First Week of July
Saturday, July 09
Things I’ve been up to this week that aren’t real estate related: Supporting and enjoying local Go Fourth festival. Downsizing my mammoth wardrobe. Harvested first lettuce from my garden. Playing the new Pokémon Go augmented reality game. Pokemon regularly wander into our living room, so thou...
Jury Duty
Friday, July 01
My life has been on hold the past two weeks. Jury duty.Had to serve 3 of the 10 days.They say the best way to get out of jury duty is to read the Wall Street Journal. How about material about real estate?Day 1, read all my magazines, including old issues of the neighboring county’s landlord ass...
Contemplating PM Change
Friday, June 24
Looking at switching property managers. Giving another look to a local PM that I’ve avoided due to letting units sit empty too long between turns. Sounds like they make it up with longer tenancies.Here’s a comparison for a one bedroom unit in a duplex.CURRENT PMRent $650Security deposit of $250...
The Cost of Eviction
Thursday, June 16
The coast of evictions vary widely by area, but here is our experience:Some of the info leading up to this post:https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4445/48448-mixed-up-move-ins https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4445/49465-this-week-eviction-security-systems-and-noticeEviction by the dates:Novem...
Screening Process Checklist
Thursday, June 09
So far our latest new tenant is working out to be a great fit. Sigh of relief, that is not always the case.Here are the steps we go through to screen a tenant:Ensure adults have signed the application to authorize landlords to validate the information and run credit and background checks.Verify ...
Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor: Deductions
Friday, June 03
This week I started reading The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor by Amanda Han.I’m a CPA, but non-practicing, and I never did much with taxes. I feel pretty savvy, but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something. So far I’m just confirming my knowledge, but I’m far f...