All Forum Posts by: Nadir M.
Nadir M. has started 66 posts and replied 450 times.
Post: Oh boy, shady tenant???
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Quote from @Rhett Wiseman:
Did you look at W2 income? Speak with prior landlord? Check recent 1099s and tax returns? Check rental history references?
When you rent to straight cash tenants, this can happen if you don't vet properly. A background check and a credit score aren't going to give you nearly a full enough picture of a tenants capability of paying rent. I would give her her money back and have her vacate. Chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on. You DONT want this tenant in there for years.
Yes both adults make over 100k. Checked both 2020 and 2021 income. Previous landlord said they were great. No issues. I called the tenant and they stated that she has an appointment with apartments to get this entire thing straightened out. I’m holding on to see. Apparently she made so many payments on apartments that the bank account deemed it fraud and froze her account.
Post: Oh boy, shady tenant???
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Here is the issue,
Picked a tenant to move in over the weekend. She was very desperate to move in because her previous residence had some sewer issues and had to live with her son in law. Tenant also said she has some relatives coming into town so she wanted to move in soon so it doesn’t get too crowded at her son in laws. Long story short, she moved in. She transferred utilities in her name, she has yet to give me renters insurance even though she said she applied, and She made the deposit and prorated rent payments. So I decided to give her keys. Once she moved in, I’m still attempting to collect renters insurance. All of the sudden, apartments.com (not sure if I recommend this site) said tenant has insufficient funds. I called the tenant and she said she called apartments.com and changed her account to a bank that the site approves. I called apartments.com to verify as the operator said that she did change bank account to an authorized bank accepted by apartments.com. The operator still said that the account still has insufficient funds. Tenant said that she has plenty of money in the account. Also the July 1st payment is still in old unauthorized bank account. So basically this tenant will be late prorated rent, deposit, and first months rent. She grabbed the keys couple days ago. I wish apartments.com would have said that tenant had insufficient funds from the beginning and not 72 hours later. So what do I do now? Tenant is in process of moving in but is there anyway to reverse the move in process or halt so I can chose a new tenant? The lease has already been signed. Background check is clear for all adults. Credit score for both adults above 685. Where did I go wrong? Did I go wrong? What do I do now? Is this tenant truly trying to do right?
Post: Property Managment landlord reference.
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
I asked if they can give me a verbal and they denied if. Also, the applicant actually signed that they were okay with releasing their information. The office required that they sign a release and they still didn’t give me the info. They have another landlord reference but it’s the girlfriends mother that’s listed. Both adults have credit scores above 670. No criminal background no collections. One medical bankruptcy but I always overlook that. They have 3x the rental income as well.
Post: Property Managment landlord reference.
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
I had an applicant that I was interested in and wanted to contact their previous landlord to ask about their rental history. The previous landlord was managing an apartment complex of over a thousand units. When I sent them my landlord reference form to complete for this existing applicant, The answered “unable to answer, it’s company policy”. So as you can see this was of no help to me at all. Tenant has no previous landlord history. what do you guys recommend or how do I move forward? First time form didn’t help me out
Post: Selecting a tenant but not 100
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Quote from @Nathan Gesner:
Quote from @Nadir M.:
Has anyone had any experience with picking tenants that were maintenance supervisors or handyman? I ask because I’m not sure if anything were to break whether they would want to fix it themselves or not and ask to take the amount off the rent or charge the landlord for repair. How do I go about this? I’m just curious
You can rent to them, but set some very clear boundaries. All maintenance must be approved by you. If they want to be paid, only accept it if there's a financial benefit to you. Ordinarily, you don't want to pay the tenant the same you would an independent contractor because you'll end up in a bind if they do sub-par work, don't finish the job, etc. My recommendation is to always hire professionals, not the tenant.
I also never allow work in exchange for reduced rent. You'll often end up with a crappy job or an incomplete job, and you've lost the rent money. If you are going to hire the Tenant, have a written agreement that clearly spells out what they'll do, materials they'll use, who pays for materials, whether labor will be paid for, what happens to the improvement when the tenant leaves, and a deadline for completing the work. They pay the full rent, you pay them for the job just like an ordinary contractor.
I’m your experience would you forgo tenant or move forward. They seem to meet all criteria.
Post: Selecting a tenant but not 100
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Has anyone had any experience with picking tenants that were maintenance supervisors or handyman? I ask because I’m not sure if anything were to break whether they would want to fix it themselves or not and ask to take the amount off the rent or charge the landlord for repair. How do I go about this? I’m just curious
Post: House not renting due to error in operations
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Quote from @Nadir M.:
Quote from @Craig Sloan:
@Nadir M. I would pull the listing and re-list once the house is ready. Develop a process for renting and stick to it. The first contact I have with people I always ask the following questions:
Do you have income?
Do you have any criminal background?
Have you ever been evicted?
Do you have any pets?
If their answers to those questions are acceptable, we'll move to the next step in the process, which is to verify they answered those questions honestly. If they did so, I will show it to them. If they like the unit and want to move in, we do a full background check and income verification. Others may have a better process but this works for us. Once you develop a system and automate it as much as possible it will help you be more efficient and minimize time between tenants. Hope this info is helpful. Good luck.
I’ve developed this process. I ask them the questions regarding my requirements then if they answer yes then I’ll show them properly. If they like then they need to apply.
Post: House not renting due to error in operations
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Quote from @Nathan Gesner:
Quote from @Nadir M.:
I recently listed one of my rentals about a week ago. I’ve recieved 26 applications so I know my price is right. The reason I have not chosen someone is because the previous tenant really left my property in bad shape and I was holding off for rock star tenants. I had one rock star tenant but they didn’t like the overall quality of the house. The mistake I also made was not completely finishing the house before listing. There were still some things that had to be done, ie closet door instillation, lots of landscaping, and minor touch ups. Some applicants said they will show up but they didn’t, other showed up and liked the property but not submitting application. One said she’s having trouble submitting application. The house is in a decent area. Prob B+-B- neighborhood. Out of the 26 I would say probably 22 met my criteria. I will not rent to an under qualified tenant. I will lose money for holding on market before I rent it out to someone who I feel like will maybe be problematic. I guess since I didn’t move quick enough in the beginning of finding the first qualified tenant, what my next step now? Keep it on market until I find someone. Eventually everyone will need to start looking once their leases start to expire. Should I remove the listed and re list once house is 100% ready? Should I keep on market? Should I lower my price? Should I sell (just kidding)
Be realistic. 80% of renters are decent renters and will leave the home in good condition. You may have to use some of their deposit to cover additional cleaning or minor repairs, but you won't lose any money with them. I don't know what you consider a "rock star" but I doubt you'll find one when you're offering an unfinished product.
Get it turned around completely, put it back on the market, set your standards, then rent to the first person that meets your qualifications.
I agree. The only bad tenant I had were the ones placed by my PM. I’ve since fired them and took over. I plan on learning the ins and outs to the best of my ability then hand it over to a new PM
Post: House not renting due to error in operations
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
Quote from @Quincy Lockett:
@Nadir M.
26 inquiries is COMPLETELY different from 26 applications. People typically don’t apply until they KNOW they want the unit. On Zillow I don’t allow people to apply until they answer some pre-walk thru questions and subsequently an in person interview. I know from experience that expressed interest from seeing the ad can completely turn around to 0 interest after visiting the property.
De-list the property and re-list it once it’s completed. It’s the only way to get quality tenants. By the time you re-list, you’re correct in assuming a new batch of applicants will be entering the market. You only need 1.
I will do just this!!! Thanks you for your expertise
Post: House not renting due to error in operations
- Posts 454
- Votes 99
I’m definitely going to develop newer strategies. Also, when going to visit other property to check them out, what mostly are you guys looking for? Anything outside the obvious?