All Forum Posts by: Kevin S.

@Ricardo R. Sherwin Williams has a color called Revere Pewter that is my go-to, it's a mix between a light grey and a light beige and looks great with white trim in any house or apartment.

@Nathan Gesner Thanks for the advice, I definitely plan on having the conversation up front with them about the cost, probably at the lease signing when I go over everything else.

Thanks for your input @Derrick E. @Anthony Wick and @Lynn McGeein. I've decided to add the part about having the carpets cleaned, but not the part about de-licing/de-ticking the property as it appears Oklahoma law doesn't prohibit this.

Hey BP community, I wanted to poll landlords on what they are currently doing regarding renters with pets. Do you include something in your pet addendum/agreement that requires your renters to have the carpets professionally cleaned and the property de-flead/de-ticked? I have seen some pet addendums that include this requirement and some that don't. I will be charging a non-refundable pet fee of $250/pet but am unsure about the inclusion of such a requirement on top of the pet fee. Thoughts?

@Jen W. I would definitely double-check your policy, and I would also call your insurance agent/company to triple-check.

Assuming there's no issue with insurance, the biggest thing I would suggest is to meet the dog ahead of time, see how it reacts to strangers, look for any signs of misbehavior or aggression. I would also charge a non-refundable pet deposit in addition to your normal deposit. As for your thought about the requirement of always being on a leash, you can add this but be prepared for renters to ignore this and let their dogs out in the backyard off leash. My biggest concern would be noise, I'd make sure to have some sort of clause about excessive noise and include loud, continuous barking speicifically as an example in the clause.

@Jen W. have you checked your insurance policy? A lot of policies won't cover properties if there is an "aggressive breed" on the premises, and typically pit bulls are on that list of "aggressive" breeds. If your policy is similar then I would deny the potential tenant AND you also need to figure out something regarding your current tenant, the last thing you want to happen is for your insurance policy to lapse due to this. Good luck!

@Mitchell Morwood what do your leases say about pest control? I know mine lists pest control as the responsibility of the tenant, however it sounds like Tenant A probably won't want to have anything done since they are claiming their dog has no fleas. I would require that dogs on both sides be treated for fleas (make sure to require proof) and then I would have someone come in and spray both sides. I would then bill all of that to Tenant A as they were at fault for bringing in an unapproved animal in the first place.

@Nick Murray is the monthly income based on what actually tenants are currently paying or just the seller's estimate of what you can get? Cause you said this is a pretty small town, which makes it a bit hard for me to believe that each unit is, on average, paying $1,432 per month in rent (not saying it's impossible, just sticks out as a red flag to me, especially at a purchase price of $160k). Additionally you've understated your expenses. I'd up vacancy to 8% as that will give you approximately 1 month saved up every year (1/12 = 8.33%), you'll want CapX at a minimum of 10%, property management at 10%. Also, I don't have any clue what insurance goes for up in MD, but I know there's no way you could get a triplex insured for only $540/year (I think it'd be closer to triple that).

@Nick Murray the fact that the property has been on the market for 250+ days is probably a red flag that it has issues, maybe it needs a lot of work, or is in a bad location. As far as numbers go, I'd suggest 1) see if you can get a tour of the property, look for things that need work, etc. Bring along a realtor or someone with a bit of knowledge regarding housing/construction and ask their input. 2) I'd run the BP calculator and then post the results on here, let people pick apart your numbers, that's a great way to get input from the community on how your estimates look. Good luck!

@Keith A. you definitely want them all to each separately meet all your criteria, especially the income requirement because if one of them suddenly moves out or disappears you want the other two to be able to continue paying rent.