All Forum Posts by: Patricia Hinojos

I have a question relating to this thread.  

If Garrett received this property through inheritance, wouldn't he benefit from the "stepped-up value" and only owe taxes on the amount of the sale over and above the fair market value?  Could that be zero tax if he sells at or below fair market value?  Then he has the cash without any tax penalty and can invest some or all of it later without being bound to the pressure and process of 1031?

Maybe this benefit is only possible in some states (I'm in Texas).  Thus, the recommendation to seek CPA guidance is spot on.

Good luck, Garrett.

I have six SF homes that are rented to students (all 3 or 4 bedrooms). I've come to this as my standard practice:

1)  Pull all students on the lease jointly and severally liable for to TOTAL amount. 

2)  Include a co-signer/financial responsibility form for parents of each student.  My document does NOT allow parents have any rights to the property, though.  [I always try to work directly with the kids rather than the parents...the kids are in college to learn life mgmt, too, right? ]

3)  If the city has any "rules" about multiple unrelated people as mine does,  I print out the city's website page and make all sign this as part of the lease.  [Our city enforces only with complaint...so I make friends with the neighbors so they call me first to handle any issue!]

4) Screening:  In general, screen the kids for background check and parents for financial.  

(Tip: In the lease for multiple roommates, I do break down how much each roommate pays with a different "cents" which helps identify in my accounting who is paying.  ie:  500.01;  500.02; 500.03 and so on.) I use erentpayment.com for online rent payment and in my set-up, I have the payment breakdown in the rent reminder email notification that goes to all.  If anyone is late, the rent is late for all "in common".  

I've never had problems with "my" students, with paying!  Upperclassmen are ideal, whereas, sophomores coming from required dorm living take more education on this whole home responsibility thing.

Sorry, if I may have gone a little off track. :-)

Was looking for info/form for the co-sign/guarantor,  but thought I'd throw in a couple tips/tools having rented to college students.

Collecting rent:  Only online.  Students/parents are digital!  Although I may switch to QuickBooks payment for collecting rent (.50/transaction), I've been using Erentpayments.com ($3/transaction, yuck too high) because you can set up Late Fees to be applied automatically as well as multiple payors/roommates contributing to the total.  Only late pay issue I've had was a NON-student property.

Splitting Utilities:   Recently introduced to SIMPLEBILLS.COM This app consolidates gas/water/electric/Cable to ONE monthly bill then splits the amount between roommates.  The tenants set this up themselves if they choose and manage themselves. Yea!  Hands off :-)

Appliance package:  I am turning a property (student daughter & roomies) but was not going to include their Frig & w/d.  New tenants need them so I'm offering an appliance package add-on as well as the Monitoring of the security system.  The monthly "add-on" is low enough compared to them trying to buy on Craigs List hassle and it saves me from moving them.  2-year lease minimum.

I was at a talk this week where an agent said, if it's important the tenant has renters insurance, one option is that you pay for it to make sure you are the "additionally insured" and roll the cost into rent if you want.  

Renter's insurance is pretty cheap so I thought that was a creative option to have in the toolbox.

Beware when using Craig's List data.  Someone copied my Craig's List listing exactly and priced at 1/2.  It was a scam and I found no way of getting it removed.  So, for this thread conversation, I'd say be sure to have many data points when determining market rent.

Thanks Brandon! 

We have a property in the Plano area with Squirrels and Mice in the attic. We are looking for recommendations on a trustworthy exterminator and a contractor that can help with sealing the attic after extermination.

Also, any tips on cleaning up the mess and replacing the contaminated insulation?

Thanks!!

in the college town I deal in, the college apartment competitors will give you clue to what the leasing practices are. In our case they all typically force a 1 yr lease Aug 1-Jul 31 on students at pretty high rent. Call the popular apartments near campus for a baseline lease term and timing od "the competition". I'm sure you already know comps for houses.  Rentometer.com could help too.

Go to the universities website and look at the student yearly calendar. Know that for Fall semester, Greeks have to be there at least 3 weeks before first class for rush and such so much depends on the student community. 

Have backup plan like making  a furnished short term rental if the home is nicely finished (for a lot more $)

Another thing to consider, if your market is mostly college students, is the semester rental cycle.  I've found that students look for and arrange for housing 6-9 months ahead of their need in most cases.  Be sure to make any adjustments with price and time of lease period to align with semesters or temporary vacancy may be more costly. [experience talking here :-) ]

I like @Kris Haskins idea about using "data" to show that it's the economic climate driving the adjustment.

Maybe you could offer an option for them:  shorter term lease (6 mo.) at full market or a smaller increase (below market) if they sign another full year.

You may want to follow the Axiometrics Blog.  They do deep dive on apartment data and even have people on the streets gathering competitive development data.

http://www.axiometrics.com/blog