All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Dupuis

@Marcia Maynard , I'm in WA State, also. I've found that I like having the required rental criteria. I simply follow it and let it make these decisions for me. I may steal your wording on #2 if I may have your permission.

In regards to the OP, I have a detailed rental criteria like Marcia (as stated above). It's in accordance with my state's laws. But it eliminates much of the thinking in regards to who I accept. The questionable tenants get eliminated due to the rental criteria. This guy, if he were to apply, may or may not meet the criteria - I'd need to re-read the rental criteria sheet. I really don't need to think about it much. It's a nice system.

Read your policy. Understand what your policy says.

Here's some links for you:

• House Is On Fire
• Rental on Fire - Total Loss *good info here

I am sorry this has happened.

This does look great! Curious to hear how long it stands up to renters (and has been commented on by one poster).

Does it look nice in person? Pics look sharp. It seems that agents would use it for staging. I'm thinking of an agent I used who had us paint our tile grout once (completely changed the look of the room - cost $20 and 4 hours).

My experience is that there is a price point with rent. If rent is too low, you get many inquiries and a low-quality applicant. If rent is too high, you also get a low-quality applicant but less inquiries. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot where you get a decent amount of inquiries and quality applicants (plus a few goofballs - they always exist).

Welcome to BP, Edgar! Glad you're here.

Thanks for the info, Shaun! Really helpful. A nice framework to work from that may help a ton.

RE: The market stuff...Yeah, this doesn't seem to be a typical "winter" market cycle issue from what I can see. I usually love buying in the winter - best time to buy, imo. Deals, deals, deals. It's raining here, so I can see the water problems, and the sellers will move on price. Also, there's always a bit of inventory that appears.

Thanks for the replies @William T.and @Mary B. I will need to invest out of state if this continues. Some have mentioned marketing, but that just doesn't make sense for buy/hold and the amount I buy per year.

It's been like this since July-August and the water is getting more still. I'm very curious to see how this unwinds.

Boo - hiss (pun also intended). There's a thick deep line between having firm standards and being mean.

I also invite pets for the same reason @Aaron Mazzrillo and others do. Besides, the pets that've been in my rentals have done less damage than children (and some adults).

Things seem to be stagnant in my area right now.

There's very low inventory here and it doesn't seem to be moving. It's odd, the sellers won't budge on their list price (which is high) and nothing new is really coming on the market (a few here and there). Stagnant.

Any one else seeing this? What's this about?

@Zach Schwarzmiller is providing excellent info about the area. We're experiencing 4-6.5% in Bremerton/Kitsap area, also.