All Forum Posts by: Robert Steele

No automatic raises. Raise or lower rents as the market dictates. Good tenants are an asset - so below market rents for them is perfectly acceptable.

I give tenants 60 days notice of a rent increase. They are only required to give me 30 days. This way they have 30 days to shop around and don't make a knee jerk reaction.

I have to agree with all the advice given but it doesn't seem fair that bully tenant's get to ride roughshod over us landlords.

Robyn Roberts post the name of your PM so other Austin landlords know not to use them.

I agree.

I've seen this kind of thing escalate out of control to the point where the landlord lost the property.

What happened was the tenant was awarded triple damages because the landlord wrongfully withheld the security deposit. The landlord didn't pay the damages. The tenants got a judgement and forced the sale of the property.

Gary West I have found this online calculator very helpful in answering that question.

http://www.timevalue.com/products/tcalc-financial-calculators/accelerated-mortgage-calculator.aspx

Paint the interior with oil based exterior paint. After that you won't even notice the tobacco smoke. >-)

If you are doing REI with your spouse you better make damn well sure they are 100% committed or it will likely end in tears.

From experience being married and maintaining separate bank accounts and splitting costs is a recipe for a divorce either inside or outside of REI. Is that what you were asking or did I miss the ball completely?

Getting the mortgage on rental properties in both names if you don't need to in order to qualify is a dumb move because you will limit yourselves to 10 mortgages instead of 20.

Mark Ferguson That's awesome! I think it boils down to being proactive like you said.

Touchstones that I think are important to keeping vacancy rates low:

* Knowing when the lease is going to expire and finding out in advance what your tenants plans are.
* Having quality properties as they are quicker to re-lease.
* Having quality tenants that don't trash your place. Trash causes delays in re-leasing because you cannot show it to prospective tenants. Then there is the increased make-ready time once they move out. Quality tenants often come with quality properties.
* Having a good relationship with your tenants by making them happy while still being firm but fair. I make my tenants happy by addressing their concerns immediately. Such as taking care of repairs issues as soon as they come up and giving them small concessions when requested (yes you can get a second pet with deposit, OK I will install a ceiling fan in that room for you).

I also had a tenant terminate their lease early. It was last year. They paid 2 months rents to get out of it because they wanted to buy a house. I had it rented the very next day. I wonder if that counts as a negative vacancy rate? ;)

Gimme a break. That means your property is vacant for 1 month out of the year. If your turnover is every 11 months and it takes you 1 month to re-lease then you are doing something wrong.

My "actual" vacancy rate calculated over the past 4 years is 2%! Most of the time my tenants stay for 2-3 years. I have tenants at the moment that have been with me for 8 years.

When a tenant gives me notice that they are moving out I put the house on the market a few weeks before they move out and half the time I have qualified tenants moving in the next day after the current tenant moves out. The other half of the time it takes maybe 1 to 2 weeks.

That said, I rent out $200K properties. It may be different in the $50K world.

I always ask for bank statements. I even ask for tax returns if they are self-employed. Just make sure to have them sign IRS form 4506T "request for tax return transcript" to discourage them from making up a tax return.

As Jon said, rental history and income are paramount.

Good information Roberta Langford thanks!
Hopefully I will get to make use of it one day.