All Forum Posts by: Marcia Maynard

My husband and I do the cleaning and maintenance at our STR, that we rent through Airbnb as an "entire place". We only live one mile away. We have an 8-plex across the street and one of our tenants from the 8-plex keeps an eye on our STR house too. She also likes to pick-up extra work, so we pay her to help with us with the "make-ready" between guests. We have fun working together. Easy to keep up on quality control when we do the work ourselves and we don't have to oversee the work of another company.

@Robin Cornacchio  Just to be clear about terms we use in this industry, a DEPOSIT is refundable, a FEE is not.

So, to hold the property for a tenant, it's common to charge a HOLDING FEE. This is not refundable. It compensates the landlord for the time the property is off market and not yet rented. Some landlords convert the holding fee to a move-in fee. Some even convert it to a security deposit, but that's more complicated because it's essentially changing a non-refundable FEE into a refundable DEPOSIT.  I wouldn't do that.  In our jurisdiction we can charge move-in fees to cover the work required to move a tenant in, but in some jurisdictions that's not allowed. Easiest thing to do is to charge a HOLDING FEE, and leave it at that. Don't convert it at all.

I agree with the others who advised to not sign the rental agreement (lease) until the tenants have seen the property. One aspect of a typical rental agreement is the move-in inspection checklist. A typical rental agreement will also include clauses that state the current condition of the unit and that the tenant attests that they have inspected it and accepts it as it is. Also, a rental agreement will include terms about transferring responsibility for payment of utilities to the tenant. Once a tenant signs the lease, the transfer of utilities needs to be done as well.

For these reasons, and those others have explained, wait until your tenants have arrived, seen the property, and are sure about renting it. Clear communication from the start is key to a successful tenancy. Difficult to do until all parties have met and have had a chance to thoroughly review, discuss, and agree to all of the terms of the rental contract.

I've not done what you are planning to do, so I would seek the services of top notch experts in real estate law and tax preparation.

As you know, it's riskier buying a property subject to the existing owner's mortgage, as the loan would stay in the current owner's name, but you would be making the payments, in most cases without the bank knowing. The benefit is you don't have to qualify for a loan and won't be facing potentially higher interest rates and loan origination fees. There's the risk the loan could be called by the bank, accelerated by the bank, or the bank will require you to assume the loan in your name and charge you an assumption fee for the transfer, plus require you to qualify.

Contact BP member Jason Hanson, as "Subject-To" purchases are his passion. He wrote a BP blog: "Super Important Clauses For Your Subject-To Contract". Here's the link:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2008/10/0...

Also, I suggest you post your question under the Buying and Selling Real Estate Discussion Forum and/or the Creative Real Estate Financing Forum, as more people who have experience with Subject-To purchases will likely see it.

Good luck!

Greetings! @Jessica Schonter, Welcome to Bigger Pockets!  This is a fantastic place to share and learn about real estate investing. Glad you found the Landlord & Tenant forum. Please complete your BP profile with some information about yourself and a photo. It will improve your networking experience.

As to your question. It's important to establish your rental criteria and and application process before advertising your place for rent.  Then follow that process carefully and respectfully for all who apply. The location of your rental property matters too, as in some jurisdictions you must rent to the first person who applies and meets your minimum criteria to rent. In other jurisdictions you can batch applications and choose the applicant who qualifies best. 

For example... this is how we do our tenant screening:

1. Rental Criteria established in advance and available in writing to anyone who applies. This is required by Washington State law if a landlord charges an application fee, which we do.
2. Advertising... We advertise our property, it's features, our minimum criteria to rent, and our contact details. We use Cozy and Craigslist, but primarily these days we receive plenty of referrals by word-of-mouth. We haven't had to advertise on-line in over five years.
3. Prospective Renters contact us by telephone. We use POTS.... plain old telephone system... so we can have a real time conversation with prospective renters.
4. Telephone Screening Questions... We ask 8 basic screening questions to identify quickly if there is something that would be a deal breaker. If we do, we let them know this upfront, so they don't waste more of their time and ours.
5. Telephone Interview Questions... We conduct a pre-qualification interview to further determine if the prospective renter will likely meet our minimum criteria to rent.  If the tenant passes this interview, we offer to show the property. This is when we also let them know we may be fielding inquiries from quite a number of people, so will be showing the property over the course of a week and may be receiving more than one application at the same time.
6. If many people are interested in the property we allow time for all to view the property, individually or as a group. [Note: We use this opportunity to observe how the prospective renters look at the property, as it often indicates what they value. For example, do they look at the kitchen first and/or linger there, or do they head straight to the backyard, or bedrooms, or bath?]
7. At the viewing we have copies available of our property information sheet, our rental criteria, and our rental application, for prospective tenants to take with them if they are interested. We also have a copy of our rental agreement on hand, for viewing only, which includes our property rules.
8. We encourage prospective renters to ask questions and think about whether the property would be a good match for them, their lifestyle, and goals.
9. If a person wants to apply, we ask them to take the application home and carefully, thoughtfully, and completely fill it out. We let the applicants know we don't want them to feel rushed and that we will review all applications we receive with care and in consideration of our rental criteria.
10. We will guide them out of the property and walk with them to their vehicle. [Note: This allows us to observe the type of vehicle they have and how well they keep it.] We take this opportunity to talk about parking and public transportation options related to the property they are viewing.
11. We ask the applicant to call us when they are finished with the application.
12. We arrange to pick up the application in person at the applicant's current residence, if we can. [Note: This allows us to verify where they currently live and see the condition of their current home.]  If that's not possible, we will meet them again at our rental property. [Observing how clean and tidy an applicant keeps their home and car, as well as how well they dress and attend to their personal hygiene, often translates into how well they are likely to take care of our property.]
13. We batch our applications and choose the most qualified, similar to how someone is selected for a job. When we receive more than one application at a time, we look at all the applications and rank them according to our rental criteria and process them in that order. For those applicants who meet our minimum criteria but not as well as the applicant we select, we return their application fee.

Hope this helps!

Everything's negotiable. Factors to consider:

• Habitability
• Dust and Debris
• Noise Nuisance
• Inconvenience
• Expectations
• Duration

I'd stick with the 15% rent reduction unless there has been a significant change in the scope and duration of the project.

If the unit becomes uninhabitable, then you may be footing the bill for a hotel. Lack of use of plumbing for more than a day, rent a portable toilet and/or give them a gift card to a local restaurant. Dust and debris, a cleaning service. Too noisy, earmuffs.... or maybe a gift of tickets to a movie theater for a nice escape!

 This is unfortunate. May or may not have been the same person, if you found the information merely from a google search.  But, really not an item for this forum thread.

Open House Drawbacks (why we don't do them):

• Many highly qualified tenants may not be able to make it to your open house. Sometimes they are working at that time. Sometimes they have other plans. Sometimes the least qualified are able to make their way to be first in line if they have more free time on their hands. If you do an open house, offer an alternative way for those who can't make it, so they can view the home and get their application in too.
• By bringing everyone together at the same time, it creates an atmosphere of competition. This can work for you or against you.  Sometimes people can get pushy in such situations. Some rush to fill out an application on the spot to get their application in before any other. I prefer for prospective tenants to take the time to thoughtfully fill out the application.  Then I collect them as a batch and rank them according to our rental criteria.
• There may be less ability to observe people and see what they are doing. Sometimes things go missing. Some will be lookie-loos instead of serious contenders. I've felt overwhelmed with so many questions and demands for my attention coming from different directions when I've had an open house with many people there at the same time.
• Definitely prescreen candidates prior to showing them the place and anytime you show a place, look out for your own safety.

So sorry this is happening.

Once you're contacted by a tenant's attorney, respond only with the guidance of your attorney.  Your people will talk to his people. Avoid making matters worse. Know your landlord-tenant law better than your tenant and document everything.  Understand habitability standards and make sure all of your units are habitable. Review your rental agreement, property rules and all signed agreements. Document-Document-Document.  Can't emphasize enough about documentation. Create a timeline and documentation of all communications you've had with this tenant. You need to demonstrate good faith and adherence to the law.

I used to work in the patient relations and risk management department of a large hospital and medical center. When faced with a verbal threat of "I'm going to call my lawyer!"  We would calmly respond, "Do what you feel you need to do."  Most times it wouldn't amount to anything. We would focus on what we could do to provide good services and good products. We knew we couldn't please all the people all the time. Same with the residential rental industry. What we offer as a housing service and product isn't a good match for everyone.

Remain calm and carry on. Good luck!

When we purchased a tenanted 8-plex in late November 2005, the first thing we did was introduce ourselves to the tenants by letter and let them know we would not be raising rents at this time, but would need to transition them onto our rental agreement.  Our rental agreement contained what we needed to manage our properties most effectively. 

Then we visited each household, introduced ourselves in person, and did a maintenance inspection with our maintenance crew.  During the inspection we identified items needing repair and those we wanted to upgrade. There was a lot of deferred maintenance from the previous owner and we got all of that under control. We also asked each household what they most liked about the place, what wasn't working, and what could be improved. We actively listened and took action. By that time the tenants were endeared to us and accustomed to our management style. 

We didn't need to evict anyone. The great tenants stayed and the undesirable tenants (a stripper with night visitors, those with pit bulls, those who paid rent late, etc.) moved out on their own because it was uncomfortable for them to stay and abide by our property rules.

In the springtime we raised the rents a modest amount and had no push back.  We mostly do our rent raises effective May 1st, as we find it's the best time of year. This is because some tenants are flush with tax return money and it's a good time of year for tenant turnover if a tenant decides they can't afford the new rent. Spring time brings sunshine and a rent raise at this time of year doesn't seem as bad. Flowers are blooming and the place feels more like home. We also keep rents affordable, somewhat below market, so that reduces turnover. Turnover will wipe out rent gains in a flash. We aim for long-term tenancies with sensible M2M rental agreements.

It's a strategy that works for us. Hope this helps!

Color:  Antique White for interior walls. Sometimes we go with a different light tone color, depending on the property. For ceilings, we use a White ceiling paint. Trim is refinished wood or white paint.

Sheen:  Satin or Eggshell for the walls, Flat for the ceiling, Semi-Gloss for the trim.

Brands:  Miller, Sherwin Williams, or Behr.  Search for a knowledgeable staff at your local stores. Establish an account and get discounts, plus added value service.