All Forum Posts by: Joe T.

@Arlan Potter

I'm sure that when I get to the same point that you are, I will feel the same way.

But for now, I have to learn the ropes and stick to my guns to make it there in the first place, the less problems and the more professional and stricter I am, the better it will be in the long run. Oh, and I forgot to mention that she is in a 2 year lease, so this problem will not disappear in a year, and it must be addressed now. She moved in August 14. 

@Arlan Potter

Would you honestly go to your tenants unit with their parents there so they can discuss "maintenance issues"? I have an idea of what one issue may be, but I still need it to be in writing. If I don't follow my lease by the book, then what's the point of having one to begin with? You can't really pick and choose what to follow, because then it gets out of control. I always believed that the lease was there to protect the tenant from me, and me from the tenant. We both signed a contract, like @Steve Rozenberg stated above, and I expect both of us to follow it.

She has already wasted a significant amount of my time, and I feel that she is trying to be more of my friend than a tenant and our relationship is not heading in the correct direction. This is a business for me, and I would like to keep it as such. That's not to say that I want them to be my enemy, but I do not feel like I am asking anything unreasonable of her. So far she has disregarded several things in the lease, but at least she is paying rent on time. 

I don't want my inexperience to get the better of me, and this will be the first stepping stone of my investing career, obviously I'm going to be out of the loop on some things, but I know that this comes with experience and time. Additionally it's hard for people to take me seriously because of my age. I can tell that she does not respect me because of my age and has hinted at it before. 

@Steve Rozenberg

Thanks Steve, I agree. I have told her this when she locked herself out of her house and she had the nerve to mention repairs at that time as well. I had to wait for her for 45 mins outside of work because her "phone died". 

I will simply not go over to the house unless she submits the repairs, and I'm supposed to go tomorrow. I also found out that they have a trampoline in the backyard, which is not permitted according to the lease. The lease says that they have to remove it from the premises, but it does not say if there are any fines. 

As far as the move-in condition form goes, it has been about 16 days so far...

I'm starting to get annoyed with my first tenant, and as a first time landlord, i'm not sure what to do. 

A little background information -

Tenant moves in and "forgets" to do move in property and condition form. I informed them that it was due within 10 days after move in via email, and in person, and I had written it down on a list of things that they needed to do, additionally, it was in the lease. They played "dumb" and said they didn't know. Tenant then tells me that they need me to "stop by the house to discuss repairs". I tell them that they need to submit all repairs in writing, per the lease. My tenant has again requested that I come by the house to look over some repairs, and informed me that her parents will be there as well. She then tells me that her dad is a home builder of luxury homes, and that she is used to high quality and homes in perfect condition. Again, I told her to submit it in writing to me so that I have a list of things, and I know what to expect. She still has not sent me a list of repairs, and it is getting extremely annoying. The fact that she is planning on having me come by while her parents are there is no good, (she is 36 btw). I know that they are going to argue with me about doing more repairs than are necessary. I had met with her on Friday because she locked herself out of the house, and had to get an extra key from me. This is when she had again asked me to come over and look over some repairs, and mentioned a lot of cosmetic things (very minor scratches etc). 

What do I do in this situation? I have the Texas Associations of realtors lease, and it covers quite a bit of things, so I know I'm covered. I don't want to be rude with her, but being firm and holding my ground does not seem to be working. I have told her that I will not be visiting her unless she sends me a list of repairs, so I know what to bring with me and what materials i'll need to buy. The thing that still concerns me the most though, is that her parents will be there and I know that this isn't going to end well. 

Long story short - Tenant won't submit me a list of repairs in writing, wants me to come over while parents are there. 

So I dropped the rental price to $1195. I have gotten 15 inquiries today, and while I was showing the home to one individual, 5 more potential tenants came to view the home. 

The problem now is that not a SINGLE person has qualified. I told all of them to submit a rental application and that we would be doing a background check, but none of them said they would apply, even after telling me that they would. I find it strange that nobody has applied. I'm concerned that I have chosen a bad area, and that the people in this area simply will not be qualified by traditional renting standards. 

@Tonya Carraway

Thanks Tonya,

I can agree that most of the fences are older and are in need of replacement soon. I think that mural you are talking about is on a gas station, near one of those DIY car wash stations. I thought it looked weird too and was a little bit off putting... I have listed it on craigslist and will filter out potential tenants before sending them on to the rest of the process. When my realtor called me, he made it sound like he was getting dozens of calls a day and none of them were any good...

I will keep it at this price for another week, if I still don't get any applicants, I will lower the price per everyone's suggestions. 

Thanks everyone for all your insight, I appreciate it. I am just a little uneasy since this is my first rodeo, but I think it will work out in the end. 

@tonya

Great Northwest 

@JD Martin

 I just posted it on craigslist with my information on it. I will handle the tenants and feed the correct ones through to my realtor that can afford the rental. I prefer to do all of the marketing myself anyways, I feel like I am left in the dark because I have no idea how many people are contacting or not. 

I think the most important part of having my realtor / his team work with me is that they put a lockbox on the house that has a code that other realtors can use to show the property. This has allowed the home to be shown 5 times while I was at work during the week. 

@Mike D'Arrigo

 When I bought the house with my agent, he offered to have his team members list the property for me. I owe them nothing. I do owe the agent who finds a tenant for me, $200 though. They are not acting as a property manager, they do background checks and screen the tenants for me, and then present me their application. I have received 3 emails from the automated showing service, their comments can be seen below.

"My client is going to talk with his wife. This home is not first on their list, but they haven't ruled it out. Thank you."

"Great House!"

"My clients really liked this house."

In a previous post I had discussed with other members the possibility of posting higher and then working my way down. As for asking $100 over market rent, I figured it was worth a shot, seeing as how I have 3 more weeks to go until my mortgage starts. 

I posted my rental on craigslist, but they told me to take it off. Apparently they were getting tons and tons of calls about trying to negotiate the rent and deposit. Since it's posted on the MLS, it's my understanding that realtor.com, zillow, trulia, and other sites pull the information from there. I will try posting directly to postlets right now however. The housing market is very competitive here, the rental market is similar as well. Some houses were being rented out within 3-4 days, and I am in a very strong area.

I did my market analysis before purchasing the home, and determined that similar homes are going for around that price in this immediate area, The problem is that there aren't really any 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths in this area, so I feel like I have something more unique. They are all 3 bed 2 bath. I just don't feel comfortable waiting very long since it is my first rental. With that being said, I do still have about 3 weeks until my first mortgage payment.