All Forum Posts by: Dalia D.

Am new to renting out my 3 b 2 ba house. I live in the mother-in-law and was considering requiring a month-to-month lease for the first 3 months (to see if it is a good fit) and then offering the tenant the opportunity for a 1 year term lease. On a yearly lease I intend to require the tenant to have the gas, electric and water in their name. (Not sure about the H2O - it might have to stay in the property owner's (my) name). I would credit their rent each month a static amount, that would represent my usage.

As far as the initial 3 months of the month-to-month lease, I am uncertain how to share the utilities. Should I just have the utilities included in a higher rent for the month-to-month-lease and then reduce the rent down to local comps for the 1 year lease?  And then have the utility bills in the tenants' name(s)? ...will credit for my usage of utilities.

I might be making this more complicated than it should be. What do you suggest? Thank you

Let me help you with the footwork and the paperwork to make you more productive and streamlined... New to the real estate investment world, but an enthusiastic learner/helper. To start, I can assist you 3 - 5 hours a week - prefer local projects. 

Elated to be a part of the BP community...! 

Purchased a 3 bedroom 2 bath (showers only) beach property home in Birch Bay WA (unincorporated town near Blaine). It is a destination for Canadians, Alaskans, Washingtonians as well as other Pacific Northwesters. The house has an attached mother-in-law in the back  end.  The prior owner (of 12 years) lived in Seattle and managed the front as a vacation rental and at times rented the back 1 bedroom unit as a month-to-month rental.

Currently, I am attempting to rent out the front using Craigslist. The rent is competitive with the local (neighborhood) rentals and the location is convenient to Bellingham where the jobs are...  I have not been getting any responses through Craigslist, especially because the contact phone number is "encryted" (wrriten-out) to eliminate SPAM and SCAMS.

So,  my questions are:

Should I be using a different rental approach? Vacation Rental?

Is there any other platform where can go to to solicit renters?

I have spent the time researching through Biggerpockets how to market rentals and screen for tenants. The house and forms are all ready to go...  Thank you, dalia

I provide a free valuable service of being your right-hand person to help you (experienced real estate investors) with your transactions and research, in exchange for the opportunity to learn on the job.  To start I can offer you 3 - 5 hours per week and adjust to your needs if we are a good fit. Let's talk... dalia de Jesus

Looking to trade /barter my assistance and shadowing for your 3 - 4 hours per week needs with real estate deals and projects.  Wanting to assist specifically investors: in the construction, flipping, wholesaling and real estate agent worlds. Relatively new to the profession - please see profile and give me a ring so I CAN HELP YOU!