All Forum Posts by: Tim Swierczek

@Ryan Schroeder I agree with your thinking, however, MN law has a clause that if the tenant is required to give a 60-day notice on a lease that is greater than month-to-month then the landlord must give them notice not more than 30 days but less than 15 days before their notice period. If the landlord does not give such notice then the tenant can move out at the end of a lease without notice.

Solution, require 55 or 45 day notice

Here's the law:

Notwithstanding the provisions of any residential lease, in order to enforce any automatic renewal clause of a lease of an original term of two months or more which states, in effect, that the term shall be deemed renewed for a specified additional period of time of two months or more unless the tenant gives notice to the landlord of an intention to quit the premises at the expiration of the term due to expire, the landlord must give notice to the tenant as provided in this section. The notice must be in writing and direct the tenant's attention to the automatic renewal provision of the lease. The notice must be served personally or mailed by certified mail at least 15 days, but not more than 30 days prior to the time that the tenant is required to furnish notice of an intention to quit.

Cheers,

~Tim

@Tom R. I used to be 50% show rate and here is what I do now ( most of the the why is left out for now)

Require everyone to set appointment via text or call to a call capture phone number - you need their number

Text address and reminder when appointment is set  ( I use www.callaction.co Tell Jessie that Tim sent you)

Day of appointment call all prospects (confirmed & non-replies to get more appointments)

Show 2 days per week one evening from 6-7pm, Saturday usually from 11-12

Set all appointments ever 15 minutes, so that they think it's a special time just for them, when in fact you often have 3-4 people scheduled at the same time

Text reminder about 1 hour before showings start

A couple rules:

Never show one off people for any reason, I repeat any reason (too many downsides to mention)

Never confirm a showing via email (Zillow, Trulia, Craig's List all make it too easy to send an email + you can't text or call confirmation or cancel last minute if it rents if you don't have a phone number)

Always brag to prospects about your tenant friendly approach to scheduled block showings

Never tell them you have an "Open House" and "Just show up"  You want control, plus if there is no commitment on their part your odds of them showing dramatically decrease.

Always explain your 1 hour block time strategy to your current tenants and sell them why they should clean so that they only have 1 hour of showings and not 20 random interruptions in their life.

We get a few cancellations with the calls or the texts, but of the remaining, we have a solid 75-80%

Cheers

~Tim

@Orita Issartel many posts on this so I will just vote.  Remove the $300 requirement from your lease.  You give up needed control and it sets an awful relationship to your property and your tenants.  You have set them up to make the decisions for you.  Any good lawyer should be able to crush you in court because you have given the tenants a co-responsibility in all repairs.  In fact, they have the first responsibility much like a deductible in insurance.  Bad move but, that's ok you can change that.  Seriously, they would have never considered replacing the refrigerator without this clause.

@MacKenzie Clinton You can do this.  I most of my worst tenants were early on and I attribute this to not knowing what to do, how to handle the situation, or what to look for in both a tenant or a house.  You are learning and can get great tenants and make great money.  Head up and press on!

@Aqil Dharamsey thank you for your honesty.  It's much too rare in public forums & social media to bring up the crap.  You mentioned that you have a lot of units and I can only suspect you have overstretched your coverage. 

As a comparison, the majority of my rentals are in solid B neighborhoods that are hot rentals.  I always heavily market my rentals 6 weeks out and find renters within 1 week of listing (ok sometimes 2, but never longer).  My rents are always high for the market as determined by rentometer & my own research.  We position our properties as best in the area.  

That being said I have had a few duds over the years.  2 court cases, and 1 other extremely high maintenance tenant.  When I got to my 7th unit I started to train my wife in property management and now that I'm at my 14th unit I'm taking on an unpaid intern/becoming a mentor.  I do none of the repairs or maintenance and have a relatively stressfree zero vacancy (1 unit/1month in 13 years) business that I can grow and manage easily.  

I'm guessing your vacancey rate has less to do with the area and more to do with the fact that you need help.  Get an intern and mentor that person in exchange for free or cheap labor, or hire a PM.  I don't know what your rents are but 8 units for 1 month is worth $12,000 to me based on my average unit rent.  That plus the costs of kitchens justifies your labor costs.

Good luck & thanks again for sharing

~Tim

@Don Jackson I can help

@Bruce Runn   Thanks, what's the source?

@Luis Vilar The 25% down payment is required if the co-signer is not a close relative as defined by FHA and the property is a single family home.

Family Member is defined as follows, regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or legal marital status: 

 child, parent, or grandparent; 

o a child is defined as a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter; 

o a parent or grandparent includes a step-parent/grandparent or foster parent/grandparent; 

 spouse or domestic partner; 

 legally adopted son or daughter, including a child who is placed with the Borrower by an authorized agency for legal adoption; 

 foster child; 

 brother, stepbrother; 

 sister, stepsister;  uncle;  aunt; or

 son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-inlaw, or sister-in-law of the Borrower.

Or these other exceptions:

(3) Exceptions to the Maximum LTV The 85 percent maximum LTV restriction does not apply for Identity-of-Interest transactions under the following circumstances.

(a) Family Member Transactions The 85 percent LTV restriction may be exceeded if a Borrower purchases as their Principal Residence:

 the Principal Residence of another Family Member; or 

 a Property owned by another Family Member in which the Borrower has been a tenant for at least six months immediately predating the sales contract. A lease or other written evidence to verify occupancy is required. 

(b) Builder's Employee Purchase The 85 percent LTV restriction may be exceeded if an employee of a builder, who is not a Family Member, purchases one of the builder's new houses or models as a Principal Residence.

(c) Corporate Transfer The 85 percent LTV restriction may be exceeded if a corporation transfers an employee to another location, purchases the employee's house, and sells the house to another employee.

(d) Tenant Purchase The 85 percent LTV restriction may be exceeded if the current tenant purchases the Property where the tenant has rented the Property for at least six months immediately predating the sales contract. A lease or other written evidence to verify occupancy is required.

@Jeremiah T. I have 5 soon to be 6 duplexes & 2 SFR's. Happy to network if you want.

@Daniel Godbout

@Ryan Luthi is an excellent realtor specializing exclusively with investors including off-market properties. He & his father invest in East St Paul so you really can't-do better than Ryan.