All Forum Posts by: Jennifer T.

Not hearing from tenants is generally a good thing.  It means they are happy and (probably) everything in the house is working correctly.

I live in a duplex and rent out my other side.  My last tenants were both really busy people who worked long hours.  I'd go months without even seeing them, much less talking to them...and I lived right next door!

I also remembered when I rented.  It was rare one of my LLs would call/e-mail just to make sure everything was okay.  Though they were all pleasant people and, if they would have occasionally, that would have been fine also.

When I was renter, I rented in B Class.  While, for me, ample storage availability was never enough and always at a premium...I have to admit a wine rack as part of the cabinets would have really stuck out in my mind because it is so unusual.  It would have been an "oh cool" factor, though probably not something I would have really used because I already had a counter wine rack.

I am so sorry to hear about that!  How awful.  And yeah, her landlord is horrible and gives us all a bad name.  The fact that he chooses to overextend himself and not have appropriate cash reserves should not be her problem.

I think, at a minimum, he should give her back 50% of the rent for those three weeks PLUS reimburse her for the towels.

Congratulations! I'm working on my first BRRRR at the moment and it is motivating to see yours went so successfully.

Clever strategy for using the tax list to find a desperate owner and go through a more typical closing instead of trying to buy it at auction.  I didn't look into it too much, but it is my understanding that getting clear title is still a challenge in the new system for property tax auctions.

For those of you not from Louisiana, the state implemented a new system this last year for dealing with properties with delinquent taxes.  The new system was supposed to make it much easier to get clear title, but the rumor is there are still hiccups.  My area, NOLA, the list was published on the website for our local paper, though I think it was also available through the assessor's office.  80-90% of the properties listed in NOLA were vacant lots.  In addition, any property on the list had delinquent taxes for many years...I think it was at least 3.

Although it has never come up, I have a Square account and would allow a tenant to pay their rent that way, but only if they were also willing to pay the fee.  NO WAY would I pay the fee, when they are the ones receiving an unusual convenience.

Quite frankly, the tenant might be paying rent with their credit card just for points/cash back.  Think about it.  They charge their rent to their credit card because there is no penalty to do that.  They get 1% back in points.  Then they just make a payment to their credit card for the amount of the rent and don't pay interest either.  While you are paying THREE percent of the rent amount.

Heck, if my bank allowed me to pay my mortgages with a credit card, I would do that exact same system.  But they don't...because they don't want to lose a percentage of my mortgage payment either.

It is NEVER appropriate or legal to ask for the nature of someone's disability...much less to apparently be blabbing to the neighbors that your new tenant is a disabled vet.

For example, if a prospective tenant has disability income...I'll ask the amount/proof of that income.  If a prospective tenant has a support animal for a disability...I might ask for documentation they need a service animal.  But neither of those situations require me to know the nature of the disability.  It's not my business and it doesn't matter.

Though, what I do often find is prospective tenants will usually volunteer that information.

I think this can definitely be area specific.  December is probably a terrible month all around because of the holidays.

For me here in the Deep South, I have found July and August to be harder months to find tenants, because nobody wants to move in 100+ degree heat unless they have to.  But I could see those being very active months for other areas.

That's a good idea to adjust the lease term with your new tenants so that it ends up falling in a better time of year to find tenants.

@H. Duplechain, I am fairly new to REI myself so, as such, I am also very conservative in the deals I pursue. If you ever need a sounding board, feel free to PM me or I'd also be happy to meet and bounce off ideas.

I bought a shotgun double about four years ago and rented out the other side.  That has gone so fantastically it wet my appetite to buy more rental properties.  But discovering BP was the push I needed to put dreams into reality.

I started my search for my first non-owner occupied property in January.  I used the BP Rental Calculator to analyze dozens of properties.  I was super, super selective...but finally found a great deal that worked out in June.  I closed on the property earlier this month and am now in the middle of rehabbing to get it rent ready!

Good luck!  It is always a bit scary to take those first few new steps, but that is how we grow.  And, heck, with your contracting, flipping, appraising and real estate experience...you are already WAY ahead of the learning curve.

@Kelly M., I agree with the other PPs.  It doesn't hurt to ask and I also like @Randy E.'s suggestion of offering to pay for it up front and then deduct the cost from rent over multiple months.

While a huge dog can certainly be an issue when trying to rent, it isn't always.  I had some prospective tenants a couple weeks ago with an Irish wolfhound who would have easily been much taller than me if he was standing on his hind legs.  But I have a large, fully fenced in backyard and no carpet in the rental (wood laminate and tile), so it really doesn't matter to me how large someone's dog is.  And they ended up renting somewhere else!  So apparently they found another landlord okay with an enormous dog also, lol.

BTW, I'm in the warm and sunny climate of New Orleans whenever you and your mastiff are ready to move ;), lol. 

This actually just came up for me.  In my area, traditionally only the first month's rent and a security deposit equal to the rent is collected.  That is what I typically do.

However, I recently had a pair of applicants who are moving to the area but are going to find jobs once they get here and live off savings in the meantime.  They do have a good job history where they currently are.  Since I live in a landlord friendly state, I offered to accept them if they would pay first AND last plus security.  I thought that was a more than fair compromise for the additional risk I was taking.  Their response was "thank you, but we have found another place".

I feel like I dodged a  bullet, lol!  If they were supposedly going to be living off savings, then it shouldn't have been an issue to give me first/last/security.  I don't know what place they found or if they even did...but I already thought I was going out on a limb.  I can't imagine someone else renting to them for only security/first when they have no income yet, but apparently there are landlords out there even more lax than I.