All Forum Posts by: Christopher Rice

Happy Saturday! The others have suggested good processes regarding finding a tenant to screen but I would like to add a comment coming from personal experience.  

I've got two SFR right now and while I used a property manager for the everyday management of the property, I firmly believe in personally screening/interviewing prospective tenants. There can be a lot gained by meeting a tenant personally and the gut feel you get with them, beyond the normal paperwork screening process.

Down the road, there will come a time where personally meeting/screening the tenant won't make sense, but when you're first starting and/or on a small scale, the goal is to have as little headaches as possible and that all starts with selecting the right tenant - not the first one that comes along.

My first rental and first tenant, I did not do that.  I went with the word/suggestion of a property manager (who I no longer use) and it turned out to be a horrible first tenant experience.  I almost walked from that property as it was during the recession and I was under water on the property. 

After that first experience, I personally took the evaluation process into my own hands and filtered through numerous prospective tenants until finally finding the one who met my both the paperwork standards as well as my gut feel.  I've been blessed that the family has been in the home going on 7 years now and will be renewing again in March.  

For my second rental, after interviewing several who all met the paperwork standard, there was one that just gave both my wife and I a great gut feel.  Knock on wood, we're almost one year into their two-year lease and so far so good.

Last, look for tenants who show a history of staying in a property for an extended amount of time.  It's no different than hiring for a job.  Are you going to hire someone who has shown commitment of long-term employment, only moving jobs a few times or are you going to hire the job hopper who is in and out constantly?

Both the tenants I've mentioned above were in their previous properties 8 and 6 years respectively.

Best of Luck!

As a follow-up,  this is definitely a lawyer item but for reference,  this article may be a good start for some additional perspective. 

 https://www.hdlawpartners.com/....

Regarding HOA screenings - completely normal. In laws have a condo in Ft. Lauderdale that used to be their primary years back. 3rd qtr of 2020, previous tenant left and they just got a new tenant at the beginning of November 2021 all because of a years-worth of application rejections from the strict HOA. I'll ditto Michael above - always, always, always, know the specifics of the HOA about what you can and most importantly can't do.

Thanks for setting this up! It was a great time meeting several new and interesting people.  Looking forward to the next event!

@Peter Morgan

Happy Tuesday!

I'll echo a few others here and suggest not to sacrifice on the quality of product. The majority of cost related to a paint project is labor (time).

For residential, Sherwin Williams SuperPaint is a common middle of the road. Ben Moore product lines would be a step up but will cost you more. I wouldn't drop any cheaper than SuperPaint or another manufacturer's equal.

The coats required will depend on the colors you are selecting and the colors you're covering. For example, lighter colors over darker or deep tone colors will require more to cover properly. The cheaper you go on product, the more you're likely to be applying colored water and coverage will suffer, costing you more time.

There was another who suggested having a paint rep set you up an account. Another idea would see if you have any local contractor friends, general contractors or especially paint contractors, and have them help you out with getting their pricing at the store. They set the order up on their cash account and you pay at the store. Maybe you owe them a lunch for that...

If you're painting doors or cabinets, I would recommend a product called PPG Breakthrough. Roughly 15-20 minute dry to touch time with a recoat window of about an hour or so. Incredibly tough and sticks to damn near anything. It can be brush and rolled but you get the best performance by spraying. I did our cabinets on one of our rentals and it worked great. The dry time and recoat window saves you a ton of time. Good finish - not as good as lacquered cabinets but also much more economical.

Last thought, given potential quantity, talk with the store you're buying from about what they have available. There is a massive raw material shortage due to covid and paint availability is being hit hard. You may not have a choice but to elevate to slightly more costly products.

Good luck and happy painting!

@Henry Lazerow

Unfortunately, even today, there are many shallow people that will judge someone based on their look.

Those people suck.

What matters is your abilities and your knowledge. Results speak for themselves.

If people don't want to work with you because of the way you look, THEY DON'T DESERVE YOU and YOU DON'T NEED THEM.

Really enjoyed the enthusiasm in your post.  Thanks for sharing!