All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

@Jimmy S.

Unless you have specific provisions to the contrary in your lease, I would say the tenant can reasonably assume that the washer was meant to be part of the property he rented and therefore will be repaired by you when it brakes. Whether you installed it yourself or the previous tenant left it there doesn't make a difference to the new tenant. You could have removed it before renting the property.

Some landlords will deal with such a situation upfront in their lease and put in a clause that says "the washer is provided as a one-time benefit for the tenant but will not be serviced or replaced if/when it fails".

@Dusty Warner PM fees tend to different, depending on local markets but the numbers you listed would be pretty much right on the button for my area. That said, within reason, you should probably pay less attention to the exact cost and more attention to the QUALITY (as judged by referrals, track record and personal conversations with the prospective PMs). Yes, you may squeeze a half a percent or a percent, or a few bucks, out of the fees but if you end up with a less competent PM, it'll cost you way more than that over the long run. As long as the fees are REASONABLY in line with the local market, assessing quality is all that matters, in my opinion.

Agree with you completely, Karin!

@Karin Crompton my initial thought on reading the title of the post was "yes, the bank can ask for anything they want - it's up to them to decide who they do business with and how.

That said, I do agree that this request seems unreasonable (although I'm sure @Bill Gulley is right in that it probably does add a measure of certainty for the bank and thus may lower risk). I also don't think that this a common request and I'd be curious to hear how many BPers have run into this.

Personally, this would rub me the wrong way too and I'd redact the pricing info, but only if I were be prepared to let the deal die over this (which will depend on how many other options you have).

Lots of good advice. To get back to the original question: Equity Trust is a fine custodian for a self-directed IRA but you need to figure out, specifically what types of investments/transactions you'd like to do through this account. For example, their particular fee structure is such that you may get nickel-and-dimed to death if you do a lot of very small transaction, vs. one or two large ones.

Caveat: Since you are posing this question on this board, I assume you are planning on doing more hands-on, RE related transactions. If you just want to invest in stocks or mutual funds for example, you can, of course stick with a discount broker or a bank.

Maybe it's just me but this would not give me any good vibes. Sounds to me like they may well end up nit-picking all legal nooks and crannies with you throughout their stay. Some people never rent to lawyers on principle. I don't think they are a protected class, are they? :-)

If you have a truly strong #2 and still have the option to swap them out, I would. Life is short...

@Christopher Hunter

You need to look up some rental information in your area for similar properties. If the average rent for a 3/1 SHR is $4000 a month, you may have a deal, if the average rents for $1000 then you have no chance to make this work as buy and hold. May still work as a flip, but not B&H

@Jim Fralin

check with @Karen Rittenhouse

I'm not a lawyer either, but I don't see how you can lock him out while he has a valid lease. If she can get a restraining order against him then perhaps that's a possibility, but otherwise I doubt it.

@Craig Jennings