All Forum Posts by: Jennifer T.

BP is a great place to learn about all forms of real estate investing, including flipping.

If I were you all, to get started, I would buy a house that needs some fixing up...but is still liveable in the meantime.  Live in it while you fix it up.  This easiest way to buy it would be as an "owner occupant"; however, different banks might have different rules for how long you need to live in the house before selling.  Though I'm not sure about that.

You will need to have at least a 5% down payment plus closing costs.  Plus, unless you get a construction loan (which might have a higher down payment requirement), you will also need to fund the costs of the repairs.

In addition, I don't know how handy you and your H are, but those kinds of skills would be really helpful.

Flipping can be tough.  You need to know what needs to be repaired and how much those repairs will cost.  You need to consider closing costs...on both ends...plus realtor fees for selling.  Plus holding costs.  You also need to buy your house at a good price to begin with, which involves knowing the market.  It also sounds like you live in a small town.  That might make renting or selling the house take a longer time.  Good luck!  Sorry to hear you and your family are having a hard time. 

I suspect the home needs a substantial amount of work if it is being sold at that price and has been sitting there.  I cannot tell you how many times I've seen pics for a property and thought, "Hmmm...well that doesn't look too bad."  Then I go to view it and it is a totally different story.  Or its in an even worse neighborhood than I was expecting.  Often both, lol.

The only way a tenant or potential tenant could find out if a house is up to date on mortgage payments is if the owner allows them access to those records.  Perhaps by showing a current mortgage statement or conference calling the bank, I suppose.  Outside of that, a person or company's mortgage is sensitive financial information just like any other account.  No bank is going to give that kind of information to some random person, which is how they would view a tenant.

I suspect there are public records available if a property has already been put into the foreclosure process, but it would have to already be in the process.

I did have this happen to a friend about 8 years ago.  He was renting a house and a notice (I think from the bank) was put on his door that the house had been foreclosed on and the bank was taking possession as of X date.  He had to scurry and find a new place in only about two weeks. 

This might very well be the case.  It seems like this is actively done in NOLA by a few agencies.  In fact, when I took a First Time Home Buyer's class years ago, one of the speakers invited us to apply with them if we wanted to be a "mystery tenant applicant".

There was recently a landlord in a nearby city who lost a 6-figure class action lawsuit because he had been discriminating against minorities.  In the investigation, there had been "plants" used to determine if he was treating minority applicants different from Caucasian applicants.  

If it were me, I'd remind the remaining tenants and the family of the injured tenant, that everyone (injured tenant, not the family) is responsible for paying the entire rental amount.  But, that I would be open to a new tenant moving in who would replace the injured tenant.  I would also make it very clear that I would need to approve the new tenant and a new lease would be signed that, in essence, would remove the old tenant and add-in the new tenant.

With all that said, I would probably "forgive" the injured tenant's portion of rent...but only for the first month.  That way, it at least gives myself and the other tenant(s) time to try and find a replacement.  But that would be a choice I would personally make out of kindness, not out of obligation.

I just checked out that link.  Fortunately for me, I'm in a state where it doesn't matter.

But I'm rolling my eyes out how ridiculous it is for the states that "don't allow a surcharge for using a credit card"...but can give a "discount" for using cash.  Geez!!!  That's the same thing!  The only difference is in how it is stated. 

Ugh, yeah, that last response is just silly.  They're obviously annoyed the refrigerator is there because they have mentioned it a couple times in their other correspondence.  You all notified them when it was being picked up as soon as you all knew, yet she's still going to complain?  Although I have found the majority of her correspondence to be professional and well-written, that last one was just petty.

I'm going to hijack your thread a bit to vent and let you know I've made some mistakes with tenants recently also.

To an extent, I'm in the same situation you are.  So far, I've only rented out the other side of my duplex (though I did just purchase another).  I have always had GREAT tenants.  I let my guard down a bit this time around, because it was summer and I just didn't have the plethora of applicants I usually do.

I let them move-in with a partial security deposit to be made up two weeks later.  My first mistake.  That was three months ago and I've only gotten $100 more toward it.  I don't want to go into details, but they had a legitimate pretty terrible financial setback due to no fault of their own (I checked it) on their second month.  I was extremely leery, but gave them a huge break and let them pay over the month.  They didn't finish paying all of that month until the last day.

I thought we'd start the new month, this current month with a fresh slate now that they are all caught up with me and their other bills...plus they'd been repaid most of what had erroneously been taken out of their account.  Nope.  Paid $800/$1100 with a promise I would receive the other $300 on the 5th (which is actually 8 days late).  Nope.  Now its the 15th when one of the tenants gets paid again.  Except I had to go knocking on the door on the 8th to even find that out.

My take-away is, I don't get the impression they are bad people who don't want to pay the rent...however, they have also made it very clear with their actions that they also don't put a priority on paying the rent.  I think they just don't budget well and are in over their head...though they do make 3x the rent.

It is a shame when a bit of kindness and understanding is taken for weakness...though, in the past with my previous tenants, that attitude has worked out well.  But obviously not with these folks and, although I've never had to do it before, I just have no choice but to start issuing 5-day Pay or Quit notices when they fall behind.  In my state, 5 days is required.

Funny enough, I usually require a 1-year lease but they requested a 6-month one and I agreed to it.  Now I'm glad as there is no way I am renewing it, so I only have to put up with this constantly wrangling for rent for two more months. 

I don't know what the laws are on this, but it would be totally unreasonable for her to not give them a copy of the key.  I wouldn't stand for that for a property I own, much less a room in my own house.  However, I also think it is unreasonable for them to feel they can just walk into her room whenever they want, unless it is an emergency.

It seems like she should be able to establish some reasonable guidelines with them.  Do they come into her room a lot now without permission and hence why she wants a lock?  If so, why do they do that?  Maybe if she understood why they want unfettered access, they can come up with a compromise that will make everyone happy.

In my area, most B/C rentals have a fridge and stove provided (though not always).  D/W and/or washers/dryers are provided about 1/3 of the time.  Class A rentals usually have all those appliances included.

I only have three units, and two of them are a house I recently purchased.  They are B/C+ units.  I provide a fridge, oven, and W/D.  If there is already a spot in the cabinetry for a D/W, I'll provide that also.  If not, I don't.  Unless I see a smoking deal for a new appliance, I almost always buy used.  For example, I just bought a fridge for one of my new rentals off Craig's List.  It is only 2 months old, still under warranty, and was only $250.  I can usually find W/D sets in fairly new and good condition for $300-$400.

It's a small investment that allows me to charge more rent and makes my unit much more attractive to tenants.  Knock on wood, so far I've had good luck with the used appliances I've purchased and they have been reliable.

Just wanted to chime in on a weird minor problem I had listing my unit on the Section 8 website.  I'm still not quite sure what happened, but it seemed like my contact information accidentally got attached to the wrong property on two different occasions.  So I would get phone calls about the wrong place.

Unrelated to that, but even more bizarre, I once had someone put my cell phone number on their "For Rent" sign.  After a few calls, I even went to drive by that house because I just couldn't believe someone put the wrong phone number on their sign.  But there it was!