All Forum Posts by: Doug Smith

@Jerry Holt - can you please add me to your mailing list? I'm in the middle of a project at the moment, so I'm not in the market right now, but I'd like to reach out when I'm looking for my next one.

There's a lot tied up in these questions.

First, regarding showings:  Your lease should have a clause in it that you can show the property on 24 hours notice, so I'm not clear why your current tenant is saying people can't come see the property. You don't explain why you aren't showing the property yet.  I generally aim for 60 days notice periods in my lease.  If they aren't renewing, that triggers a "preliminary walk through" to get a general sense of the property.  This allows me to gauge whether I'm going to have a lot of work to do before making it available again, or it's just a quick clean and turnaround to the next tenant.  I then let the tenant know that I'm going to be showing the place and try to coordinate some preferred times.  I like to do an "open house" on weekends, vs. scheduling a lot of on-off tours, if possible.

Regarding process... Personally, I let people see the property before they apply.  Someone has to pay $29 to apply through Zillow.  Think about that from the tenant's perspective- "Normal Tenants" might look at 10-20 properties before they find one they want. Who wants to spend $30 x 20 = $600 just to look at a bunch of places?  Add to this- if you're well-to-do, you tend to be very cautious about sharing your SSN, W2, and credit information. (It's just as easy to post a fake rental listing as it is to forge a W-2).  So wealthy tenants likely want to see a property before applying for privacy reasons.  So, I wouldn't require people to apply before showing the property. 

Regarding forgeries and documents- if you want to protect yourself there, you could let people submit those docs to you now, but let them know that they will need to submit via Zillow if they like the place and want to formally apply.  One note about receiving credit information outside of the system- you create some risks/ liability for yourself by receiving such information.  You have a duty to protect the confidential information of all applicants (not just the person who eventually rents from you).  If your email is compromised, you could have an obligation to report to all of your prior applicants that their information may be at risk.  For that reason alone, I suggest having a separate email account that you use only for the business.

Good luck

I’ve used Hobbs painting to do a 1300 sq ft place in Bloomfield.  Jake is pretty reliable and good at follow up.  Send me a DM and I’ll send you his contact info.

Pls tell him I sent you. (It helps me down the line too, if he knows I’m sending him work).

Cheers

Couple of thoughts:  

Yes, PLI requires permits for windows.  If you're fast you might not get caught, but I don't recommend it.

I'll also second the comments about work- good GC's are up to their eyeballs right now.  I got my own GC license and just sub jobs as needed.  I recommend that approach, esp if you're doing a lot of properties.  

Windows? Ha!  Ordered windows Nov 4th from HD and they went in last week. You're going to have a hard time getting qualified installers.  If you aren't doing the work yourself, I'd suggest you take the time to supervise it personally.  Otherwise, you'll be dealing with it later.  Same is true for roofing work.

I believe the county auctions them off once the taxes reach a certain level of delinquency.     Chehe county tax collector’s website.

Dave- I recently had White Heating install AC in one property, and then a full system (2 furnaces, 2 AC units) in another building. They are thorough, professional, and reasonably priced.  LMK if you need contact info

Thanks to everyone for sharing their thoughts.
To close out this thread- I got some insight from the tenants as to what was going on.  If you’re in Med School and applying to residency, everyone gets “matched” to where their residency will be on the same day.  So “match letters” came out on Friday, and I posted on Sunday.  Pure coincidence, but that accounts for the flood of high quality applicants.

We signed a multi-year lease with the first couple who saw the place in person.  I had some grousing by people who didn’t get to see it, but frankly, with credit scores > 700 and a clear employment history, the applicants are all equally well qualified.  We run all A/A- properties.  The return isn’t as high, but the risk of bad tenants / vacancies is essentially nil.

@Doug Smith budget is about $1800-1900/ month

I have a tenant who has shared a 3BR unit for the past year. SHe’s been a *very* good tenant- rent always on time/ early, minimal fuss, only calls if something really needs attention. Her roommate is leaving the area, and I don’t have any vacancies in smaller units. However, I told her I’d post here in case people have something. She’s looking for a ~2 BR in Lawrenceville/ Bloomfield area. Needs to have a small yard for her dog (who has done ZERO damage to my unit). Please reach out if you have something. I’d like to see her land somewhere, as she’s been a really good tenant. Thanks

I have two properties that both came up for rent on May 1st. One is an investment property in Pittsburgh, PA. The other was our primary residence in San Francisco. (We’re moving out of the PR and renting it out). I put both properties on Zillow at Noon on Sunday. Using Rentometer, we priced both properties in the 90%-range for our areas. In the first 24 hours in California, we had 4-5 people request showings, and the Pittsburgh property has >15 inquiries. I set up 30 minute tours, and filled 8 spots in a space of a few hours. I have at least 3 people in Pittsburgh (all residents at the local hospital) who have said they’ll take the property sight unseen.

My question is this: Are we charging too little rent? The properties are both very nice and I certainly like not having any vacancies, but are we leaving money on the table?

What is your average response curve (how many showings requested in the first 24 hours/ first week, etc.)

Thansk