All Forum Posts by: Lisa Walker

I've been on Furnished Finder for few years now, renting to traveling nurses. I can tell you in the last year+, tons of properties have come up for FtWorth area so there is much more competition than before. Many are vacant. And, I'm getting more calls from non-nurses. I don't track Dallas, but assume same.

The 76107 area has been very popular for awhile. There is also several nice condos in that area and lots to do with 7th St & Camp Bowie nearby if you want to be close to restaurants/bars etc. I agree with Bruce on the historical area around Ryan Place & Fairmount, which is not far from TCU campus. 

If you want more suburbs- Keller is safe choice, except traffic on 35 can be brutal at times, and I also like Haslet- as traffic would be little easier and closer.  Aledo is about same driving distance or less/its 20ish mins, if you want more country feel. Its Parker County, but just barely.  All 3 of these are in demand with schools, and nice, newish (if not new) homes overall. 

So really depends on what you want nearby & overall feel. I'm local realtor, so I do sell in these areas and know they continue to appreciate in price & demand. I used to live in Ryan Place, before moving into Parker County. 

I'm a local agent & landlord...here's my opinions to your questions. You should have a strong lease set up for them to sign & also establish your renting criteria. If you are new to landlording, it might be wise to hire a property manager to start off.

1) What do the comps for rents say? You should be looking at newer homes or updated ones to compare. Tenants don't care if new or just looks/feels new. Be careful to not overprice and have longer vacancies.

2) Usually not provided unless was abandoned or already there. Many renters have their own. If there, I put that I'm not responsible to replace/fix if it breaks (since not typical to provide these)

3)YES! Make them provide renters insurance.

4)Lawn- depends. If single family, renters usually take care of it. Duplexes & Multifamily, condo etc have different needs and expectations. Address who takes care of in your lease.

5) Trash- unless condo etc, most trash is included in their water bill, which is part of their utilities they should be paying directly. Again, address this in their lease.

6) I wouldn't waste my money here. They could steal it. Also, providing internet access is also a sticky subject, if you had access could be a violation of their privacy. 

Good luck!

Also, in Texas all of the nurses we’ve met, they get a stipend for housing and they are on their own to find it. I’ve made our rent slightly under most stipends offered, and keep it booked! Make sure to furnish nicely, have it look good, and have everything they need besides clothes. (Towels, sheets, etc).

Of course I rent the furnished room cheaper than full apt. Check out rates of other homes on the site.

@Michael Mendez I’ve used Furnished Finders for awhile now. Great platform. Some inquires were executives needing few months, but I had already had nurses that applied . Most of our nurses had 3 month contracts originally , but got extensions. So most ended up staying 6-9 months. Also, I still screen them, pulled credit report, and had then sign a lease.

I’ve rented a full 1 bedroom apt that’s 800sq ft, and also just a bedroom in a house shared with our college child ( who is a nursing student). They’ve been the best tenants, much better than other college aged in that house.

Above remarks about paint are correct. My guess they want you to check that box to remove a possible “out” in the contract for you.
Sellers disclosure in Texas must be given. Doesn’t matter that they didn’t occupy, are a turn key company- they have knowledge of the property when they purchased and fixed. They got a SD also from previous seller. There is very few conditions when one doesn’t have to be provided and this isn’t one, FYI.

It's been awhile, but I did Champions Test Prep class, and I also had a set of flash cards I had from them. I did do all my classes with them live, so not sure if that was part of my package. Several companies have online prep classes/tests.

Main thing when testing is reread each question carefully before you quickly answer. They do try to trick you some. I had no problems passing my first try.

West DFW REI Group is one that I belong to. I think highly of Tim Cook who runs this group & I've been member for 5+ years. Focus is more Fort Worth & West, but we have members from all around. We did have meetings 1x per month in FtWorth preCovid, now Zoom meetings, couple per month.

Dallas Real Estate Investment Group is Joe Boston's group & they met in Arlington. I have attended a few of his classes/ meetings also. PreCovid, we had a few socials with both groups that was fun & could network. I'm not exactly sure how he's handling Covid, but most likely zoom also.

I'd be interested to see those leases if rented as I pulled lease comps for Hulen Park Circle, and the highest leases I saw were under $1100. Average is in the $900 range, all 2/1 and the larger units that were 1003 sq ft, rented for $1025-1050 average, only 1 was highest at $1095.

Make sure you check out all the fine print on the Grant as many have length of time you must have it as your homestead (owner occupied/ not as rental)- and some are longer than 1 year as they are helping you with costs to own.