All Forum Posts by: Rod Hanks

@David Evans

Start in your own market first.

@Amanda Thompson

I don’t respond to a lot of emails from potential tenants that I wouldn’t rent to. I definitely wouldn’t knowingly allow 2 large dogs in the house under any circumstances.

@Mario Ruscovici

You can't assign an insurance policy. If it floods before you close renegotiate or don't close and yes all you lose is the appraisal and inspection fees. I have never heard of a HML asking about tickets from 15 years ago that is very odd but then again they can ask for whatever they want. There are plenty of HMLs out there that can close pretty fast I might look elsewhere.

@Jennifer Sui

No you don't need to put the house in an LLC to rent it out.

@Brandon Blackfin

Advertise like you would any other other property and put Section 8 OK or Section 8 Accepted. Just make sure they have the number of bedrooms on their voucher that will cover your rent. Zillow and gosection8 are great sites for tenants.

@Jody Sperling

I would definitely rent to section 8 clients without question.

Pros

1. Rent paid on time

2. Rent usually above market

3. Tenants stay a long time

4. Annual inspections from housing

Cons

1. The kids can be hard on your property

2. Boyfriends can move in

3. Some will call you for everything

Overall Section 8 is great as long as you screen the tenants the exact same way you would screen any other tenant. Call previous landlords and visit where they currently stay.

Good Luck!!!

@Dan Inness

I think you already have your answer. It’s a marginal deal at best. If you could raise the rents or expect the value to increase over the next couple years then it might be worth pursuing. One thing that hurts new investors is when they don’t find deals that meet their criteria they make exceptions on the ones that are close. Those exceptions can hurt you big time. The property is new but you still can expect to incur some maintenance expenses. Since this is your first investment I would recommend you hold steadfast on the 1% unless the rents are under market and you have room to increase or you are getting the property under market value.

Good Luck!

@Bud Gaffney

Yes you can request a rent increase 60 days prior to the annual recertification.

@Eric Lee Nation

Hey Eric, Travelers is actually one of my goto companies for landlord insurance. The rates are competitive and the coverage is comprehensive. That’s a pretty good rate for the coverage you are getting on that property. Be careful about trying to save a couple dollars on your insurance polices because you will definitely regret it once you get a claimed denied by one of these unknown companies. Sometimes trying to save $50-$100 will cost you thousands in uncovered claims. Maybe look at raising your deductible to $5000 would give you the savings you are looking for.

@Lisa Caracciolo

Seems like a retail bad deal based on those numbers. I don’t see the rents supporting the expenses.