All Forum Posts by: Adam Beckstetdt

So I closed on a property that is 6 units. It has 3 electric meters. One for two units. One for 3 units. And one for a larger commercial building that I may rent to more than one tenant. Gas and water are all on one meter. I know most of you will say to not have joint meters but it is not always possible/feasible. I know some of you would walk away from deals like this so please bear with me.

Separating the utilities would be very costly and the current tenants are used to paying a $200+ premium for utilities included. The premium covers the last 12 month average of bills so I am not overly worried about costs however only two of the units are rented currently. 

My questions fall below.

Does $200 a month sound high? Ive never priced this out before as typically I have always ran formulas and dealt with them paying the utilities.

What are some best practices to help reduce the utility bills? I want to ensure the amount is reasonable for the area for incoming tenants. If I can reduce the bills and lower rents I may however I definitely want to make sure the bills are paid. It can make or break the property if abused.

Any other things I should be concerned about. TIA

Welcome to BP. I am also in FW and started buy and hold this year. I now have 8 units and 6 pending. It's been an exciting year and I will agree that you need to act fast. Getting that first deal is critical. If I can help in any way let me know. Maybe lunch some time.

Another thing I was thinking. So after the pre-screening of a tenant what paperwork do you do with them. 

Currently I;

Get a signed lease

Give them a lead-based paint disclosure or email it to them

Make sure there are appropriate smoke & CO2 detectors and have a signed form. Install if needed

Have a unit inspection form to go over current condition

Is there anything else? Or is anyone willing to share their forms?

I was thinking of charging them but crediting them with the first months rent if everything was fine. Thoughts on that? If they got paid back then I would think that would be considered as not paying for it. Thoughts?

Also, I just closed on a property that has current tenants on month to month with no deposit and screwed up paying days. One pays twice a month and the other pays the 3rd wednesday for the month. I know everyone would have a different solution on how to resolve this but I thought I would throw it out there. I am concerned they wont be able to give a deposit and move the monthly payments back to the 1st. I thought about not doing a deposit but I really dont like that idea. Then I thought maybe I could give them 3 months to convert to paying on the 1st and providing a deposit. 

TIA

You all have submitted some great info and I greatly thank you for that. So it seems like you all prescreen people and then have the applicant pay for a full screening if you choose them. Is that correct?

My wife and I looked over Buildium and Cozy last night as a starter. We really like being able to take payments from those sites. 95% we will use Cozy. I know in our research that the payments can get delayed about a week but as long as I can see they paid I know they are working on speeding that up. If anyone has comments about either of these I'm interested to know what you think. It seems like I will need Buildium when I get 50+ units but I am not there yet and having something would be better than nothing at this point. 

Currently I have 2 units, 1 rented, 1 just closed on and getting repaired, closing on a 6 unit tomorrow, and another 6 units within a month. The first unit I had already had long time tenants in it so I never had to screen anyone however I will need to start looking for tenants in the next two weeks.

My plan is to use Transunion for the basics of the screening. Is this something the applicant typically pays for?

I was thinking that someone told me they would prescreen applicants before they scheduled a showing so as not to waste either parties time. It seems like both of you show people first and then screen them if they apply. Is that right?

I guess I initially thought about a prescreen when I would take a call and then show them if they passed that. This would be simple questions on my end and nothing ran through a service though. If thats not typical then I dont know if I want to do that now though.

Looking into forms further I end up seeing other forms that some landlords use. Like ones that show the rules of the household. I was also just talking to a landlord that has the tenant pre-fill out the eviction form tenant info "in-case". He doesnt file anything however he has the form ready to go and it shows the tenant that you are willing to file for an eviction if needed.

I am looking to see what people are using for processes on screening tenants. Meaning what forms/communication do you use and when to screen a potential tenant and the paperwork to get to rented. I'm sure the process I have setup can improve and I am looking for feedback. We have reviewed the BP forms as well. On top of the forms used there is an unlimited amount of items that can be included/excluded from them. I look forward to your feedback and help.

Welcome Todd. The info and people on BP will give you some great info. I recommend you hit some local meet ups as well to get to know people and processes better. If there's anything I can help with just let me know.

@Thelonious Jones Are you wiling to share how much you use it and pricing? Most services I am finding dont post pricing. If I remember correctly the service I used only charged per call.

After searching and searching for the right deal I rather took a deal that I probably wouldnt have normally. I bought a SFH for cash with multiple exit strategies. Since my main goal is passive income and it already has a few year tenant in it I will plan to keep it.

While I am excited for this deal it brings me to a big question. While I plan to manage the first few rentals up until I get so big or just plain get tired of issues I want to setup an easy process for now. Does anyone use a phone answering service. Years ago we had used a phone service that would screen phone calls and only relay the important calls. Everything else would be sent to you in an email batch for you to handle.

Any experience with services that are out now?