All Forum Posts by: Tim J.

Quote from @Brooklyn McCarty:

I would never charge the guest extra to use. If you install it, just make it available for them. I think as time goes on, this will become a more common amenity. Why not get ahead of the game and start installing them now?

So would you offer your other guests free gasoline at a gas station?  I don't see why I should spend money and then NOT charge for something that is subsidizing renter's lifestyle.  If you raise costs across the board then you are asking non EV owners to subsidize EV users.  I have an issue with the whole premise.  Until I saw that it was hurting bookings I would defer/skip it.

If you are seeing a decline in bookings or could make more with it, then go for it, but I would decline to install one.  

What is his cost basis?   First 250k is free from capital gains.  (I assume from what you said it is his private residence)

This type of software is available - inventory tracking, or asset management.  Unfortunately the last I looked into this for some projects I was doing as a software engineer I discovered they are fairly expensive.  It also requires process and buy-in from all the people in the supply chain.

A typical example is using bar code readers or some kind of scanners at each point (when you acquire them, when they are stored in warehouse, when put onto truck, when deployed, etc)

It's all great in theory, but in the real world, in practice. things get messy.

An online app called AirTable is a pretty neat tool to build your own kind of DIY inventory tracking app.  

Again, this functionality is used/needed across many industries - like trucking fleets for example.

Quote from @Albert Hasson:

https://www.usnews.com/news/us...

It can happen anywhere (and does)

Kicking someone out of their house is a dangerous job.

 Excerpts from that story:

"An eviction complaint filed on Aug. 15 by a landlord in Pima County Consolidated Justice Court indicated that Stansell had previously threatened violence. The complaint said he or his guest had threatened and intimidated neighbors with a gun on July 27. 

Stansell failed to appear at a hearing in the case set for Monday, court records said.

According to the records, a judge ruled that Stansell had breached his lease agreement, writing: “The evidence shows that defendant threatened another resident with a firearm and has otherwise disturbed the peace.” "

Sounds like a re-evaluation of how evictions are served in the future may be in order. Also sounds like in this case the constable was not given the right support or information.  One wonders why a story like this does not get wider reporting. I have my theories...

Quote from @Albert Hasson:

Quote from @Ned J.:

@Tim J..... yeah... you might want to read all the "you get what you voted for" replies....and "see what happens in blue states".....so yeah.... there a huge implication in those posts that NOT having that ordinance would have mad a difference.

Its also implying that the ordinance was in place when this tenant was placed....and he had a previous violent criminal background that would have prevented him from being placed in that unit..... all conclusions that serve to confirm your bias that this could have been prevented if the county had not instituted the ordinance. There is no proof of ANY of that..... but people jump on the bandwagon of "see what you get?,,,,and you get what you deserve" type replies

I'm not defending the ordinance... AT ALL.......I still want to be able to run criminal backgrounds. What I'm pointing out is the BS logic people are using as some proof that "you get what you deserve"... that this is some rock solid proof that its the local governments fault

So true, there is a definite bias here on BP

If by "bias" you mean the notion that people should expect to be able to enforce contracts, hold people accountable, and a low tolerance for theft and for ineffective politics?  Yes, I have a "bias". Guilty as charged.

Quote from @Majid Safdari:

Quote from @Tim J.:

I would never buy property to rent out in Chicago.  My suggestion is to go find a more landlord friendly locale to buy investment property.

Could you elaborate Tim?
Do you mean in terms of the capital needed to enter or COC return? I think in terms of COC it is comparable to other big US cities?
I am living here and I think it would be easier for me to know/research market to enter.

My comments have nothing to do with the assets or returns, and everything to do with the politics and politicians of the state and city. 

Please see the following - scroll down to "Worst cities"

https://sparkrental.com/anti-l...

https://elrlaw.com/want-chicag...

I am sure you can find other examples or information if you google "Landlord" and a city name. 

However,

If you are in the vicinity and know the market and do screening very well, then go for it.  It's not a place I would invest, but then again, I have investments in VT - a terrible place for landlord rights.  I mitigate my risks with careful screening and other practices.

Good luck!!

I would never buy property to rent out in Chicago.  My suggestion is to go find a more landlord friendly locale to buy investment property.

Quote from @Holly Barrett:

@Tim Jurik it really doesn’t make a lot of sense from the realtors time perspective to gather ALL of those items if the property isn’t of interest to you or it doesn’t fit your parameters from a quick glance. Typically we are moving so fast trying to get your eyes on properties and also you are probably set up on auto searches where we aren’t combing through every detail before the system sends you the listing.

Gathering all of that info before even presenting to you a) could become another full time job with zero return b) could lose you the deal due to not acting faster whilst waiting on rent roll that may never even come! Rent rolls aren’t always relinquished by the seller, some of them don’t have them even prepared. I think your expectations are slightly off respectfully.

Yep, and that's why I don't use a buyers agent most of the time unless I find the rare one who actually doesn't mind doing work. 


I understand some realtors might not want to spend time digging up things for investors, but the OP asked what investors look for, so I
provided my view of the world.

The auto-collectors for filtering property close to useless - it doesn't help me to get streams of listings from some realtors that I can easily find myself through all the aggregating sites.  Anyone can send me a list of things that match some price range, number of bedrooms, etc.  When you do the actual work that allows investors (not just me) to evaluate a property you get to the top of the list and you get calls and you get deals.  Providing no value-add is, well, not compelling.  Why would I contact an agent that doesn't want to do any work or ask questions or get information they KNOW I want before presenting me with properties.  

It's 2023.  It should be easy to get me the info I need to put it in a spreadsheet.  Heck, if someone is too lazy to do it, pay $10 an hour for a Virtual assistant to do it. 

BTW, your profile says you pride yourself on "...gathering as much information on a property as possible". but in your quote above you say that as an investor I need to lower my expectations for a Realtor.

Again, if I have established with a realtor that I am a legit buyer, a cash buyer sometimes, and if they want me to work with them, they need to provide details for me without me always having to beg.  

I am not unreasonable.  I don't mind asking, but if I have to keep stating the details I need or I keep going to a realtor with listings that I pulled that I am interested in, then clearly that realtor is not providing as much value as they could.

As for your examples for rent roll - if you can't get them or it takes time, then put that in the presentation, but more than likely if there is no rent roll or that info is not forthcoming I will pass/cannot evaluate it, so move on to the next one.  

I am a mostly happy user of Stessa, but not happy they did a bait and switch and started charging.  I think it is still worth the cost BUT, I need to manage maintenance requests.  Thus, after some research, I decided on Buildium.  Its pricier for sure but seems like a great package.  Second place (a close second) was Rentec.

I may write up my experience with using and evaluating and getting demos from the companies.  I expect that after using Buildium for a while I will migrate all the accounting stuff to Buildium - but for now I am using it for maintenance requests and tenant screening only.

I rejected a number of competitors mostly because they did not fit my needs, but they would fit other peoples needs.

In the past month or so I have been very harshly criticizing RentRedi.  I regret the nature of some of those comments.  That software may be useful for people who do not have multiple portfolios to manage.  (Smaller investor - holding properties in just one entity)

My Must-haves:

- manage multi portfolios
- document management
- auto import/connections to bank accounts
- ability to handle tenant payments within the system (there are many varying levels of this across the spectrum, I just need a subset)
- end of year/reporting/tax prep help
- maintenance request workflow (with tenant and contractor logins/communication)


What I really like about stessa -
- low cost
- the dashboards
- unit listing and application/screening

what i do not like about stessa
- sometimes broken-ness of bank connectivity
- they went from free to paid and took away features and didnt grandfather existing users
- lack of maintenance tracking


I have not tried the application screening process in stessa yet.

Quote from @Ned J.:

Way to jump to conclusion..... you all immediately concluded that this person had a prior criminal records that would have prevented them from renting this unit...... and the local government is responsible for all of this happening....

So law enforcement never gets shot at while serving a warrant/evictions in "red states"?....

Conformation bias at its finest...

We can argue the merits/pitfalls of the ordinances as much as you want... there is a lot of it I disagree with........ but the "you got what you asked for" attitude is just plain ignorant

YOU are jumping to conclusions.  Many of us bemoan the fact that idiots in city councils think it is acceptable to not allow landlords to screen based on criminal history.  I don't think anyone here said/assumed it would have made a difference in this case.  

The OP:

"More horrible news from this sad city. Btw, Seattle City council approved an ordinance making criminal history "off limits" on rental applications. Maybe not a good idea."

Those two sentences are separate thoughts.  Given the behavior of people in crisis, it is reasonable to expect that landlords DO NOT want criminals, especially violent criminals, to rent their units.  Not only for their own safety, but for the safety of other tenants in the same building.

Your post is the typical hand wringing, victim mentality to accuse people of ignorance and confirmation bias, etc. 

Basically, to repeat: 

A person shot at public servants doing their job.  The person died during the act of aggression. 

on a separate note, the jurisdiction that it happened in made it illegal to do background checks on people applying to be tenants. 

The irony and stupidity of the second statement is heightened by an example of an occurrence that one might want to avoid as a landlord. 

No one stated that the lack of screening was causal.

I do not appreciate governments limiting my ability to make contracts with whom I want, nor do i appreciate interference in private contracts.  Too many governments are causing more "housing issues" with supposed "tenant protections" and "rent protections". The proof of the unintended negative effects on the housing market is left as an exercise for the reader.