matters if you're going to try to house hack and get a roommate or rent the basement (that isn't a legal separate unit) route.

@Lian Shi If you don't mind going to a store, I've used the UPS or FedEx stores a lot to randomly notarized something at odd hours on-demand.  I usually just look up locations online and call ahead to confirm that whoever is working at that time is a notary before driving to a location.  

If you're comfortable, get roommates in your current house. Extra income is great. Just screen well.

The concept Ned Carey is discussing is called the Statue of Frauds. Check your own state rules to be sure, but most states require real estate contracts to be in writing.

hi @Kelly Bettendorf. Welcome to the area. I second the recommendations of the Baltimore REIA and the BWI Meetup. Both are good places to network and learn.

Great story @Ned Carey.  Thanks for sharing.