All Forum Posts by: Jill F.

Hud requires 70 sq ft for a bedroom for one person and 50 sq ft per person for multiple people.  Those are pretty tiny bedrooms. I've seen minimum "SRO" (single room occupancy) at 250 sq ft, and studio at 375 but I can't find it now. They also have finished height requirements for basement bedrooms.

Tell him you want to use your contract or the standard NAR contract for you area. If he's only willing to do the deal with his contract, then it's probably not a contract that you should sign. I showed my lawyer the contract that a wholesaler sent to me and she said it might be the worst contract she had ever seen.

My commercial lenders mostly want to do 20 year terms. Sometimes I ask for 25 If I know I'm going to start out with vacancies to reno.

If I had started young, I would have gotten a license but having started older, I decided to focus my efforts on building my portfolio and managing my own properties since I do not want to sell real estate or manage properties for others. I found a great commercial real estate agent that has been very beneficial to my business. Quality, professional relationships are really necessary for the success of any business. You can't do everything.

Hi @Schola Eburuoh, I would advise against charging for problem reporting. You really want tenants to report problems (without fear of reprisals).The fix for tripped breakers and gfci outlets are easy to walk tenant through on the phone If they are in an old building with limited electrical where you can't say, vacuum and microwave at the same time you have an opportunity to educate to reduce future calls. For clogged sink or shower drains we tell tenants to try draino or liquid plumber. If they say the have and we try drano and it works I might charge. I usually tell tenants the first time a plumber snakes the line it's on me the next one is on you. I tell tenants complaining of smoke alarm chirping to replace the batteries in the smoke detector. I would not consider those "over reporting" unless the continue after they've been given instructions. I'd probably give instructions with good grace a second time and the third time I would tell them that we've gone over this before and you should not call me unless the normal fix doesn't work though I've never had that happen with 78 units and almost 10 years in business. It's really been a much bigger problem that tenants ignore or don't recognize actual problems that should be reported

We've really like kwikset 816 key control deadbolt ($38-$45) with passage handles-- we ALWAYS remove keyed entry handles to prevent lockouts.These 816 Landlord Locks have a hidden cylinder for a master key and an easy to rekey "smart" tenant lock.  We do also use kwikset smartkey power bolt 2 ($50) locks for tenant convenience on garage entry doors in more upscale properties.

I self manage our 78 doors.
We use Buildium for property managment software. Using full featured property management software provides online marketing, applications, tenant screening, eleasing, rent collection, accounting, maintenance queue monitoring, turnover inspections. It is expensive software, but it is a fraction of the cost of hiring a property management company. I actually enjoy managing our properties due at least in part to the fact that the software allows me to focus on managing people and processes rather than getting buried by details.

When I first started, I thought I would want tenants who would stay as long as possible. Now I really like to turn over every 3-7 years. This lets us keep rates at top market prices keep our places updated and in better repair. It avoids problems with those long term tenants that start acting proprietary about the property and 'bitter renters' that are mad because they really wanted to own but couldn't get financed and they feel like they have an ownership interest in our property because they paid off the mortgage. (nope and nope). Once we have updated a property, we can often complete turnovers in just a couple of days with the required notice and good planning.

I usually tell them, contact me in 4 weeks and if I still haven't rented the place I may consider it... but my rent is usually a good deal for the property and I've never had a place sit vacant that long. Also, I would never do a lease longer than 12 months.

In Ohio, there is no limit on the size of the security deposit you can require. However, you have to pay 5% on any amount held after 6 months, paid annually. I sometimes require last month's rent instead of extra security on lower credit score or very young or otherwise riskier tenants. The other thing you can do here without having to pay interest is charging additional non-refundable fees. Make sure you are very clear on the security deposit requirements for your state.