All Forum Posts by: Jim Robertson

I may be going through my first eviction. My tenant called me a month in advance to let me know that they would be late on the rent for this month. I agreed to extend rent for one month only, and then the deadline passed with no rent payment. I have delivered a notice to vacate and am now waiting for the next deadline to pass. Is it worth it to hire an eviction specialist or Real Estate Attorney? 

Tenants do not seem willing to work out an agreement to leave or take cash for keys. 

@David Ferrette I would look at 78758. The closer to The Domain shopping center and further from the IH35 the better. 

@Nick L. The St. Edwards area is a good are to be in. There is a good combination of renters and owners. Also included in 78741 is East Riverside and Montopolis. East Riverside  has some potential for good properties with a good chance of appreciation. Montopolis has a lot of class c and d properties. If you are investing out of state I would avoid that neighborhood or partner with someone who is familiar to the area and a Spanish speaker. Send me a message if you want more info.

Thanks Everyone,

Thank you to everyone for posting. I am having a similar problem, and reading the responses that were posted have given me a few ideas to move forward with. 

You should check out 78741. That is prob the closest you are going to get to downtown Austin in that 200k-300k price range. If you want to go further south there are some duplexes available in the 78745 zip code. 

Favorite improvement for increased rent is stainless steel appliances. So far I have had success from scratch and dent places or buying used. They quickly improve a kitchen a kitchen's look for about 200-300 per appliance. They also aren't very common in north Austin rentals. So I separate myself easily from other rentals. 

Favorite durability improvement- tile or vinyl flooring. The main reason is that I just hate carpeting.  

All other things equal, I think fewer tenants would equate to less of your time spent managing the property. You would have fewer leases, and less time spent on turning around a unit between vacancies. You would also have half as many kitchens, so over the long run that's fewer appliances to maintain. Not to mention half as many heater/ac units and water heaters to worry about. 

Based only on the information given, I would take the 10 unit. I'm interested to hear if anyone would go the other way and why? 

@Victoria Winters I agree with you that there are inherent risks in renting a property to tenants. I don't think a criminal background check counts as a deep background check. I would like to know the prospective tenants criminal history. I believe applicant should be viewed holistically. I do like to know if my tenant has a history of fraud, arson, or other crimes. If I can have data to back up my gut feeling, why would I ignore it? 

@Aly W. I will look into american tenant screening. Thanks for the tip

Does anyone know of any places where I can run a background check on an applicant that doesn't have an SSN. They have a drivers license through the Mexican consulate, and permanent resident status (green card). Smart move and the other services I have looked into wont let me use the identification numbers I have from their documents. Does anyone rent to immigrants/ permanant residents? Or does anyone know a service that does background checks on other ID numbers?