All Forum Posts by: Kevin Dickson

Jake Kucheck,

How do you use a dummy craigslist ad?

I tried this once. I even got so far as to pay for an appraisal before getting a contract. The appraisal was realistic, but she was not. I even tried to negotiate through her well-trusted lawyer, but no go.

There were structural issues with the house, but of course she wouldn't knock down the price for them.

Be sure to check out the new map feature on CL. #1, it shows only real rentals with a bona fide address. #2, renters can zero in on their desired locations much easier.

The competitor that essentially forced CL to develop this feature is Padmapper.com. I still find it a better place to write my ad, then I cross-post to CL like you do with Postlets.

Padmapper also incorporates an online application that simplifies that whole process.

Also, if you like Postlets, you should check out Vflyer, which can be used for cars and other things besides real estate. Vflyer is taking market share from Postlets, which was bought by Zillow to boost its share of the rental advertising market.

Speaking of which, Zillow and Trulia are the two fastest growing rental advertising sites.

The City-Data forums are a great place to search for this type of info for a particular area. http://www.city-data.com/forum/

UPDATE:

The field of Internet Rental Search is going through some rapid changes right now. Since I do most of the leasing of my apartments, condos, and SFRs, I've been trying to keep up as best I can.

Padmapper and several other sites were trying to get ahead of Craigslist by showing the available rentals on a map. Since CL had most of the listings, they would pull listings off CL.

Instead of providing their own map, CL tried to block these sites in court. Shortly after getting countersued, CL introduced their own "map view" in October 2012 which works great: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/10/04/craigslist-rolls-out-new-map-view-feature-for-apartment-searches/

But since CL was about 4 years behind on this feature, the other players probably took 10% of the market share, and are still growing.

It remains to be seen if Craiglist's new functionality will eventually force everyone else out of business.

Personally, I like the online application feature offered by PadLister, so I will keep using it for now.

In 1986 I did the Bob Hank method of plywood veneer on some metal cabinets. In 1999, in the same kitchen, the wood did not look so good, so I popped the wood off and took the doors and drawer fronts to the local powder coating company, and they still look gorgeous today.

The takeaway on that one: don't ever replace metal cabinets if they still function, they will out last any wooden cabinet if the hinges don't give out. Powder coating is too expensive nowadays unless the metal needs to be stripped. Otherwise you can just paint them. The aforementioned Rustoleum paint does not show brush marks like most latex paints, and holds up much better.

As I mentioned over on the other thread, success rate when I am the seller and I carry back has been only 33%.

Who else can report your success rate when doing this? I was surprised it was so bad. The takeaway for me was NEVER carry back a second or third mortgage, unless you are ready to kiss that money goodbye.

I have a few Pet Peeves in regard to maintenance, so I try innovations that add pizazz while reducing maintenance.

The Pet Peeve: Bath/shower enclosures with ceramic tile surrounds. It only takes a year for the caulk and grout to get moldy and nasty. Also within a few years the backerboard may get soft or tiles get loose. Tuning that back up to look perfect is always a major project. Replacing the shower valve is a problem that will usually lead to a bigger job too.

The cheapo permanent solution is to remove the old tub and to come back in with a 3 piece fiberglass tub and surround. This solves the maintenance problem but looks like a trailer trash solution.

So my idea has worked pretty well in cases of bathroom gut remodels, when the existing tub is not in good shape and all the tile needs replacing. This idea is stolen from the past, before the days of tiled tub walls.

Until 1950 most homes used clawfoot tubs. All the plumbing parts are still stocked by Ace Hardware, and a new lightweight clawfoot can be obtained economically from http://www.vintagetub.com/asp/american_bath_factory.asp

The advantages as I see it:
1. There is a shower curtain that wraps completely around the tub.
2. No water hits the walls and causes damage.
3. For the next 100 years, all you have to do to tune up the bathroom is paint it and replace the shower curtains.
4. All the plumbing except the P-trap is visible and accessible.
5. Most people think it has retro-vintage coolness.
6. Clawfoot tubs are usually deeper and more comfortable.

One disadvantage - whoever cleans or paints has to get way down and have long arms to reach under the tub and get the wall behind. This is one of the reasons that the market moved away from clawfoots.

Do I think that clawfoot tubs add resale value? The jury is out, but I've sold a couple houses with them and I'm pretty sure it didn't reduce resale value.

I got sued a couple times and lost once.

The sewer line was broken and so they lived with it backing up every few days. I refused to fix it because I was afraid that the tenant's heavy truck is what broke it, and I didn't want to have it get broken again.

The city forced me to fix it, but I evicted them very quickly because the lease was expired. At the eviction hearing the judge advised them to sue me for back rent. They sued me for two months' rent for the time they had to deal with the sewer problem. The judge was quite anti-landlord and ruled in their favor (the same guy). That judge was voted out soon afterwards.

I should have fixed it much quicker, because nowadays with the gravel backfill, it is very unlikely that the pipe would have broken again.

Typically, tenants are very inexperienced at the legal game, so they don't keep an organized case together, even if they have one.

Another time, a tenant sprained his ankle badly on a chunk of concrete the basement. My insurance company provided a lawyer for me, and the insurance company settled for $5,000.

It looks like I have another one coming up. The tenants had three mice in the house right after they moved in. I got right on it (with traps and poison), and I'm sure the mice are gone now. But the mice really soured them on the house and me, so now they are skipping out. I will probably sue them for lost rent, and they have threatened to countersue because of the mice. Stay tuned.

Which reminds me, everyone should rent the movie "Pacific Heights".

I've done a seller carryback 6 times. It failed four times.

Now, if you are in first position, this isn't a really a problem because you're getting a decent down payment and you can get the property back fairly easily. 8% return is darn good, and the buyer is happy to pay it because they are having a hard time getting bank money.

The most important thing to do is check employment and the credit report REALLY well. In my case, the failed deals were with people on their way down the tubes, and I could have figured it out if only I had checked harder. If they are self-employed, it may be a real business, or just a cover for being unemployable.

The investment buyers are riskier, because they may try to "equity skim". Be sure to get an assignment of rents.

[url]http://www.donaldpbeck.com/