New member from Baker County FL

[Kenneth Davis]

Hello everyone! Im Kenneth, but everyone calls me, and can call me any of the shorts to my long name! Lol! I am a Florida native originally from Miami, Florida whom has lived  around this state searching for the just right home setting. I do currently live just West of Jacksonville, Fl. out on a few acres  which is kind of a nice place to settle for the time being. I'm married to a beautiful loving wife; am living a childhood dream of sorts on a  little hobby farm. 

    I love real estate and have driven all over North Florida in every city and town along all the back roads checking out properties before my very first realestate investment which was a Duplex in Jacksonville. Living in one side and renting out the other in my first investment property really made good sense and spurred my desire to obtain more properties. Fast forward to 2014, I have been a Landlord for 9 years now with 4 properties: a duplex, townhouse, Modular home; and recently a Quadraplex. I find realeste deals and strongly believe the sacrifice of a little distance between properties cant hurt too much and may be more beneficial for the future recessions we will see in our life times.

All of my experiences of screening tenants and renting have been positive for the most part- "having zero evictions to date, but maybe just lucky! My  experience with individuals, from street smarts I learned in South Florida too past careers which included Law enforcement; Corrections; security, along with the library of realestate books I amassed has greatly helped. 

My tenants do stay for years with the exception of 2 whom stayed less than 14 months. My tenants know I am all business with a half smile (I am naturally serious); do know that I am a man of my word, repairing things promptly and managing my poperties to the best I know how. My dilemma is simple, 

      When is strict, too strict, when it comes to screening applicants of the less than savory crowd? Less than savory meaning that individual has an eviction, has poor credit etc. I use Minimum qualifications and do not rent to individuals with criminal records for the saftey of myself, family, current tenants and neighbors near my properties. 

   What do the more experienced landlords here do when it seems like every single appllicant that responds to your ads will lie, straight faced too you, with the discovery of this fact after you check and investigate their information on the application? I have checked tax records to confirm past rental histories and most applicants have no problem lying and thanks to positive re-enforcement of tenants staying several years, I will physically drive to check reference addresses and interview individuals with signed consent forms in hand for this practice. i wish it could be easier than all the effort but maybe that is why I am here, to find easier solutions. sorry about mispelling I never get it 100%.Lol!

[Gerald Harris]

Instead of dealing with every applicant in that way look at the trend of rentals and focus on that group of people who want a quite place to live, fixed income, less stress etc...

The age group of 55 and over on a fixed income with decent credit worked best for me.  

This age group wants a nice, quite place that needs no fix up.   

There are lot of people in this age group who have rented in the past and are heading toward retirement.  

There are many in this age group who are by themselves.  and will take care of your place.  

There really is not crystal ball, but it has been my experience that my stress level has been lessened by focusing on this type of renter

Note:  obviously i don't discriminate, i just use my better judgement, go through the normal screening process and pray :)

[Christopher Hunter]

@Kenneth Davis Welcome to BiggerPockets Kenneth.

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

Welcome to BP community @Kenneth Davis  It is a great place to meet new friends and learn about various aspects of real estate and more. Here are a few recommendations for you:

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

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If you wish to tag someone in the conversation on the forum, type @ followed by their name and then select that person below. He or she will be notified of being tagged so that the conversation will continue.

Wishing you the best! 

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

@Kenneth Davis 

Welcome to Biggerpockets!

What demographic of homes do you have? I have 4 rentals and run my parents 4 rentals. While they are class A properties I NEVER put that much work into applicants. I do a credit/background check, and pay stubs that it.

[Edward Synicky]

@Kenneth Davis 

Welcome fellow Bigger Pockets member! This is a great forum and I am sure it will help you learn many facets of the real estate investment world. I purchased my first investment property over 40 years ago and only wish that I had a resource like BP community when I got started! So you are in a good company.

Some say that your net-worth equals your network, and this is the place to make right connections. You should also find investors locally and network with them face-to-face. Find people close to you using MEET feature. Also, look for investor meetings on Meetup.

All the best!

[Kenneth Davis]

I have one of each class of properties i think, as the prices vary. My Duplex in a an older blue collar area of Jacksonville rents out between $565.00 to $610.00 with a current tenant of 4 years, a townhouse of ours rents out at $1100.00  with the same tenants for 6 years now, Modular Home in Lake City Florida in a middle class neighborhood of mostly houses,  which rents at $750.00 with same tenant for 5 years now; she thought it was an actual house.  Last but not least the D class quadraplex which has a potential of good income if I can find applicants who earn 3 times the asking monthly rent of just $425.00 or $15k annually which is poverty salary, who dont have evictions or criminal records. The Starke was foreclosed on by the last 3 owners and vacant several years before  I purchased it  for just 28K  from retirment money, but Starke seems to be  poorest city," in North Florida or at least that is what I gather when the cost of electricity and whether I will pay for it is a major concern. My Starke property  is a mixed neighborhood, with many retirees and the largest number of young SSID collectors I have ever heard of or seen, from age 18 up and none of which look like they cant work either! 

     I feel l that I can rent to anyone whom has a fairly clean record, but it seems like there are fewer and fewer qualified applicants who see my rentals, when a vacany occurs; Starke also seems to have very bold aggressive  individuals whom have a problem with being told there are minimum qualifications in which they may not qualify. The local Sheriffs office  already knows I  have a hot head who confessed he was being evicted from his current residence and has old criminal history but is  determined to  get me to rent to him! Sorry to say I dont like guns despite my past career and might have to confront this individual at some point; hopefully peace will prevail or he will be arrested and get free housing in jail. My wife might be my back up tommorrow unfortunatly oppossed to two large male German Rottweilers that I planned on having tag along while I complete renovations tommorrow down their with its fully fenced in yard. This guy called my number 4 times today and twice just minutes ago after 10pm, no answer left but Im sure I will have a local deputy close by down the street.  

   Back to the rentals, like my duplex, are usually filled by someone who I let slide in for the learning experience, or atleast that is how I view it with family and friends insisting I am a little strict with my standards for the areas in which my rentals are located. I  have the duplex usually filled with only a month of vacany and have  a lawyer to send them a nasty letter to comply or vacate if the new tenant starts off on the wrong foot with late rent and excuses. I view the screening and landlording of tenants as an exceptionally good game of Chess where you always have to be steps ahead of them. I hear sob stories every now and then from a new tenant or two along with  excuses for why the rent is late but, also know all leases are month to month, no exceptions and the lawyer I work with seems to do well with just a letter to bring them into compliance.

    Lastly I do  advertise mainly on Craigslist which in my opinion caters to a less than savory crowd of bargain hunters and trouble like this weirdo which I suppose will add to the experience of landlording.

[Dave Visaya]

Hey @Kenneth Davis welcome to BiggerPockets! It is great to have you and please feel free to jump in the community - there are certainly great people around here!

And oh, learn how to use BiggerPockets to grow your business by checking this quick guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/biz

See you around!

[Kenneth Davis]

Thankyou everyone for the warm welcome! I hope there will be brighter days and more pleasant conversation than that of Weirdos in Florida!