All Forum Posts by: Heather Hanoski

I am submitting a CRP to my tenant. I didn't realize I needed to submit this, I'm still new to renting. The form is pretty self-explanatory, but I do have a question on the "Renters share of rent paid". My tenant receives assistance, and that agency sends a partial rent payment in. The tenant is fully responsible and works out the details with this agency, and the arrangement works well for me. But in terms of this form, do I need to separate out only what she has paid me in 2020 and is the balance perhaps considered something else? Or is it intended to be the full rent for this property being she is the only adult under lease? 

I filled it out as the total rent paid in 2020 for the unit, not based on what she paid vs what was received by the agency. So hopefully that was correct. 

@Todd Groom thank you very much! The perspective is very helpful! I don’t intend on not raising rent on a month to month, but this helps balance my mindset on how to proceed. Thanks for the response!

@Joe Kelly thank you. Great answer! I just needed to bounce this off of people in the industry. That puts this in a little more perspective for me than just how much do I raise the rent. Thanks for the response!

I have a tenant who is coming up on their 1 year lease renewal. The existing lease allows an option to move to month to month should we both agree, and I don't really have an issue with that. She's been a good tenant. However, I sent her a renewal letter offering her a 1 year lease renewal deferring any monthly rental increases by a maximum of 1 year hoping this would entice her to stay. She has a situation and needs to move to month to month. Again, I'm ok with this, just sharing my attempt to get another year lease signed to avoid the hassle during the continuing pandemic. 

So now I'm wondering what would be a reasonable rental increase? The facts are the lease is up mid- November. Which means if she decides in another month that she isn't able to stay for any reason, I could potentially have a property vacant during winter months (in MN), and during a pandemic, which I was hoping to avoid. So my risk has just increased substantially given the timing. 

Curious on thoughts on how others would handle the rental increase (how much)? I have to increase because not signing a year lease only tells me that she's thinking of moving on and if it weren't for the pandemic, I would have issued an increase anyway. I was just trying make a move that would benefit us both.

At current rent, I would be roughly $70-$75 below estimated rental value. 

Thanks for any feedback! 

That's actually a good idea. I'm taking responsibility for this one, but only plan on taking this responsibility once. Going forward though, I'll add something into my lease.

My tenant, who has been with me for about 9 months now in a Condo that used to be my own, has a clogged shower drain. I stopped by to try to snake it, which she also tried and while it snaked out some grossness (as should be expected with a clogged drain), the water still drains very very slowly. 

I've gotten some quotes, and it seems I won't get a professional out for less than $149. If it were my home however, I would try a variety of things that I have now read about the last two days, such as pouring boiling water down the drain, vinegar, etc. But not knowing what will work, how involved is too involved. As a landlord, and already attempting the obvious "let's snake the drain" move, do you just hire someone to fix it, or continue to ask her permission to stop by and try home remedies?

I've also already concluded that I have no issue being responsible for the clogged drain. She's only been there 9 months and in the 10 years I lived there I never did anything with either shower drain. #thethingsyoudon'tthinkabout

End of last year I moved, and started renting our my old condo. I have been wanting to get into real estate investing for some time, but for other reasons I have not been able to. I thought this would be a good way to naturally make a move in that direction, but clearly did not do all my research. I was surprised to learn that all rent is considered "income" and I owe taxes on it. 

Is there a way to avoid this? The rent pays my mortgage for that property, it is not profit. I have built in about $175 roughly (after property taxes) that I save on the side for rental incidentals. The rent is very in line with the area, the only thing I can do is increase rent upon lease renewal, but I would like to do this all the right way. 

In the state of MN, is all rent considered income? Or I have read in other states it is not, or just the portion that is considered profit is taxed. Or is it prudent to take the rental amount your seeking and add 25% to account for taxes? That seems very unusual to do it that way, I would never rent it. As it is, I am not covering my mortgage and association dues after taxes. I must be missing something. 

I appreciate any help with providing insight! Thank you in advance!

The best way to find out is if the owner tells you direct. You can always do online searches with the property address and see if you can find a "for rent" ad or something similar, but I would always say the best approach is having a conversation with the owner. Not sure what the intent is with finding out if it is vacant or rented though.

I primarily deal with absentee owners for my investing. Sometimes there are renters in the property and sometimes there are not. Very often, if the owner is looking to offload the property, they are also thinking about ending their rental agreement with the renters. At that point, it's just a negotiation. Every situation is different.

Hello, I'm early 40's and making a career change and heading into Real Estate investing. 

I'm not interested in becoming an agent or obtaining my license, I want to invest and have been mainly focusing on Wholesaling. I've been doing research on my own, I've attended seminars, workshops and listen to webcasts when I'm at the gym (in lieu of music) and finally sent out some mailers and made some mistakes in conversation that I am learning from. I could continue to go down this road and eventually get there (I admit, I'm nervous to take the final leap and make an offer, so I keep listening to webcasts), but the reality is I am currently splitting my focus with a full time job in a non-related field. So it is definitely not every day that I am committing time. 

I have already made the decision to leave my job, and am already on my way towards that transition. I've planned this and am prepared to go full force for a couple months without an income (worst case scenario). However, instead of risking no income at all, I would like to get a job in the industry even if it's on an entry level, to continue to learn even if it's only a little education. 

I have applied to inside sales, recruiting, transaction coordinators, relocation coordination's, anything that does not require a license. I just started applying within the last few days, so no answers yet, but my concern is my background is not real estate centric. I'm a Project Manager. While I explain my history and how there are similarities in characteristics and job functionality in terms of drive, tact, goals, communication, etc. and then reiterate my desire to be in RE in my cover letter, I may not be the ideal candidate. Does anyone have experience with this? Is this even a realistic idea? 

Thank you in advance for your comments and advice. 

I'm new to wholesaling and am near my first deal. The title company I called is asking if I will have a quitclaim deed, but after researching this, I don't see that I would in a wholesaling circumstance, being I am taking an interest in the property, but not taking ownership of it. Whether this happens between the seller and cash buyer, that I don't know. Regardless, I would not be involved in any quitclaim deed transactions. I'm just trying to field some questions that I wasn't prepared for in speaking with a title company. I called them to make sure it was as easy as sending them the purchase agreement and assignment contract once both are signed. This question threw me off. 

Am I understanding this properly?