All Forum Posts by: Adam Azam

You can make the strongest wage earner the primary tenant, the person to stay if relationships fail.

If I were you I would change my personal income standard and look at maybe adding other standards that reduce your risk of tenants not following through, such as looking at how long they have had their jobs and how long they have co-habitated. Neither of those are discriminatory since they don't address marital status or another protected class.

Actually had one in our own house a couple months ago. Bought a live trap for $30 at our local farm store. Stuck some marshmallows in there. I guess they like sweets. Caught it a day or two later. Took it out in the middle of nowhere and let it go. Poor guy took off out of the cage faster you can say marshmallows. 
Make sure you cover whatever hole they are getting in afterwards.

Other posters have handled the immediate practical responses. I wonder if this is something that can be added to future lease? 

I had an owner-occupied duplex (over/under, shared utilities, etc) and just had regular homeowners insurance. Although you should also talk with your insurance broker and make sure they know the details of your situation so there aren't any unfortunate surprises later.

Some places you'll be able to inspect both units, some you won't be able to go into until you have made an offer. It just depends on the seller. But your offer should have an inspection contingency, so if you get in there and see anything you don't like you can get out of the deal.

I think you're making a really smart move to start this way. Remember that effective real estate investing can be slow going at first. Don't over-extend yourself, and look forward to the future when the rewards will start to snowball!

@Ray Perez

You could simply have a discussion with her about what she is paying and what the market is charging. Maybe she can afford to get a bump. Maybe you could increase it by $50 every 6 months to get her up to market. Have the tenant take over some of the maintenance of the property to keep the rent lower.

Part of the problem is taxes. Once you take those off the salary, it drops quite a bit. Then you add in the extra expenses and the money is quickly gone. Many people who are long term renters can't save enough money or have problems with credit, hence they are still renting. I have one tenant who on paper takes in more than enough money to cover rent, but she's always having problems because in her words, if she has the money in the bank, she spends it. Hence I get rent at odd times, so she doesn't spend the money.

While the Umbrella insurance policy cannot be standalone, you can have a General Liability insurance policy by itself. While an Umbrella Liability insurance policy is not a requirement, it is highly recommended, if only to help you sleep at night. After all, you have worked hard to build your business, and unfortunately, one claim can have that all come crashing down.

@Waleep Alvi Do you know if rentometer takes currently listed asking rents into account? Or only actual current rents?

Initially, I checked up every couple months but once I got the sense that my tenants were a good responsible family, I reduced the frequency to 6 months. These days, I go in once a year.

@Lucy Smi Depending on how old the roof is they likely won't pay for 100%. At least when I had my quotes they barely paid anything out because my roof was too old in their eyes. You have to decide if it's worth paying the deductible and whatever else out of pocket.