All Forum Posts by: Luke Johnson

Hello,

I am currently using the lease agreement provided here by BP.  I see no where on there about gutters, and my tenant has water coming in the basement, but my handyman showed me photos of overgrown gutters.  How would you address this?

I have Carbon Monoxide detectors in the house.  For a general repair (leaky pipe trap), what is an acceptable waiting period?  I ask because he had to wait 4 days and was upset, mind you it was not a large leak.  I am trying to address each issue as if I were living in my own house.

I realize the first couple complaints were mandatory fixes, and I bought the new fridge because I had another property about to be finished to put the other one in once it was finished.  I am asking more along the lines of ettiquite regarding higher dollar rentals.  Is it common for people to be really picky at this price point?  Should I have the A/C unit looked at each time he makes a claim?

Hello, I have an issue with a tenant, and I am new to managing properties, so I could use a little advice.  I recently rented a newly rehabbed home in a nice area here in Iowa for $1400/mo.  The house is in nice shape, all the bells and whistles, new floors, ect.  Two days after moving in, a new shower we had installed started to leak into the basement.  I apologized and promptly called the contractor who came and fixed the problem within 3 days.  Next, the brand new fridge began to malfunction, the service tech appointed by the company (Frigidaire) said it could be up to a month before the part came in, so I bought a new fridge and had it installed immediately.  The tenant then began to complain about the amount of dust in the air, and said his daughter was having issues with the sawdust in the air (we refinished the hardwoods).  I had a company come out and professionally clean the duct work ($340, and the company told me that the ducts were clean).  Five days later he told me that he could smell Co2 (although its odorless) in the house, and that the dryer exhaust was improperly installed (it wasn't).  Now, I am going on call number two for an older AC unit that has already been inspected.  He is claiming that the AC will not cool the house lower than 77 degrees.  My HVAC guy is going over there again tomorrow, and will most likely find no issue with the unit.  I have had about a dozen complaints from this tenant in the first three months of his tenancy.  How would you address this with him? 

I am looking for a screening service that will not only do background/credit/evictions, but also job and reference checks from former landlords.  Most of these I am seeing are simply background checks with optional credit checks and such.  Any suggestions?

Hi,

I am in the middle of getting my salesperson license (passed the exam, waiting on fingerprints, ect.), and want to get started making some local connections.  I am looking for wholesalers, or other investors to learn a little from.  I have worked in the bar business for 15 years, and it has been good to me.  A former owner and myself want to diversify and start a buy and hold business.  We have a good deal of capital to start out with, but would like to be patient and smart about our decisions.  Any help would be greatly appreciated, or if anyone in the area would like to meet, I would be happy to lend a hand however I can. 

Thanks guys, great advice.

Thanks Josh, appreciate the advice.

Hey everyone,

My name is Luke Johnson, and I've been in the bar business for about ten years, and help to manage three of them presently.  My employer, the owner of the bars, started off as a builder, and his family has been in the housing industry for 40 years.  He wants to start a real estate company focusing on buy and hold properties.  We are going to stay in the local market for now (Quad Cities, Iowa), although I would be willing to try anywhere.  My question is about the 2% rule.  There are very few houses in the entire area that rent for over $1500 monthly, yet the homes that bring that rent are upwards of $100,000 consistently.  Are these people finding great deals, or do smaller markets and economies allow for rule variation?