All Forum Posts by: Roy Nash

I recently had a unit open and had 1 person try to hide an eviction which I discovered in a screen and another one was straight up about it and willing to pay extra deposits or whatever.   I gave them a chance to plead their case and they told me I was the only landlord even willing to give them that chance.  However I was inundated with high quality, good credit score, good income candidates, with good rental history.   I chose one of these even though I could have got more money from the evicted tenant.  I trust my screening and the risk is lower even with less deposit with the highly qualified candidate.   I would pass on them.

@Tyler Tacy you received a lot of really good posts on this subject.  I pretty much agreed with Everybody's opinions but at the end of the day, there really is no right or wrong and instead you need to find your comfort zone.    I agree it is a business and you need to make money and preferably as much as possible.  Its a struggle I have had to deal with when purchasing inherited tenants as well.   To be honest when the rent was too low and I learned there was maybe a long term tenant I have chosen to just pass the opportunity by and move to the next one .  I have also purchased rentals that were substantially below market on the rents and I likely could have raised the rent 25% in one raise and not lost the tenant but I have opted instead to try to spread that out a bit like over a 2 to 3 year period with larger than normal rental raises but something more manageable for the tenant.   To be honest it is one of the harder aspects of owning and self managing rentals if you have any empathy at all for others.   I have made plenty of money, and could have made more likely, but at the same time I can find peace with myself that I tried to find some balance between pure profit and being a caring human being.  During COVID my respect for both chosen and inherited Tenants has paid off.  I have not lost a single dollar in late rents .   Its a business for sure but there certainly is a moralistic component that I wouldn't ignore.   Good Luck!

Make a review of the financials part of the offer.  In a recent purchase I asked for and received the rent roll and record of payments to insure that the rents were being paid every month.

Never have done a balloon but there could be advantages if you can accept the risk.   In my market Multis have gone up about 40% in about 2.5 years.  If that happened in your market you could refi in no time at all with the appreciation you made on the property.  You would also have time to save more money just in case appreciation did not occur as you said you have the means to save.  It is a risk.   If the balloon comes due and you dont have the money and cant finance out of it, you will loose the property. Just some considerations.

@ Collin Schwartz.  Impressive Post.  I really appreciated your summary.  Lots of good guidance. 

Here you go for a different look.  Similar idea that you have been using.  I like  both of yours also quite a bit .  The last 2 I remodeled looked like this.  Raised rent $250.   91 Hits on my advertisements the first day.  Only showed it to Pre-Screened and qualified individuals.  Rented to the first person who looked at it.  Had another one a few months later and did the same thing.  Raised rent another $100 over the one before and rented to my second showing.  51 hits on my advertisements the first day.    Rents were about middle of expected market.     Considerations:    New Stainless Rental Grade appliances have gone up about 10-20% in just the last 6 months and are very hard to get without ordering at least 30 days in advance.  I am trying to turn these over as quick as possible.  White appliances are lower priced and scratches can be repaired.   Might go back to White actually.  Can repair scratches more easily, Package prices are $300-$400 lower price for similar quality over stainless.  Plus I have been seeing quite a few pretty nice used white appliances come up as people are upgrading to Stainless.  Nice Used Stainless appliances are basically non existent.

@Ari Hadar   I found 2 different Agents in 2 different Markets.  One agent helped me sell 3 properties and another agent helped me sell a property in a different Market.  I actually picked these agents by scrolling through a list of elite agents in their market.  At first I didn't realize that RE Agents actually had teams but I had worked with individual agents multiple times prior to that.  The agent remained my interface but in both cases her team did the work in the back ground.   Communication was faster and more efficient and critical decisions were able to be make quicker.  It was just so easy and efficient.  Contrasting that to agents I have worked with that are sole proprietors, in both sales and purchases, communication is slower and deadlines are close to being missed.  This especially frustrates me in a hot market when I am trying to purchase and the agent is slow to respond to messages trying to construct an offer and takes a day or longer to deliver an offer.   Makes me want to get a new agent!   That wont happen when they have good back up team.  The Agent just gets so much more efficient.   Of all the agents I have ever worked with the 2 best were backed by award winning teams behind them.

@thomas Tarry @Paul Kubin.   I concur with Thomas on this.   I am not an agent but the best experiences I have ever had was working with 2 different Rock Star Agents that had a team working for them.   The process was fast, professional, efficient.  Neither one of them are in my go to market unfortunately!   Both have won elite agent status and once working with them its obvious why.   Try to find a top agent with a team like Thomas recommends!

Obviously not a female but I don't think you should give up.  That could have happened to anybody.   One lesson I learned along my way is " You learn more from your mistakes than your do your successes!".   You won't make that mistake ever again I believe.   With that said,  I am actually very handy and can fix or renovate almost anything.  Its a blessing and curse because often I take on the work when actually I should just hire it out.  Even in these cases, especially on big jobs I usually get 3 quotes or more.  I have been surprised many times by these quotes and they can vary by quite a bit.  Then I research the contractor by whatever means I can.   I don't always take the low bid.   There is no reason you can't follow a process like that.  You don't have to be the expert.  You just have to do enough research to know you can trust the expert you plan on hiring.  Don't give up.  Just learn and do it better next time!

You listed all the CONS and they are the same reasons I wouldn't do it!  You could find a similar Tenant, who would like to rent now during construction and wants to stay after complete as well.   If you rent to your friend and Coworker would you be comfortable evicting her at some point?   Sounds like you already know something about that.   Trust your instincts.  Your CON List is a good one!