All Forum Posts by: Tracy R.

Hey @Bobby Valcin, so that orig person had a lot of debt with a low credit score, and when I mentioned that to him, he said "yeah, I figured you'd find that out from the application!"  His job salary didn't really warrant what he'd spent on his car, so I just said he didn't meet the credit score criteria, and he understood and moved on.  But, soon after, I found a great tenant and he just moved in yesterday (which is why it took me so long to reply, getting everything ready for him).  It's almost paying my mortgage, so I'm in a good place now!  I'm confident this is a good fit.  I went with $1,100/mo rent + $185/mo flat fee for utilities.  so $1,285/mo total.  

To answer your other question:  I didn't want to list it with an agent to avoid commissions for sure, but the main reason was that I wanted to go through the process of screening people, talking to them, etc.  I wanted to see what it was like.  Honestly, it wasn't that hard, it's not like a had a deluge of phone calls that I couldn't handle.  And if they didn't call as I requested, then they weeded themselves out!  What it took (time, effort) was certainly NOT worth paying an agent a full month's rent for.  

So, it's been a wild ride as you know, but I'm now feeling positive about it...  Hope this gives you some hope too.  You do have to "kiss a lot of frogs" to find the right tenant, but just factor that in.  it took me 2 months - and for my first time, I think that's pretty good.  

Keep me posted on what you decide to do!

Hey @Bobby Valcin, things are looking up, a guy looked at the apt yesterday, and seemed to like it.  He is actually in another type of apartment situation in a house, but it's got some shared quarters.  So he understands the living situation, that it's in a house, and not an apt complex, but he's excited about having the whole separate apartment to himself.  Let's see if he fills out an application!  He was also fine with the rent and flat fee for utilities, since it's around what he's currently paying.  So, I think I'm finally priced right now!  It's now been 6 weeks since I first listed it, so if I had been smarter and not priced it too high to begin with, I could probably have had it rented now.  But even then, if it takes 8 weeks from start to finish, with my learning curve in between, I'll take it!

The other thing I wanted to mention is that I'm telling everyone who expresses interest to call me, no texting, no just showing up.  They have to have a conversation with me first.  That weeds out a lot of tire kickers too, I think.

good point @Bobby Valcin.  If I got someone who checks out and wants it unfurnished, I also have a plan for that:  it's a 1 bedroom, but there are 2 bonus rooms in the apartment and I'm pretty sure I could get most (if not all) of the furniture in there, and then leave the bedroom, and living/dining room unfurnished.  It's just that I'm not getting any interest in it unfurnished anyway, so I thought I might as well try.  But since you've mentioned this, I will make sure to note in the listing that it's shown furnished, but can be provided unfurnished if desired.  Thank you!

hey @Bobby Valcin, well, it turns out that person acted like they were interested, but never filled out the application I have on Cozy.  So, scratch that one, on to the next!  I'm moving furniture in there next week, so it's going to be a furnished apt now.  (hopefully I can get a bit more$$, and a higher quality tenant that way).  I've heard from other people in the group that you might get one good person out of 30 that write with interest.  So, it's a numbers game like anything else.  That's ok, I would rather wait for a good one and weed out the others.  I'm def getting more interest with the lower rent offer, but even though it's clearly a 1/1, I had people asking about it today that were 3 roommates.  I just wrote them back and said it's not going to work for 3 people.  I'm told that you do have to be careful about how you say that, you can't say it in a way that sounds like it's discriminating.  In my case, it's totally not discriminating, it's only 1 legal bedroom, so only right for a single person or a couple.  But people are so litigious, so I'm just trying to be very honest and clear upfront.  

Hey @Bobby Valcin, yes I got feedback from the group and they said it's looking like $1,100/mo is the max I can get for a 1/1 in the area.  (I initially thought it was a 3/1 when I bought it, and stupidly didn't realize there were no windows in 2 of the "bedrooms", so they're not bedrooms.  Plus, there's really only comfortable parking for 1 extra car.  It's really hard to compare with other rentals in houses in the area, there really aren't any that I can tell are as nice as this one w a new kitchen, etc.

The REI group also suggested to offer the utilities (already set up for the whole house) at an additional flat fee. So I went with $185 for that. I'm also going to do it furnished, since I have extra furniture I'm moving from my current house this Friday. So I think I could get maybe $1,200 rent + $185 utilities = $1,385/mo. I would be very happy with that! My mortgage, taxes, interest, and insurance is a bit over $1,400, so it's almost living for free, I'll take it.

After I did the revision on the monthly rent + utilities, I got about 8 inquiries, 2 of which said they wanted to see it but never showed up!   so I did get more interest from lowering the price, but the quality of people was also lower, as expected, I guess.

After a few days of those initial tire-kickers, yesterday, I think the right person is coming today to look at it.  He's got a new job, 2 weeks in the area, and is currently in an Airbnb, but wants to find an apt.  He's totally willing to go on Cozy.co and fill out the application, once he sees the apt (and hopefully likes it), so maybe he's the one.  You only need one, right?

the saga continues, I'll keep you posted.  

hey @Bobby Valcin, so I asked the people in the local RE investing group for help here, and they all said it's just too high a rental price, so I need to drop it.  and get professional photos.  I have that scheduled for this Friday.  It's still not a total loss though, I'm still going to get most of my expenses paid on it, just not all of them now.  Lesson learned, no matter how much extra space there is, if it's still a 1/1, I can't get significantly higher rent from it.

Hey @Bobby Valcin, no I didn't do it myself, I hired a contractor in my real estate investing group.  I have only had one inquiry from FB asking if it was still available.  And then nothing more after I said it was.  

I know that what I'm asking is high for a 1 bedroom, but it's really large (1,200 SF), and has 2 extra rooms (altho they shouldn't be bedrooms because no windows).  Plus covered garage parking and all utilities included.  But, it's possible that I have misjudged even buying this house and all I can get is $850 or something, because in the end it's still a 1 bedroom.  

So now I'm worried that I've gone to this huge expense, and no takers.  Ugggh.  I'm not sure what to do now!  I have it on Cozy, Trulia, apartments.com, Realtor, Zillow, and a travelling nurses site.  

I'm not sure what to do, so I think I'm going to put out a query on BP and see if there's any other advice.  I might have to drop the price significantly to get interest.  Something for you to keep in mind going forward with your plans

Hey @Bobby Valcin, now the listing is active, maybe this link will work for you:  https://home.cozy.co/apply/#!/...

Let me know what you think...  I just posted it on 1/1, so I've not gotten any queries yet.

It's also supposed to populate on Realtor and DoorSteps, but my description is getting cut off.  I'm trying to figure out how to fix that now.  

So I guess you can't see a listing that's not yet active.  I'll send it to you once it is active.  I actually think I could get closer to $1,500/mo for this one  because it's so nicely finished, and also has 2 additional finished rooms that could be office and storage space/dressing room.  it also has its own private laundry room too.  Have a great holiday and I'll pick back up with you on this in Jan!

@Bobby Valcin, renovations are done!  I just have a few more little touches to do and then I'm going to activate it through Cozy.co in January.  

I've never used Cozy.co before, but it sounds like a lot of the investors in the area use it to list their properties, screen tenants, collect rents, etc.  It's free for landlords to use.  Here's a link to the listing so far (I just put in $1,000 rent as a placeholder, I believe it would rent for a lot more than that, but I'm honestly not sure how much, I am going to ask some other landlords in the area before I activate it)  https://home.cozy.co/apply/#!/...    let me know if you can see this, it's the first time I've tried to "share" it.