All Forum Posts by: Patti Robertson

We are so lucky in Virginia that all our civil and criminal records are not only public, but we are able to easily view them on-line.  I have used lots of screening options, and find that none of them are reliable when it comes to reporting civil judgments.  I believe it has to do with the way the state records push into Lexus, where the screening software gleans it from.  I search every city that shows on the tenants, application, ID, paystubs, and credit report.  Below is a link where you can pull civil and criminal for Virginia.

https://www.vacourts.gov/casei...

From the dates you gave above, you lived in the home for less than two years. In order to claim the Homestead exemption, you have to have lived in it for two out of the last 5 years.

Reporting rental property on a tax return is very simple.  Any professional tax preparer can handle three rental properties.  They can only report based on the records you provide them though. 

I don't personally have a minimum credit score.  Rather, I evaluate the credit and civil judgments for threats to the income, overall payment patterns, total amount counted as delinquent/collections.  Part of the credit score formula is average age of the credit lines.  Young people tend to have a lower score, just because of their age.  A person with zero in collections, but only one or two trade lines that hasn't been open long because of their young age, is going to have a low score, even though they show a perfect payment history.

I agree with @Bob S..  Single family home valuations are not based on cashflow, and you don't want them to be.  Part of what you are investing in is the asset.  That valuation should be what you would be able to sell it for should you need to.  Sounds like you fear the valuation is going to come in low, which benefits you as a buyer. 

We don't have a required time-line in Virginia.  I define an expectation in my ads to avoid getting hounded with status questions.  We tell prospects that applicants will be processed within 2 business days of the application being complete.  I disagree with @Richard F. on the premise that applications must be processed on a first in basis.  As long as you are making your decision based on what applicant best meets your criteria, and not on any protected class factors, you have every right to choose the candidate that you feel has the best likelihood of meeting your lease terms.  I even do highest and best with rentals, like we do with sales, if I have more than on acceptable applicant.  We just let them know that we have multiple applicants and ask them what is their best offer of rent amount and lease term.  We have gotten as much as $300 more than ask price with this process.

Your risk if sitting on applications is that the good ones will move on to another property and you will lose them.  Only desperate candidates will let the application sit pending a decision for a long time.

PMing you.

I have units with bedroom that have exterior doors, but none that also only have an interior door  into another bedroom.  I would call the SEC 8 inspection office in your market and ask.  My gut tells me, you need to have a door that enters into some sort of common area on the interior.

Any property that is habitable can pass a SEC8 inspection.  In my area, none of the 7 Housing Authorities would inspect before you purchase. They all do it only after you have accepted a tenant and they have approved the rent amount.  

We have the Source of Income law in Virginia too.  Our landlord tenant act allows us to accept a reservation fee in an instance (like SEC 8) where the lease cannot be signed immediately. We require  deposit or reservation fee be paid within 48 hours of acceptance.  Attached is the receipt we use with a voucher holder when taking a reservation fee. The reservation fee converts to the deposit upon lease signing.  If SEC 8 disapproves the rent, we refund it.  If the tenant just wigs out and never signs a lease (because they found something prettier after you wasted your time), we are due damages that can be taken from the reservation fee.  It protects both parties.