All Forum Posts by: John Curry

@Colleen F. Thanks for bringing that up. In Texas, it is illegal not to have a gun. Just kidding :)  Good point that knowing they local laws is prudent. 

Seriously, we just had a background check come back for 10 felony charges that included drugs, guns, theft. The background check is missing dates and courts (except for one dated 1996) and applicant is stating that it has been over 10 years. We are not sure what we should do and will have to adjust our policy as it does not cover missing information as we have never had this occur before. 

I stand by my core belief that you need to have a written policy. That is not to say that there are issues such as above where you will need to make decision and document the new policies. 

To directly answer your question Colleen, if it has been clearly over10 years, then they would be eligible. We are still debating the "missing" information situation. That is why I love this forum as we learn so much from others. 

As a landlord with partners, we have a written policy for no felony convictions for the last 10 years and no sex offenders period. This is not to penalize the applicants but to protect other residents and neighbors, not to mention our own liability.

And to be truthful, having a written policy protects us from showing favoritism. What felonies do you allow and which you don’t? (Maybe we could rethink our policy but we have to have one) Is White collar crime acceptable? Do you draw the line at violent crime? We have never taken the steps to define those. Our blanket policy works well for us with a housing shortage we are experiencing so there is an endless supply of qualified applicants that do not have any records or have ones that have aged out.

This is just a prospective from a landlord’s perspective what you can understand where they are coming from and for other landlords to consider in their decision making.

LANDLORDS: If you do not have a written policy, you could find yourself and your company in jeopardy. I highly urge you to protect yourself first, otherwise there will be no one you can help.

I just checked with my business partner. If this is a residential investment property and not owner occupied, we can do a 50 to 60 LTV for someone outside of the US. Contact me if this is something your interested in.

Hi @Michael Robbins

Another great idea. Going to put this into practice today. Thank you

Hi @Lee Snyder 

What a great idea about the binder for your lawyer. 

I made "I have a list for that" my motto at the beginning of 2020. Your idea fits right in. 

I got the idea after listening to a pilot talk about pre flight lists and after reading a few of the flight checklists out of curiosity, I got the idea due to how detailed they were. :) 

Going to pick up the book today. Thanks again. 

There is a guy in the DFW area who specializes in distressed properties and sends me flyers on a regular basis that are under or near $100K but need plenty of cleanup and repairs. If this interests you, I can dig a recent one up and forward it to you. There is no fee to get the flyers. 

I am assuming this is commercial and not a residential loan? Not owner occupied? 

I do have some resources for non bank financial loans internationally. 

I recently read that to avoid or minimize a lawsuit, a property manager should have a written policy about how a applicant is qualified and if they have all the qualifications, it is first come first serve for that rental. To minimize having to rent to an unworthy tenant, having a strict criteria in writing could save you tons of legal headaches. 

That being the case, does anyone have a written applicant policy and if so, would you be willing to share it? 

I know there have been multiple discussions about credit scores and having background checks on your applicants but no one has suggested that they have a written set. 

I understand that the many areas of consideration would have to be tweaked for both the property and the management, but looking for a starting point that may assist in thinking out the policy we want to incorporate.

Thanks,