All Forum Posts by: Taylor Roeling

@Mirzet Mehovic Congrats on getting your property ready to rent! That is definitely exciting. If you are looking to save money, I would recommend using an online property management software. This will help you streamline  the process to help you accept rental applications, screen tenants, and market syndication which will post your listing to a variety of sites and therefore helping you get tenants to fill your property! Landlord software is usually free for you to use as well which is a bonus and most of the tools are just one-click away and easy to use. Best of luck!

Congrats on your incredible savings for that age! It's never too early to start investing in properties, but like many people have mentioned, it is important to not spend that all on one property. Purchasing something that needs little maintenance and work will save you a lot of money and if it's in a good area then you will see a profit.

@Jonathan Klemm These are good questions! There is obviously lots of trade offs with being a landlord, such as dealing with maintenance issues, tenant crises, and also just the fear of something dramatic happening. However, if you take all the proper steps, make sure you have insurance and that your tenants have renters insurance, you will be well on your way to having a successful business and enjoy that cashflow from your properties! Sometimes it's important to remember the phrase "spend money to make money" as a landlord.

@David Johnson First, I would be sure to check local and state laws regarding leases because they can be different in different areas. I think you should be good raising the rent with a new lease they must sign - you can always be courteous and tell them of your plan so they can either decide to stay or find somewhere else to move. If not finding new tenants is something of a concern for you then you will need a way to market your property efficiently.

@Christopher Freeman I'm wondering which property management service you currently are using. It is true that voice contact or in-person contact generally lead to showings more often than just online correspondence, basically because people will trust you more. If the software you are using is already free, then investing in someone to take over handling calls and that part of the process would probably be a good idea. Best of luck!

@Thierry Lemercier Congrats on starting your company and building your portfolio! If you have specific requirements on what you want your property management software to have that will narrow down your choices. For example, many aspects people look for are tenant screening, rental applications, marketing and a bunch of other options. 

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Income and Employment

On this section of the rental application, the applicant provides information about their current income situation.

@Horacio Gutierrez Like some mentioned, using Venmo is a very popular and secure way for people to transfer money instantly on their phones. There is a limit to how much $ you can Venmo someone at once though so be aware of that. More info here: https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/221010968-Payment-Limits.

@William Hoppes Congrats and welcome to Bigger Pockets! You have definitely come to the right place to ask questions. Cleveland, Kansas City, and Albany are definitely hot markets to invest in. I would also do some research on certain college towns in those states and around the country. There are many pros to investing in college towns such as simple marketing since the town will sell itself and, most importantly, there will always be a need for tenants! Best of luck in your search. 

@Martin Gonzalez I would wait a couple more weeks! Utah County is highly competitive, but consistently growing market and summer is starting soon which means a lot of people will be looking to get into new or different rental properties!