All Forum Posts by: Jennifer T.

I have solar panels on my duplex (live on one side, rent the other).  It is separate meters, so the solar panels are only tied to my side.  I actually "lease" mine.  I signed away my rebate benefit to the solar company in exchange for having them put on my house for only $35/month, no down payment.  The $35/month contract is for 20 years, though I can end the contract after 6 years.

For the number of panels that come with the government rebate, they do NOT fully provide me with all my electricity needs.  I still have an electric bill every month, but it is cut down by about 50% most of the year and 60-70% in the summer.

Generally speaking, during daytime hours, I am supplying my own electricity PLUS "selling back" electricity to the grid.  Those "extra/sold" KwH are then subtracted from my total KwH used on my bill.  

I wanted to give a quick update.  @Anthony D. from Rentsta has e-mailed me privately and I have been floored at how seriously he has taken my concern that one of their affiliates potentially sent me a misleading spam e-mail.

He also took some of my constructive criticism with a good spirit.  He said they are looking into adding an informational page for landlords that better describes the costs and services of their lead system.

It's so refreshing to see a company take such immediate action when a customer had a bad experience and I wish them lots of success into the future.

@Max Reichman, thanks for the further information about and your experience with this company.  I'm not necessarily saying Rentsta itself is a scam, so I apologize if my title implied that.  But there are scammers who are unethically using Rentsta to try and lure people to sign up.

For example, the person who e-mailed me is definitely a scammer and I'm assuming their link in the e-mail they sent is their affiliate link for this website.

I just wanted to warn others that, if they get an e-mail from a potential applicant asking for their unit to be posted on rentsta, there's a good chance it's not a real applicant.

With that said, I was also really unimpressed with the Rentsta website.  I felt like I had to try and dig around every nook and cranny trying to find any information about who they were, what they did, and the details about their lead system.  I couldn't even find their pricing until I had given them all the details about my unit and was at the last step.  And if I'd known how long, arduous, and repetitive that process that was going to be, I wouldn't have bothered.

I didn't see anything about getting your money back if you don't get any leads and 10 leads was the minimum I could choose, but I'll take your word for it.  Maybe I just never landed on or found the right page, but there was very scant information all around about their lead system.

I could see it might be a useful website if it is active in someone's area.  My personal mistake was not pretending to be a tenant FIRST to see that it's non-existent in mine.

At any rate, I wasted a larger chunk of time on there than I expected, but at least I learned something.  And I didn't waste $10.

I recently put up a CL ad for my rental unit.  Very first e-mail response I get says the following:

I am very interested in your place. I'm comparing a few units in New Orleans and wanted to get a little more info. I'm wondering if you have an account on (rentsta web address)? I want to see how well your place matches my preferences.

Thanks, and let me know

(Signed with supposedly her name)

So, I'm curious.  I go to the website and figure I will list my place there if it is free.  Of course, it is not.  Plus they are out of Canada, which makes me more suspicious.  No offense to Canada, I'm just a long way from that ballpark.  I've never heard of them, so I doubt most NOLA tenants would have either.

They charge $1 per lead with a minimum of 10 leads.  No guarantees and...even more crazy...although they ask a TON of questions about my rental unit, they ask NOTHING about the type of tenant I want.

So I pretend to be a tenant.  Free for tenants.  Again, bunches of questions about what I am looking for...but not even a "have you ever been evicted" question.  And, oh look.  Not a single property in my area and (probably) all of New Orleans is listed.

That skeevy scammer almost got me!  I almost paid $10, just in case she might have been a good applicant or I could have gotten another good applicant that way.  But obviously she wasn't an applicant at all!

Not a great way to start my new tenant search, lol!

I did a search on BP for rentsta, but nothing came up.  I'm curious if anyone has actually had any experience with this company.

I currently own a duplex and do allow pets.  I also own one dog and one cat.

The reason I allow pets is because I have huge, fully fenced in backyard.  The rental unit has just tile flooring and wood laminate.  No carpet, so that greatly cuts down on the kind of damage a pet can do.

I haven't had any tenants with a cat, but all the tenants I've rented that unit to have had dogs.  With two different tenants, their dog caused minor damage to the trim work around the door with scratching.  But both of those tenants fixed the damage...and fixed it well...before turning the unit back over to me.

There are certain breeds I don't allow because of my insurance and I also don't allow puppies...though if I had only tile/stone/hardwood flooring I would.   No size restrictions, though.  I also mandate they need to be friendly with people and other dogs and, believe it or not, I have had potential applicants readily admit their dog is not friendly with other dogs.  Which is a definite no for me because I do have a dog and the backyard is shared.

In my area, most landlords don't allow pets, though it is not too difficult to find places that will take cats or smaller dogs.  However, it is very difficult to find places that will allow larger dogs.  And that is where I come in :).  I do not charge an additional monthly pet fee, but I can command a premium rent for my area and have my pick of candidates...part of that being because I allow dogs of all sizes.  I typically charge a pet deposit, but it is refundable just like the security deposit, assuming there are no damages.

However, I am about to rent out that unit again, and this time I will allow the first pet to be "free", but a 2nd pet will be an additional $25/month.

I only had an issue with one of my tenants and their dog barking too much.  And even that was not too bad.  She would only bark if one of them wasn't home and even that wasn't all the time.  I alerted them a couple times that she had started barking again when they weren't home and (I think) they would muzzle her when she was going through one of those phases.

However, the other issue I have had with my tenants (most of them) is not picking up after their dogs in a timely manner (within 24 hours).  In fact, I'll be closing soon on another duplex and am considering not allowing dogs at all for that house...just so I don't have to listen to each tenant complaining about the other one that they're not picking up after their dog. 

I didn't want to click on this post...but I couldn't help myself.

I see my fear was warranted! Lol.

At least where I live, it would be a 30 second search of the property's address to find my full name, the date I bought the house, and how much I bought it for. However, I did not buy it under an LLC.

For what its worth, I've had four different sets of tenants since I bought my duplex.  I have always been upfront that I own the property.  I keep the other unit in very good condition and have never had a problem with any of my tenants bothering me.  If a repair is needed, they usually e-mail or call me.  Sometimes they've knocked on my door or caught me while I was in our shared backyard, but even this was never at an inappropriate time (ie 1AM) or bothersome.

Of course, I suppose there is always the risk of an annoying tenant.  But a thorough background check and keeping a property in good condition will greatly mitigate signing a lease with one of those.

I've shared a backyard with others both in a property I was renting and now with my own backyard (share with my tenants).  The only problem I have ever had with it is in relation to dogs.  I don't know why most people don't promptly (within the same day) pick up after their dogs, but they don't.

It was especially annoying as a renter...I didn't even have a dog at the time...but occasionally had to pick up after the other renter's dog because there were feces all over the backyard.

Buying a multi-family and living in one part of it is a FANTASTIC way to get started in REI. That is what I did. One advantage is bank financing is easier, cheaper, and requires a much lower down payment for an "owner occupied" property as opposed to a "non owner occupied property. Down payment is generally 3% for an FHA loan or 5% for a conventional loan.

Another advantage is its usually easier to manage a unit that is the same place you are living.  A great way to get your feet wet with landlording.

However, I do agree with @Kurt K.  Don't try to rush and buy a property before you move.  Rushing can lead to mistakes.  It would be difficult to do anyway in only about one month's time.  Get a month-to-month rental and/or rent someone's room.  Get to know the city and target areas that are both where you would want to live and would also be a prime rental area.  You'll have a much better idea of that after you have lived there for a few months.  You'll also have a better idea of housing prices and rental amounts for different areas.

Join an REI group and make contacts. This also might be a great place to find a RE agent who specializes in investment properties. When you are ready to start seriously looking, speak to a few lenders and get a preapproval. Those are the first steps.

It is intimidating!  I know it is.  But a good RE agent and loan officer will help navigate you through the process.  And BP is also a great source for any questions you might have.

On BP, soak up whatever articles/posts there are about analyzing properties, so you feel more confident when you find the right one.  Heck, once I put together my analytics formula, I'll analyze a few properties a month just for fun and to keep my skills up.  Good luck!