Just purchased our first investment property!

[Joe Garro]

Hello BP Community!

My name is Joe, and I live in Round Rock, TX.  My wife Tawnya and I have been contemplating investing in Real Estate for years, and just last month purchased our first investment property.  (A real nice Single Family 4/2 home in great area in Round Rock, TX)  We both have a great deal of interest to continue to add properties to our portfolio, but are taking things one step at a time, and I'd love feedback or advice on anyone who's willing to share.

Furthermore, we are currently still trying to get the house rented without the aid of realtor to start (as we'd like to avoid the typical one month's rent fee) and I've read and utilize advice from other BP articles. (using cozy, zillow manager, and craigslist to greatest coverage)  I know it's a difficult time for rentals being so close to Christmas, but any additional advice is also appreciated.

Thanks!

Joe

[David Ivy]

@Joe Garro

Congratulations on your first investment! Does the property cash flow? If you're comfortable sharing your numbers, I'd be very interested to see how they work out. Feel free to send me a direct message.

The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M publishes a fantastic Texas Landlord and Tenant's Guide that was invaluable to me when I first became a landlord five years ago. Here are a couple non-obvious points of which you (or others) may or may not be aware:

• In Texas, when the applicant receives the rental application form from the landlord, the landlord must provide, in writing, his or her criteria for accepting or denying the application. Moreover, the applicant must sign an acknowledgement form indicating the notice was provided. The acknowledgment must include the following language or its equivalent: “Signing this acknowledgment indicates that you have had the opportunity to review the landlord’s tenant selection criteria. The tenant selection criteria may include factors such as criminal history, credit history, current income, and rental history. If you do not meet the selection criteria, or if you provide inaccurate or incomplete information, your application may be rejected and your application fee will not be refunded.”
• Landlords running a credit check on prospective tenants as part of the application process must meet several conditions, including: (1) The landlord must get the prospective tenant’s written permission to run the check. (2) If the landlord declines to rent to the tenant based on the applicant’s credit report, the landlord must inform the applicant of this in a “Notice of Adverse Action.” The notice must contain the credit information and a toll-free number or email address where the prospective tenant may contact the credit reporting agency.

There are plenty of other points to note in the guide, which can be found here.