All Forum Posts by: Lisa S.

Hi @Hunter Beck

Welcome to the BP Community! There are inspiring people to learn from, tons of great information and a strong support system. Much success to you in your real estate investing endeavors.

Hi @Nicole Wood,

I would suggest call her one last time and leave a voice mail sharing you have been trying to contact her but if you do not hear from her by Tuesday before 5:00PM (for example) you will be cancelling her application and moving forward with the next applicant. 

This way you are being fair in giving her time to respond but a deadline for her to respond so you will know if you need to move forward or not. It also is clear communication just in case she does call and you have moved onto the next applicant you can say to her I tried to contact you and left you a time limit to respond so you would not miss your opportunity to rent the home. 

Hope this helps and good luck! 

Hi @Steven Garcia,

Welcome to BP community! 

This is definitely a great place to connect, learn, and receive support. Much success to all of your real estate investing endeavors. 

Hi @Antonio Wade

Welcome to the BP community!

I have recently joined as well. This community is so supportive. I have connected with great people and gained valuable insight that I am truly thankful for. Much success to you and your real estate investing career! 

Hi @Steve C.

When I was in multi family property management as a property manager I had to audit applications after we ran the application through our screening company.

The way we did applications was anyone over 18 years of age would need to complete the application. As long the applicants made 3x the rent they qualified on the income side whether it was just one applicant or all applicants income combined. 

The positive side for the 18 year old son is that he is able to build good rental history if payments are made on time. 

I always encourage if finances allow to invest in a company who screens applications for you. That why you have set a standard renting criteria for what you feel is a qualified renter for your properties. 

Deposit criteria would also be set with the screening company so when the application is ran the amount of the deposit would also be shown on the report.

It helps eliminate any emotions towards people's situation and stick to the qualifying criteria. It also treats everyone equally when it comes to the screening process. In property management we were big on making sure we did not violate any Fair Housing Laws. 

I would not be concerned about the son being a problem I would focus more on do they qualify together to the criteria you have set you feel is qualified renters. Since you are doing the application screening yourself I would charge what you feel is a fair deposit knowing all the information they provided on the application.

Hope this helps and good luck! 

Hi @Account Closed

I can understand the annoyance because the actions of the wholesalers of marketing your property without even speaking with you first is unethical and unprofessional.

You want to be respected and set standards so others understand their boundaries if they want to do business with you. Business the right way.

You could reach out to the wholesalers share with them you appreciate them marketing your property because the main goal is to sell the property but the way they are going about it is unprofessional and violating Florida laws. Let them know this is not how you would like to conduct business. 

You can even share with them moving forward if they would like to market any properties under your portfolio you would like to be contacted first just to make sure there is an understanding and agreement on both sides.

Then you can close with I contacted you directly because I wanted to be fair and upfront with you but if this continues you will give me no choice but to have to contact the proper people to cease this action. I am still open to offers but let's just do it the right way. 

Your approach was professional, direct, fair but you set the standards so people will not feel they can do business any kind of way when it comes to you and your properties. Sometimes this approach can gain the respect from others with how you addressed the situation because they know you could have just filed the complaint with no warning. 

Handling situations with grace, professionalism, and integrity even though the other party may not will still rest well with you because you know you went about it the right way. 

Good Luck! 

Hi @Luke H.

I think everyone has great points!

I worked in multi family for apartments in property management over 15 years. As a property manager my leasing agents would bring me applications where an applicant has broken a lease in the past.

I would advise my leasing agents to ask the applicant to provide a letter on letterhead from the previous management company where they broke their lease proving their balance is $0.00 owing no outstanding balance.

If they had any outstanding balance we would not lease to them until they have taken care of the outstanding balance. 

If they paid any outstanding balance then that says a lot right there that they did not just break the lease and leave the management company high and dry with a balance. They took responsibility despite breaking the lease. This is where we would give them the 2nd chance to lease an apartment. 

People do have real life situation that happens that causes them to have to break their lease. I saw it all the time with my residents who had to do the same. I do give your applicant some credit for being honest about their past rental history.

Our standards was always 2 heads to a bed. Check to see what the laws are with occupancy numbers.

On the income side there were many people we leased to that only had one income. For the most part we did not have any issues unless they fell on hard times because we would ask them for the proper documentation upfront to make sure they made at least 3x the rent monthly.

There were other application criteria that they did have to pass but I just focused on your main concerns. 

There are great companies that you can use to screen your applications to make it easier for you to be confident you are renting to qualified renters. It also removes any emotions that you may have towards the situation and stick to the qualifying criteria.

Going through the eviction process is never fun. We filed on anywhere from 5-15 people a month. Some paid before court, eviction day, or just moved out. Then we go back through the process of finding qualify renters. It's all apart of the industry. 

Ultimately, trust your intuition. Just wanted to share this with you to see if this would help you through your application/qualifying process.

Good luck!   

Hi @Isaca Tracy,

Welcome to the BP Community! 

You will definitely find great people to connect with and so much helpful information. Much success to you!

Hi @Leah Harrod

Welcome to the BP community! 

I worked for multiple multi family property management companies for 15 years. My last position was a property manager. 

There are pros and cons to property management companies but there are absolutely great opportunities with the right management company. Find your lane and shine bright. 

The experience and the knowledge that you will learn will be valuable to your future career moves. It did for me now I have started my own real estate investment company. If I can be of any help please feel free to PM me.

Much success to you! 

Thank you @Mitch Messer for taking time to respond and welcome me to BP! Greatly appreciated.

I have created a LLC for wholesaling to get started. Then I would like to build from there to flip homes, own rental properties, and invest in multi family apartment homes possibly opening up my own property management company in the near future.

Thank you for your support! Your response was truly a blessing today.