All Forum Posts by: Rachael Agruso

@Katherine T. I use cozy for credit/background check. It’s all online, user friendly, and cost the applicant $39.99.

@Bellman Tumasang

I would get a credit card. When I was 18 I got my first credit card. They only approved me for $900 but this was fine because I was only using it to build credit. I charged things to the credit card and made sure to pay it off 100% each month. Even if you are charging only $50 to your card, if you show you can pay it off every month on time you will build your credit.

@Bobby Shell

doesn’t sound like something you’d want to put a claim into insurance for. Get someone in there to assess the damage and give you an estimate on fixing it. It might not be as big of a deal as you think - everything is fixable!

@Matt Bailey

I recently completed a rehab project and my advice would be to make sure it is clear in your contract who is paying for what. Example, If you are buying the toilets/vanities and the contractor is buying everything else make sure that is in writing. Also make sure the contractors

quote specifies if it’s including materials vs not. This was a headache and big lesson learned in my last project.

With that being said, I purchased flooring, appliances, vanities, toilets, light fixtures. Plumbing supplies, electrical, doors etc I leave to the professionals because more times then not, I end up buying the wrong thing. It is a positive buying some materials your self because of credit card points/coupons etc. But to me, it’s not always with the extra time and effort.

@Nicholas Standford

I paid $250 per window for vinyl replacements recently. This included install. If the windows still open and are not broken, I wouldn’t replace them. Tenants only care if windows open/close. Also tenants somehow manage to destroy windows I’ve noticed. If you do replace them, I would not go top of the line.

@Nelson Del Castillo I would just leave it be unless the tenant is complaining. Can you eliminate access to the basement all together? Do both units have access to the garage? How many lights are in the garage? Change them out to LED’s and there should really be minimal impact on their electric bill. 

Of course you can also add an owners meter for any commons lights. I had to do this before. Tenant was getting reduce rent from a previous landlord since common lights we’re on her meter. I had given tenant notice of non renewal of lease, tenant got mad, tenant called eversource because she knew a few common lights were on her meter. They came out and did an investigation and gave me 10 days or so to fix it or her electric was going in my name. Check out general statute 16-262e in CT as this is what eversource referred to. Hopefully your tenant isn’t crazy like mine was, as this is worst case scenario... 

@Dennis M.

Thanks Dennis! Yes unfortunately CT is in the favor of tenants. Just another lesson learned in the game of real estate!

@Jaysen Medhurst @Filipe Pereira

Thanks for the input Filipe very helpful. Would be curious about Jaysen’s question as well as far as raising security after knowing credit score is low etc.

@Linda S. Agreed! He moved out sunday, and it will be ready to rent by this weekend!

@Jaysen Medhurst I am in New Britain. I would probably have a much smaller tenant pool if I did request 2x security +first months, not to say it's impossible though. It would be ~3k needed from a tenant upfront, and in this market most renters are really living paycheck to paycheck. I have seen some rentals requesting such, I would be curious to know how it was filling them.

@Daniel Alter I think this question depends a lot on each person's different strategy when it comes to real estate. When I think about my market and areas that I am not comfortable with, I just stay away all together. I generally look for buy and holds and, I personally do not want the added headaches that come along with investing in these certain areas.