All Forum Posts by: Tom Ott

Hi @Account Closed, 

Two industry standards are AppFolio and Buidlium. Both are extremely useful for tracking units, tenants and their associated documentation. A Web based solution is great because it allows you to access your data from anywhere. For your 36 units, it looks like AppFolio would be the most cost effective. I would suggest starting a demo of each to see what fits your needs best. 

Personally, I use Podio. Podio is a fully customizable database application that allows you to build your owner workspace and relationships between records. The main reason I use Podio is because of the fact that its completely customizable. I can set it up exactly how I want it. In addition, I can use Podio for other aspects of my business. I use it to track my rehab business and connect that information with my rental business. 

For the average Property Management business, the first two suggestions are most likely your best bet. Anyone have specific personal experience from AppFolio and/or Buildium?

Thanks @George P. and @Tom Ott for your advice! I really appreciate it!

 Makes sense that the state can't get it right :)

I personally could never leave that background search completely to a service. I look at their facebook page (found pics with him and his homeys and guns), google for name and city and 'mugshot' and have found several. 

I will do a reverse owner search on the address that they supposedly last lived and trace the owner and call them, instead of the ph# they give me. I also call the # they gave as last landlord and ask questions, that will tell me if they're actually just a friend. 

I think a service would just follow an A-B-C- plan, which doesn't always work with the kind of tenants I deal with.

I've been looking at multifamily homes for the past few weeks with my realtor. I have found one that peaks my interest. The location is good, rent is solid and price is decent. My next step would be to make an offer and get the inspection done, but there are some issues I'm concerned with and would like some opinions. 

-It's an older home (early 1900s). It has a 60amp fuse box! Other than "A Christmas Story", I haven't seen a fuse box since I was a kid. The home is a licensed rental and has been operating like this for some time. Is this something I should be concerned with?

-The home has asbestos siding. It's in decent shape and is not cracking or falling off. Should I be worried about the future costs of residing the home? I believe I can just apply vinyl siding over top of the asbestos without the ordeal of removing it.

Thanks in advance to the BP community!

Hey everyone,

I'm an 18 year old looking to get started in real estate investing. I have a degenerative eye disease that means the career ladder won't really work out for me down the line. 

I've managed to save $10,000 to begin investing in real estate and am really happy I came across BiggerPockets -- I was completely lost just looking on sites like Forbes and Entrepreneur.

So, with my $10k, a car, and my efforts, I hope to be able to get $1.5k in pure profit a month within 2 months. Whether that's through renting, buying-and-selling, or maybe AirBnB, I don't know!

Eventually -- I hope to have property across the country (and world?). I'm an aspiring traveler, so I really hope that if I work really hard, I can fund my travel lifestyle through real estate.

So, I'm considering starting with foreclosed homes. Is that a smart idea? Are there any repercussions I need to know about? Any good advice?

Thanks for the no-sales, no-sleaze, no-bs nature of this community!

Brandon,

I'm a young, relatively new landlord... been learning as I go since 2012. We've just had our first "eviction break up" . The biggest pain in the you know what. These tenants had qualified, but it was the constant drama and stories and excuses that spilled into a monthly story and chase for rent.

Check their credit!

Hedge your bet- your lean to let them use your house- by charging first AND last month rent AND a hefty security deposit. And stick to your guns on late payments or things not acceptable in your lease agreement. (Please note, I'm preaching to myself as well.) :o)

@Edward Mccracken -- 

• Yes, each county will have a public record database you can search. Here is the link for your county.
• However, the tenant may be convicted in another county and that won't show up on the records. That's the real reason to pay for the background check (consolidates nationwide). It will also check the sex offender list, which I'm not 100% certain shows up in the county records. (Maybe someone else can confirm?)
• There are mobile friendly background check services for those folks with iPhone 6s.

People who rent will most likely have a bad FICO score otherwise they would be buying a house.  Collections tell the habit/trend of the people.  I use the FICO score in part of the my point system to grade the applicant.   I would rent to them based on the given info especially with a co-signer.  The only show stoppers would be an eviction or a recent felony but then you still have way over qualified co-signer.