All Forum Posts by: Ron H.

If you reject people that don't qualify and would struggle to make the rent, you are doing them a favor by rejecting them.

I would have no issues with this one.  All of her income is speculative at best.  Do you want to take that risk, not just on her word but that the process would work like she says?

Remember, you are a business, not a self funded charity  social worker.

I always do a 1 year lease to start before going month be month to deter people that only need a 6 month or less lease to begin with.  Turnover cost is too high for short term tenants.  I do run the risk of getting a truly awful tenant that I want out immediately, but I screen very carefully and so far have only had 1 tenant that I would have preferred to leave sooner than a year.  They knew lease wasnt going to be extended and moved out at the 11 month mark, paying though to the end of the year though.

Followup.  I have never had a perspective tenant go away after refusing their request for a multi year lease.  I just assure them that lease will be renewed as long as no issues.

As was stated earlier there is no advantage to having a multi year lease.  Tenant will move out anytime they feel like it regardless of having a lease.   I do a 1 year lease at first, then go month by month, with yearly rent increases. 

I always list on apartments, marketplace and Zillow.  I hold off on Craigslist ads, only listing there if I feel that I am not getting enough interest, which I haven't had to do in the last 5 years.

Never paid to boost listing, although I have wondered if that would help.

Good class B properties.

One Small adult dog (nothing else) allowed.  $30 a month fee but going to $40.  Must have insurance that covers dogs.

Purchased by apartments.com 

Sounds like the house might not have been ready for tenants yet.  Was house inspected before renting it?  Missing outlet cover is a safety hazard and should have been fixed before renting.  They are doing you a favor by reporting the missing gutter half.  Water pouring straight down beside the foundation can be damaging to the house.  Thus is not a tenant fix item.

is refrig usable with with broken shelf or do they loose 1/2 of their storage space?  Was it broken when they moved in?  Was refrig cleaned before they moved in.

I would not expect tenants to find these sort of things immediately after moving in.  If there were continuous items found later it would be a different story.

is this a low cost of living area or low coat because it is in a war zone?  Even if in war zone property should be maintained.

Always get quotes from several recommended credit unions and brokers.  Compare total cost, not just interest rates snd points.  For refinancing I typically use a zero closing  cost lenders to preserve cash  These are not actually zero cost loans since costs are paid for with a higher interest rate.  Rates earlier were about 0.5% more than typical loans.

get all your docs in order before calling.  They typically want 2 pay stubs, 2 tax returns, insurance declaration pages, copies of lease, etc.