All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey Bower

I am actually about to start on this: Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing! 

This might be a good place to condense everything you're learning in one area, then branch out to other topics.

An occasional pet, sure. But breeding on a rental property. No way—buy a little plot of land and run your business there, I say. I imagine there would a lot of noise and odors. That isn't good.

I think it also depends on your experience level and how much risk you're willing to take on, including how familiar you are with managing rental properties. I've seen some recent poster admit he grew too fast and is trying to cope with that. But there are so many factors, and that could be different for you.

Yes, it's probably considered normal wear and tear at this point. Life expectancy of blinds, especially cheap ones, aren't very long. 

Carpets are one of the common pain points between landlords and tenants upon move-out inspection. The longer a tenant has lived in a unit, the harder it will be to make them pay for cleaning, because it could be attributed to wear and tear, not abuse. Looking through my California NOLO book for landlords, tenants should clean any new stains and return the unit to the same level of cleanliness that existed when tenancy began. Whether that means to the same level of "steam-cleaning" clean or "surface" clean, I can't say. CA NOLO: "If the unit needs to be *additionally cleaned* to make it rentable, that should be done on your dime and considered part of the cost of doing business."  "You may charge only for cleaning that is actually necessary...include stained carpets..."

There are a lot of good advice on here. Any updates on what you ended up doing and the result?

In general, I think anyone should do what makes the most business sense to them. I would provide ample notice with a brief explanation of the market rate of comparable properties, raise the rent moderately, and throw in fresh paint or new fixtures because a person is such a good tenant. Like someone else mentioned, if rents nearby are not much different there should be no issue raising your own property to match. They don't have much choice other than moving in a sub-par property.

Everything here is insightful. I had wondered about the whole total rehab pros and cons, and who has the bigger advantage in doing it totally right. I'm no handyman and wished I had the skills.

I also agree with many here. Get a cash out refinance and use the funds to invest in a rental property. If you're unfamiliar with strategies like BRRRR, check it out. It's based on the philosophy of buy and hold where you can earn a stream of long-term income.

I would consider holding onto it as a rental property. Others here who are more familiar with your area seem to think you're in a good position to keep it as an investment. 

I absolutely agree with Anthony. Read as much as you can here! There is such a great collection of sources. I learn a lot here and from family who own properties. But I find I get a lot of perspectives, not on just how to pick and screen tenants but other day-to-day responsibilities.

Originally posted by @Thomas Hayworth:

Interesting. I have one rental property I co-manage with my mom in N. Ca, and she uses and likes Tellus as well. I've used it a couple times for the chat app to help out. I'm looking into investing in my own property by myself, looking at duplexes and such. So it's nice to see the operations of running rental property being made easier with technology.