All Forum Posts by: Jennifer McElliott

As long as you've done your homework and know that the rates in the area have risen and by how much... your tenants will likely do the same due diligence, you should be fine.... 

So what I do, before raising rates, is look for comps in the area, set my new rate which usually is slightly under the top rates.  And even though I've raised rents by $100 or more, my tenants haven't balked at it or up and left.  I think what really helps is that I can point out that the area rates have risen and they are still getting a better deal (i.e. I still don't charge top dollar for the area) so they really don't have a good motivation to move.  So I tell them what the market rate I found was, I might be raising only to a fraction of what their neighbors rents are being raised to, so they know they are still getting a deal - we tell them that we're not raising to full market rate since we value them as a tenant and invite them to check out the same sources, zillow or craigslist so that they can see that they are still getting a good deal on a great home that they are comfortable in.  

All that being said, i understand where you are coming from, and I hate the process of raising rates as well - but this is a business!  I hope that helped - Good luck to you!

I've actually been posting questions around the Montgomery market for a couple of months now w/ very little response and I figured it was because no one on BP was investing there (and possibly for a reason...?)  As I investigated more, I saw the similar pattern that 

@Peter Sik was speaking of - low to no appreciation on the homes. 

So for folks investing in that area... is it just knowing this is for cash flow (and maybe equity growth) and not really being concerned about appreciation?

Montgomery's market seems highly dependent upon the air force base there as well as the automotive industry - the base at least provides some form of stable population of renters...

@Mindy Jensen - ah thanks for the tip!  I sent them an email yesterday, but will double check WA laws to make sure that's good enough!

Seems like there's a natural fit for a flipper and a buy and hold investor to partner and do things like the BRRR strategy - was wondering if anyone has created that sort of partnership and how you structured it?

I'm a Buy and Hold investor and I recently met someone who only does flips and i'm just trying to see how we might work together for both our benefits.

Right now she funds her own flips (cash buys) and turns them around in 6ish weeks for the quick gain.  

I have 3 rental properties looking to expand that portfolio through BRRR since it seems to bring the most value. We both have decent capital so I'm not looking to her to be the $$ side... we could go half and half on that... right now i think it's more the idea of the partnership - where does she benefit if she's currently perfectly happy just flipping?

@Phillip Dwyer - do you mean just an email or do you have a doc/form that you would use?  (Sorry for the amateur question - this is the first time I've ever had been in this situation!)

Just as an update for everyone - I wanted to say, I called the tenants back tonight to relay the terms you guys advised me on... basically telling her that i was going to list the place tomorrow and that as soon as i found new tenants, they would be relieved of their obligations so it could be earlier than the one month she was asking for.  She actually was bold enough to say that they'd submit the application for the other house (managed by Windermere) and was worried that they wouldn't get it - so she asked if they could go month to month if they didn't get it.  I stood my ground and said, no, sorry there are too many people and I can't hold the house contingent upon them finding another place to rent!!  We went into discussing her security deposit and how she could get that back - so I'm taking that as a good sign that they'll keep the place in good condition so she can get her 3700 back!  

Thanks everyone for the great feedback - it really helped me to know I was doing the right thing, and helped me phrase things in a good way when I actually spoke to the tenant.  

Thanks @Thomas S. - I like that advice and am planning on calling them this afternoon to relay that exact message.  I do have 1.5x rent as a security deposit - so if there is anything major, i think that should cover it (rent is 2450).  

In the meantime - i.e. this last month before they leave, would you even bother mentioning the part about the parents staying w/ them... or just let them ride it out - if in fact the father has had all these surgeries - i seem heartless making them find him a new interim place and I don't want them to trash my house in retribution.  I guess I answered my own question...

@Brendon Woirhaye, that's a good point - and i definitely don't want 8 people 'stuck' in my house!  

Hi All,

I've read through most of the posts on tenants wanting to break their lease, but wanted to post this slightly different flavor here...

My tenants just called yesterday w/ a situation... we have a 5 bedroom house rented out to them - a couple and their grown daughters - and one of these daughter's boyfriend, and on the flip side of the generation, the couple has one of their mother's living w/ them as well.  so that's a total 6 people already.  They are all on the lease, so this was all on the up and up.  

This part is my fault... sort of... on a walk through during a water heater replacement inspection, I noticed they had cats - maybe a couple of cats... and as you guessed it, they are not authorized to have pets b/c they said no to pets when we first leased it out to them - though the house was listed as dogs acceptable.  So I called it out, and she said they were just fostering the cats (it's part of their charity that their store donates to... I know i should have stated that this infraction breaks their lease agreement, but I let it slide (the house didn't smell of cats and they were keeping the house pretty clean/neat.)

Next infraction - this is part of their call yesterday, they had some trouble w/ the other set of the couple's parent's where the parents had to leave their rental due to their landlord selling the house.  the parents came to stay w/ them as a short term solution (i was not made aware of this until yesterday, and don't know how long they've been there now, but I suspect it's been over the allowable 30 days like a visiting guest.)  So now we're up to 8 people in this 5 bedroom 2300 sq ft house!  Anyway, they called to say the parents have needed surgery etc (everyone has a heart bleed story right?!) and that she doesn't see them moving out anytime soon.  As a result, she recognizes that they need to find a new/bigger house.  Great.... except that they still have 2 months on their lease.  She's found another, ideal house and would like to move there next month if they will hold the house for them and if I will let them out of their lease a month early.  

So w/ the infractions, they've otherwise been decent, pay on time, never bounce a check tenants... albeit troublesome... calling every couple of months with issues of clogged drains and 'funny' noises from their fridge.  I'm definitely looking forward to putting new tenants in there, and doing better upfront training like I'm learning from BP!!  But what would you all suggest I do with these current tenants... say they can get out of their lease early if we can find folks to replace them?  So I could do some pro-rating of that last month depending on how quickly we can find a new tenant - keeping in mind that this is also Nov/Dec in the state of WA!  

If you lasted this long - thanks for reading my long winded explanation!!!

Ok so I must be missing a second or some other loan they took out other than the primary mortgage (b/c like i said, it appears to have been sold for around 150K about 16 years ago and today it's listed at 199K)  

thanks.