All Forum Posts by: Jim Shepard

I agree with Kevin Siedlecki on the value of getting a college education. I will be the first to admit that I use very little of my degree (marketing). However the degree opened many doors that would have been shut without it. That degree will look good on paperwork you fill out for your banker as well. I have a cousin that is in her early 50's that never got her degree. She would advance with a company and be making good money. Then the company would be sold, downsize,etc. and she would find herself without a job. She then started at minimum wage and had to start over. My advice would be get the degree with the least amount of debt. They can take your car, house, etc. but they can't take your degree. Oh, that sociology degree will get you no where...

We bought a duplex from a couple and they then rented their side from us for 3 more years. Both were chain smokers. Here's what we had to do to eliminate the smell: * wiped down walls, ceiling, ceiling fans & fixtures, all appliances, doors, trim, kitchen cabinets in and out. etc. with a product called tsp available at hardware stores. *replaced all light bulbs. The nicotine is on them as well. Soon as you turn on a light bulb it will start to heat up. It then releases the smell. * had the furnace and duct work cleaned. * pulled all the carpet out (2 bedrooms). Then painted the concrete floor to seal them. Then put in new carpet. * replaced all of the blinds. Fortunately they were the cheap variety. * painted all of the walls and ceiling with Kilz. Then gave everything a coat of regular paint. All of this took about 3 weeks and several thousand dollars. The day before open house you could still smell the cigarette smell when you first walked in. Urgh! I then cleaned and painted the outside of the front and back doors. Problem solved. A lot of problem for someone else's habit!!! NONE of our units are smoking units now!

I always list the address so they can drive by the house to if they like it before calling me. Rarely to I do a showing to one person. I prefer to do an open house for a hour or two. An open house gets everyone there at one time to look at the house. I can't tell you how many times I have been stood up waiting for the applicant to show up. If you are concerned about your well being with people off of craigslist get your conceal and carry. I carry mine to the open houses just in case...

The policy that the claim was made on hasn't renewed yet but I am sure the rate will go up because of it. I don't think I would have any problem switching companies because of one claim with all the policies I have. The point I was making is there are too many hungry attornies out there not to carry liability insurance. You never know when you will need insurance and when you do hopefully you have enough.

Liability insurance is there to protect your ASSets! I live in Madison County, IL which is where the majority of frivilous lawsuits are filed due to liberal citizens. Tobacco lawsuits, asbestos lawsuits are settled here. In between working on those cases the attorneys have to have something to work on to generate income. I just had a slip and fall st a commercial property and the insurance company gave 5 grand to go away. I also own property in Collier County, Florida which is also known for its lawsuits. If you have assets to lose, get liabilty insurance and a large umbrella property just in case. If you never get to use your insurance consider yourself lucky!

You are coming up on season and wouldn't limit yourself to just investors. Can you let the old lease expire to mtm? If not I would include a buyout clause in the lease to get the tenant out if the new owners want to move in immediately.

For translation try "itranslate". Works great for me for English to Spanish but does a lot of other languages. It is free but they charge $2.99 if you want it to speak. I would leave the dog at home and carry heat if you have a conceal n carry. Make sure any confrontations are where the cameras are setup. Good luck!

It should be in your contract with the property manager.  Typically the owner has to pay the eviction cost.

I would second Kim's comments. Don't accept cash because there can be disputes on how much cash was given to you at a later date. I would open up a post office box and have them mail a check or money order. I would make it real clear to your tenant(s) that it has to be in the po box by X times or the rent is late.

I use tenantsbackgroundsearch.com and have found it to do a good job. It not only does a credit search with score but also does a background search as well. Cost is between $20 to $30 depending how much information you want. I just charge the prospective tenant for the cost.