All Forum Posts by: Susan H.

*Update*

Thank you all again for offering such great advice.  I have been moving ahead with this applicant.  I have met the dog - big, but fairly tame, more of a labrador than anything.  The doggy daycare woman said good things.  Past landlords all said good things about the applicant and the dog.  

The applicant agreed to pay double security deposit (2 months) and double pet fee ($400 upfront and $50 additional a month - all nonrefundable).  She also will be taking out 300k of renter's insurance with Geico - one of their agents verified that this dog would be covered.  

This morning she set up her account with Chase Quickpay (which I will be using to collect rent) and sent a $200 holding deposit.  We're planning to sign the lease tomorrow!

 No legal requirement to accept cosigners.  I would guess that you could put that in your ad too just like you would put "no smoking", "no pets" or "no evictions".

This is MY experience. I have a google number and I let the calls go to voice mail and weed out from there.

Thanks all.  Can any of you tell me what you pay for these respective services?  I suggested the lockbox at the house so I could go there at my convenience usually at the end of the day.  I could retrieve the forms ande cash and run the credit check that night.

Hi everybody!  I have been wanting to buy a single family home in Fayetteville, AR for a number of years.  I'm finally ready and looking at houses, but the market is so hot!  What i can afford is either awful or goes fast at full price plus buyer paying closing costs.  I might have to look in Springdale, but I don't know much about Springdale, I've been watching Fayetteville.  

So I am wondering what the rental market is like in Springdale.  Are people renting?  do they stay more than a year?  I would imagine that Springdale could be a desirable location but I don't know.  any thoughts would be much appreciated!  thank you!

I run credit/background checks on all prospective tenants.  Inevitably only one spouse will show up for a viewing and I have to meet with one or both of them again to collect the cash for the $35. 00 fee I charge.  Lately we have become incredibly busy, and this extra meeting has become harder to arrange.  I have been sending PDF copies of the forms in some instances, but I do not want to run the check unless I have money first.  Many of you are very tech savvy, so I am thinking there is some slick electronic way to get paid for things like this.  How do you all handle this?   Thanks in advance. 

Why can't you silently screen out students and cosigners on the phone. No rule that says you have to return calls or take every call.

Well, it's been about a week and the loitering has intensified and a neighbor and my lawn guy told me that she saw the dogs there again over the weekend. Therefore, we are moving forward with the eviction. In our lease, the tenant waives his/her right to the 5 day notice by the landlord which allows me to move straight to setting the court date. She is getting served with the papers today and the court date is 8/2/16. If the tenant shows up to fight it, I have pictures of the dogs in the back and e-mails with her admitting to the dogs and extra tenants not on the lease. I do hate evictions because they disrupt everyone involved, but in some cases, the problems will continue to intensify. You end up being the landlord with "that house" that always looks bad. I am not "that landlord" that lets my property be the one that drags on the neighborhood and I never will be. I'll post with additional updates as they occur...

My own insurance would not cover this breed of dog.  The Geico insurance agent was able to raise the limit from 100k to 300k for the tenant's renter's insurance, which should be plenty for property issues, but I wonder if I am still leaving myself exposed in the event that the dog attacks someone (though she and the dog care woman said the dog is not aggressive).