All Forum Posts by: Tom R.

After recently purchasing my first house I lived in it for 3 days to fix it up and hopefully discover potential problems. Every day I found something that could easily be fixed.

3 way switches wired wrong.

Shower water was reversed. Hot on cold side cold on hot side.

A ceiling fan was so far out of balance it began hitting the ceiling. One of the blades was missing a screw and its bracket was also missing a screw.

Cost to fix all of these was $0.82

I listed my first investment property less than a week ago.  On Zillow its trending in the top 10% in the neighborhood and on Truilla its listed as a best value.  My market is almost certainly smaller than most of yours. On Zillow I've has 256 views and 5 saves. I've had i think 10 people inquire about the house  almost all in the first 2 days and scheduled 4 of them to meet tonight and none of them showed up.

The oldest listing on zillow in my market is 57 days. Whats your average time to fill a vacancy?

I have to admit I was unprepared when the call came. I had posted the listing less than 24 beforehand. After the call I made a list of questions to ask. They are very similar to yours.

I just had my very first prospective tenant not show up to a showing. Its quite irritating does this happen often?

I found a 400k btu pool/spa heater in the unfinished garage of my first house which I just bought. I dont know if it works so I listed it for $200 on ebay. They go for over 2 grand new. I hope it sells cause it would be a pain to haul it to the dump.

I listed my first house the other day through turbo tenant and have since received several inquiries from Rentlinx. None of the inquiries have local phone numbers and no one has responded to my emails.

at the bottom of the email it says "Want more leads like this? Upgrade your property to RentLinx Plus! today! Just login to RentLinx, then click "Go Plus!""

Im wondering if any of these leads are authentic. Has anyone found a tenant this way?

I just received an inquiry to rent my house. The thing is the applicant is from over 130 miles away so he must be starting a new job. He claims to have a 600 credit core and make $100K. One of my rules is to require 6 months at their current job because this is the standard probationary period for the major employers in the area. But I'm thinking of waving the rule if everything else checks out. What would you do in this situation?

Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:

@Tom R. the Zillow estimates bounce all around. They have a decent algorithm to calculate, but it is not accurate in all cases. If the price is fair to market, it doesn't matter what Zillow says. Also keep in mind that Zillow bases the number partially on data you provided like square feet and amenities, so if you haven not updated those details, take some time to update. 

 Don't I know it today the estimate is down to $900. I was starting to get worried but while I typing this I got my first call. I don't know what good numbers are for my area but my listing got 63 views in 2 day and 1 save. A similar house on the the same street which is priced at $180 less has only 43 views for the same period.

I've just listed my first investment property for rent. Zillow and Truilla estimate the rent to be $950 but I put it at $980 because it is a fresh remodel and has all new appliances, flooring and energy efficient windows. My realtor said I could get $1000 for it but I felt that would be pushing it. I hadn't expected the sites to put their estimates right next to my price. I'm worried that this might scare away some applicants.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

@Greg Scott With that kind of credit they could get an fha loan and buy a house like mine and pay less than $600 a month.