All Forum Posts by: Joel Katsma

Hi Steve, I have a few doors in the Sheboygan County area and I have used a number of different contractors - what type of work are you looking to have done? I will say right now they're definitely few and far between!  Feel free to send me a PM! 

Hey @Scott Schultz I am from Sheboygan and have a number of rentals around the county. I don't know of anyone off hand, I would suggest joining the Sheboygan real estate facebook group as there are PM's that post on there quite often.   It's going to be slim pickings around this area as far as I have seen. 

@Deanna McCormick Thank you so much for the educational and prompt response!  This will take so much stress out of my life!   The only thing I am concerned about now is them trashing the place before they leave... Can't be much worse than it already is... They already will not be getting  a security deposit back as they started some of the cedar siding on fire with their ash tray that they so wisely placed up against the house.  @Jim Shepard and @Jeff F. thank you both for your responses!  It's greatly appreciated!  

In typing this and reflecting on the situation, I should have done this long ago - the property was such a good price but the longer they're in there, the more I am going to have to spend to get it back up to our standards! 

I am a newer investor under 30 yrs old with 10 doors in 3 years - so in essence, I am a newbie.  I have learned a couple of things and one is that I'd rather buy a property that is vacant than inherit some tenants who don't meet our normal standards.  So my question today that I am looking for advice on is how to get rid of a tenant that I have who causes 90% of my work and headaches. 

They're on a month to month lease, and they pay every month... The boyfriend of the tenant was living with tenant when I purchased the property but was not on the lease - the prior landlord who I thought was good, vouched for him.  In talking to the tenant she wouldn't tell me his last name - long story short he was trying to hide his background (multiple criminal, evictions, 5 owi's, etc).  I want to call her out on this and force her to add him to the lease as my lease says, but unfortunately, I think that if I try to do this - they could say he's been living there for 2+ years and they never did anything about it! 

I know, this was mostly my mistake for not getting all of the info and underwriting the tenants on the front end. My other tenants are all very strictly underwritten and I have zero issues - knock on wood. Since it's gone on for this long I am not sure how much of a big deal about this I want to make.  They do pay their rent on time each month, but I would like to get new tenants in as they've trashed the place, always cigarette butts in the lawn, and they complain about everything. Oh and they're $150 under market rent (we increased from $500 to $600 2 months ago - market is around $750). 

There is a shortage of rentals in our area so re-renting will be very easy. Although these seem like low rents, they're in the mid range in my area, the place isn't a slum or a dump it's a nicer 3 bd townhouse it's just in a low cost of living area.  Any advice anyone could give me about options that I'd have or actions I could take would be greatly appreciated! 

Love the community here and thank you all for your input in advance. 

Just to follow up, Sara from SmartMove is excellent, if their entire customer service department would be like here there would never be any issues - if you have a problem contact her! 

Thank you Byron and George, it seems like SmartMove and RentPrep have the "ease of use" thing basically cornered.  I am still seeing if I can continue to work with SmartMove but I am going to try out RentPrep and see how it compares.  I appreciate everyone's responses and feedback - it is greatly appreciated. I am new to these forums and appreciate how I can talk to people and get feedback from those who are much more experienced and wiser than I am! 

Hope you all have an excellent weekend. 

Thanks @Steven White I appreciate the help and guidance. I checked out your website, the testimonials, and ratings look good, I will definitely be giving you guys a try! 

Thanks @Bryon Bohlsen, I will look into that.  Sara, I appreciate the note, I will shoot you an email and hopefully it will get resolved. 

I am a newer landlord, managing 6 properties. I have used mysmartmove in the past for tenant screening, however I have had enough of their terrible customer service.  Horrible experience the last two tenants that tried, won't take payment, won't explain what is going on, and long story short, I found their customer service people outright lied to me after I talked to their manager. So my question is.... Is there another service similar to smartmove that you have dealt with that may provide better customer service or are more professional?

I have a few rentals in WI and I will definitely say that having a garage is a big selling point - I don't think I would buy one without, unless the numbers were spectacular.  With the winters we get here, it would be a struggle to find decent renters ($600 - $900 range) without a garage.