All Forum Posts by: David Shapiro

I've had a good experience working with Jeffrey Dietz at All State. I'm not sure how many rental properties All State will take in house, but when necessary Jeff has been able to use a third party to meet my needs.

http://agents.allstate.com/jeffrey-dietz-cedar-park-tx.html

I live in Austin which does have the short term rental registration that Lynn refers to. I don't have any properties here that fall into that category. However, I do have a property out of state that the town requires all rentals to be registered. They inspect every 2 years and charge $200. Along with meeting all building code, they require a water test and they require the septic be pumped every 4 years. It was initially every 2 but they realized that wasn't necessary. When they first implemented it I had to draw up a parking plan. Which is kind of ridiculous because it's a single family house with a 100 foot long driveway, so plenty of off street parking. I think you should expect a bit of extra hassle, and some of the items may not make total sense. I know I was somewhat frustrated the first time going through it, but every time since then it has been pretty simple.

When it comes to the actual inspection, I think often times it comes down to the person doing the inspection. As with many things being nice to them can go a long way. I think it's also important to show you're not a slumlord and you're trying to make this a safe place for somebody to call home.

Keeping the goal of these programs in mind can be helpful. It was started in my town because landlords were not keeping their properties up to code and the town felt like they needed to intervene for the safety of the tenants. I've been into some of the properties that the new regulations were created to make safer, and my property is NO WHERE close to the condition they are in. So, if your property is in good condition and you provide a safe place for your tenants to live, the city will hopefully only ask minor things of you.

I also have another property that is section 8 and I would say that the process isn't much different. Expect to have to fix a couple things.

I also live in Austin. Like you said, the market is hot, why not just put it back on the market and sell it? Are you trying to avoid losing money on realtor commissions and closing costs?