All Forum Posts by: Robert Steele

Look up your state property code. It should all be spelled out there. In Texas, if I recall correctly, the landlord is not required to make any repairs while the tenant is delinquent in payment of rent.

I agree that the ball valves are the way to go. My father in law is a retired plumber and he swears by them.

Be careful if the house you're purchasing is a foreclosure. Under the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, tenants have the right to stay in their homes after foreclosure for 90 days or through the term of their lease.

I wrote a blog here on Bp about this topic a couple years ago that you might like to check out.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/1028/blog_posts/5924-1-mortgages-now-what-

Mold equals opportunity!

As mentioned the mold re-mediators are rip off artists and according to Texas state law you don't need to use them if you follow some simple rules.

I wrote a blog on this several years ago here on BP. It contains links to the law and the insurance issues you may run in to.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/1028/blog_posts/5926-real-men-love-mold

Seeing you are from Texas I would like to point out that Quit Claim deeds in Texas are worth about as much as toilet paper.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/real_estate/Texas-deeds.html

I agree with Rob K - on the properties offering Quit Claim deeds it seems like the MERS/Robosigning scandal has occurred with them. The bank cannot prove they own the title so they are just selling it without warranty.

I would run, not walk, away from any of these "deals".

Wow. I hope it is all tile, vinyl or laminate because that is going to be a hell of a lot of carpet to replace every few years.

A couple of general points:

1. You can still get all the profit tax free from the sale of the house even if you decide to sell it after being a rental. Providing you lived in it for 2 out of the 5 past years (double-check that).

2. If you have been putting off maintenance (new roof) or improvements (patio, dishwasher) while living there then by converting it to a rental you can now get tax deductions if you decide to go ahead and do them.

We always hear about the nightmare tenants from hell so I thought I'd post about my dream tenants from heaven.

They have rented from me for over two years. Never late. and they've taken very good care of the place.

Now here come the real sweet part. They wanted to break the lease in order to buy a home. I told them that they could move out but per the lease they would have to pay rent up until I could find a replacement tenant. They didn't want to do that. Instead they paid 2 months rent to get out of that obligation under the lease!

I have new tenants lined up to move in the day after they move out.

See there are some dream tenants out there too.

Bundled with my home and auto policies it is about 4% of the rent. Standalone residential policies 6%. Commercial policy for bundle of SFHs %5.