All Forum Posts by: Jon A.

Make sure you get their deposit and a copy of the lease if the seller has one. 

Look at the comps in both appraisals and see what they look like. It is possible that one home sale is dragging down your appraisal. 

It depends if you want to let your current tenant sub lease the room to their new room mate. I don't allow sub leasing because I feel that I don't have any control over who comes and goes. When I have tenants that swap out room mates I just ask that they meet the same criteria as the original group and have them sign a new lease. 

Let's say for example, the first tenant wants to move but the new room mate has an agreement with that first tenant that dictates price and length of lease that exceeds your agreement with the original tenant. How would you deal with that new room mate whom you have never met and have not screened?

There's nothing wrong with tenants swapping out room mates and sometimes it will help you keep your unit occupied for longer periods of time. But I would have them sign a new lease agreement and explain to them that they are responsible for each other during the lease period. I don't take partial payments and I don't give back partial deposits. One tenant is responsible for the others actions. 

As far as screening goes you would take into consideration their combined income, so 3x the rent looking at them collectively.

The link doesn't work but I was able to find the article .

https://www.someecards.com/life/money/viral-posts-landlords-message-board/

@Lynnette E.  , thank you very much for the clarification. That is very insightful and interesting. 

I think the difference between freestanding and built in is basically just the 2-4 screws holding under the counter.  You should be able to replace a dishwasher with a new one for about $300. If you order it from a local store they will probably even install it for you and remove the old one. I think you need a new property manager. 

I think the real question you should be asking is "how do I find a good deal?". If you find a good deal you probably won't have any problem finding the money. Just a thought. 

So, then one could deduce that if someone died in the home but the manner in which they died is not disclosed , then that would mean they died from HIV or AIDS related condition? I still don't understand why it has to be disclosed at all in the first place. Any way , 3 years would fly by and it would not deter me from buying it at all if the numbers worked and I thought it was a good deal. 

@Matthew Lessard we are in the exact same spot as you. It is difficult to remember that we don't have to do anything at all and are in a good position.  

On one hand, if we sell a property our debt would go down which would make our DTI look better and we could purchase another property but I don't know why I would sell one just to buy another unless it provides a better cash flow or return. But that is difficult to do in this market in my location.

 I am also sort of tired of being a landlord and I think it is showing in my interview process for tenants. We have been at this about 12 years and would really like to pull some equity for many reasons. One of them just being piece of mind that we have more reserves in the bank and another of them being just to enjoy some of the reward.

One option we are considering is selling one to maybe buy a vrbo that might provide better returns. Vrbo is not allowed in our area so we would probably look some where within a couple hours of our primary residence. We are also considering renting out our primary residence and finding another house to move into.  

I also think that we are at the top of the cycle and selling doesn't seem like a bad idea either. There is nothing wrong with cashing out while the getting is good. We bought for long term hold purposes and that has always been our basic plan, but that may change. I don't know if I have it in me to be a landlord for another cycle if prices drop and we have to wait for the cycle to bring them back up. That is just me being honest about being a landlord. It has taken its toll somewhat over the years. 

We refinanced 2 rental properties last year with the hopes of pulling some of the equity out and were shocked at how much it would cost to get cash out. One scenario was $12k in order to pull out $40k. It just didn't make any sense to me. I was also told that I should consider refinancing again in the near future if I wanted to get cash out of them. So basically, refinance 2 or 3 times just to get the cash out is what I think a lot of people are doing although I don't understand that either. And yes we basically ended up about a point higher on the rentals than we did on our primary.