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All Forum Posts by: David Stone

David Stone has started 37 posts and replied 281 times.

Post: Question on first investment

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

Post: Question on first investment

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

I had a full time job while managing 4 properties. I believe noone will care more about your properties than you. We tried property management in the beginning and that turned into thousands spent on list rent and damages. Since then we manage our properties ourselves and have had no issues. I think what I learned managing the properties myself would help me better how and manage a property management company in the future. This was my experiences. I know others have had better luck. If you want to manage them yourself, check out this... I wrote this when filling my most recent vacancies... Hope it helps! https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/7983/52274-wha...

Post: New To Bigger Pockets, San Jose Real Estate Investor with 7 SFH

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

Solid start! Keep up the good work!

Post: It's time to buy, buy, buy.

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

We have our contractor go through during the "initial showing"  and submit a  cash, no contingency on inspection offer on some properties...  you're  still getting the inspection,  just at a different time than most do. 

Post: Keep my property manager or not?

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

You are right, no one will care more about your property than you will. They have demonstrated this leaving it vacant for two months. You know how well these units rent yourself. 

I would... 1. Find the time to manage it myself, 2. Find another property management company to better manage the property, or 3. Screen your own tenants and refer them to this company if you have neither the time or alternative management company to fill the vacancy and find a better alternative once the unit is occupied and actually making you money. 

Hope something better works out for you.  Good luck!

Post: i need advice successful investors

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

It starts with education. Educate yourself on the business and the process.  There are plenty of free resources on this website.  Get the basics down, start taking action, and seek answers to specific questions you have keep moving forward.

Post: Landlord Newbie

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

Here is the process I use to screen tenants... https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/7983/52274-wha...

Check out other sources and use a combination of what works best for you. Good luck!

Post: Do real estate agents like working with investors?

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

Watch the market, see whats selling for deals and see whats obviously being flipped, then go on Zillow and it should tell you in price/sales history who the buyers/sellers agent was. If its an investor buying or selling, most likely an investor friendly agent

Post: How to reject an applicant for rent?

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

Here's a list of reasons to deny an applicant.  I believe I pulled it from a Washington State attorney's website offering it as a free resource.  Should be valuable anywhere though.  Hope this helps.  Always check with local laws as things change all the time.  I believe you can not deny based off of criminal history alone now as long as it was not a major crime??  (something I need to brush up on)

1. Unsatisfactory references from landlords, employers and/or personal references. These could include reports of repeated disturbance of their neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment of their homes; reports of gambling, prostitution, drug dealing or drug manufacturing; damage to the property beyond normal wear and tear; reports of violence or threats to landlords or neighbors; allowing people not listed on the lease or rental agreement to live in the property; failure to give proper notice when vacating the property; or a landlord who would not rent to them again.

2. Evictions.

3. Frequent moves.You have to decide what constitutes frequent moves and apply the same criteria to every applicant.

4. Bad credit report.If a report shows they are not current with any bill, have been turned over to a collection agency, have been sued for a debt, or have a judgment for a debt, that is grounds to reject. These do not have to be debts connected in any way with housing.

5. Too short a time on the job.As with frequent moves, you have to decide what too short a time is and apply the same criteria to every applicant.

6. Too new to the area.There is nothing to say you have to rent to people who have just moved to town. Be careful, though, many times these would be excellent tenants and the time and long distance call expense of checking them out could pay big dividends.

7. Smokers.Some newspapers mistakenly believe that smokers are a protected “handicapped” class. They will never be. The tobacco companies would not allow it. Do do so would be to admit that tobacco and nicotine are addicting. Industry lobbyists would be sure to fight that idea tooth and nail. So you can safely discriminate against people who smoke. Newspapers will not accept ads that say “no smokers,” but they will accept ads that say “no smoking.”

8. No verifiable source of income.

9. Too many vehicles.Lots of cars can be a real source of irritation to neighbors and make the entire neighborhood or apartment complex look bad. Chances are, if they have more than one vehicle for every adult they spend a lot of time broken and being fixed. That means they could be in pieces in the front yard or parking lot.

10. Too many people for the property. Be extremely careful with this. Before the familial status protection clause of the Fair Housing Act, you could discriminate on this basis without fear of any problems. Not any more. Now the same criteria must be applied without regard to the age of the inhabitant. Be sure it is applied equally to all applicants. Check your state’s Landlord-Tenant Law.

11. Drug users. They must be current drug users. If they are in a drug treatment program and no longer use drugs, the Federal Government considers them handicapped and protected by the Fair Housing Act.

12. Pets.

13. Any evidence of illegal activity.You must be able to come up with some kind of satisfactory evidence. I don’t know what that would be, every case would be different. Certainly a letter from the police department warning a previous landlord of their illegal activity and threatening to close the property is considered sufficient evidence.

14. History of late rental payments.

15. Insufficient income.You must set up objective criteria applied equally to each applicant. Insufficient income could reasonably be if the scheduled rent exceeded 35% of their gross monthly income.For example, if the rent is $600, their gross monthly income must be at least $1714.29. The formula is: Acceptable income= scheduled rent divided by income ratio. You can require proof of all income. Be careful, though, if you are willing to accept only one member of a married couple to supply the total dollar income, you must be willing to accept the same of unmarried, co-tenants that share the housing. Under Fair Housing law you cannot require that unmarried people meet different income requirements than married people.

16. Too many debts.Even if their gross income is sufficient, they may have so many other debts that they would be hard pressed to make all the payments. A rule of thumb might be that all contracted debts, including rent, cannot exceed 50% of their gross income. Contracted debts would be such things as credit card payments, car payments, loans, etc. Those would not be cable TV, water and garbage, telephone, or other utilities.

17. Conviction of a crime which was a threat to property in the past five years. Included in this could be drunk driving convictions, burglary convictions, robbery convictions, and other such misbehaviors.

18. Conviction for the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance in the past five years.The best way to proceed is to post a list of the acceptable rental criteria and hand it to each applicant.

Post: How to reject an applicant for rent?

David StonePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Davenport, FL
  • Posts 285
  • Votes 220

I said in the previous post "maybe get a written statement from the previous landlord and deny them based off reference"

I think its incredibly important to weed out the bad tenants any way possible.  I got burned by a tenant paying late and damaging the unit.  We payed thousands in lost rent and damages and finally did cash for keys which got them to leave.  That was the best day because finally the bleeding stopped and we could recoup.  

Wish everyone luck!