All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@Rueben Pacheco I believe it’s a personal decision but I’ve always kept separate accounts for separate properties and separate businesses. I like being able to quickly go into my online banking and access my “3-Plex” and see that I have $18,127.94 as a balance and when the electronic deposits were made and what day the mowing service check cleared and then flipping over to the mortgage account and transferring the payment due 10 days early and seeing it clear the next day.

As opposed to having to wait and figure out if the mortgage check cleared one day before it’s due from a big account with $60,000 in it from all my properties and 5 mortgage payments going out the same day and 30 checks clearing every day which I feel is more complicated than separate accounts.

@Jacob Claxton I have used Lowe’s for various things with no problem. However on some window installs I did in an old house once their contractors did not remove the hundred year old double hung weights or insulate the space where those weights were so in the bitter cold of New Hampshire winter the new insulation value of the windows only helped so much because cold air was still leaking in from the spaces left between the walls.

My advice is be very specific if you have special instructions regarding your flooring/installs for whatever you have box stores do as their contractors want to move on to the next job as quickly as possible.

@Oliver Santiago I bought a 4-plex in February with a 20 year tenant in it. He has lived in several units since moving in. Originally his rent for a 1 bedroom was $450 for an upstairs unit. About 6 years ago he moved into a renovated 2 bedroom first floor unit as he is now 77 and a little shaky. (I called him one morning and he had fallen and I had to call 911).

2 months prior to listing the building the owners made the existing rents current, and now this gentleman pays $775, the 6 year tenant pays $750 for a 1 bedroom, where previously he was paying $550.

The other two tenants are new and pay fair market rent.

It is possible to let long term existing tenants know what current rents are and weigh their options on the new rate versus moving. My building is extremely nice compared to others and is convenient to the locations in the village it is located in which for the long term tenants was necessary as the older gentleman walks and the other one cycles.

If anyone moves I will likely upgrade to stainless steel appliances, call it a day assuming no damage, and raise rents closer to the $850, $825 range.

I’d try to raise their rent by $100 this year, let them know the market rate is higher, not do renovations, and if they stay raise it another $100 the third year. Unless the market takes a huge leap in rental prices you save the reno cost, avoid any turnover cost, keep excellent tenants and get the fully paying tenants on the other side.

@Neel P. While it can go either way I just negotiated $100,000 off a $300,000 as is house because the repairs needed were so significant and the seller truly was unaware of them until my inspection disclosed them. So you never know until you ask.

But if it’s a bunch of small stuff they may say no.

@Mindy Jensen Booked in and so excited! Convinced my spouse to come and participate and she wanted to attend mostly different conferences than me so we’ll get twice as much knowledge! Woot!! Staying at the Sheraton.

@Tyler Stephenson My market is so hot right now for rentals that I’m will to try to rent a unit sight unseen. I have a unit that needs some work but from some comments I’ve made on Facebook I’ve had a couple of people approach me about if I have anything available.

Im going to send them the application and have a phone interview while the unit is being worked on. I figure if I can find a great tenant without having to go through the 30 people who will apply if I do have to put it on the open market I’m that much better off!

@Jayden Hamilton In my state it varies town to town and utility company to utility company.

In my SFH the water and sewer have to remain in my name and I pay the bills but I can charge the tenant the cost of the bills after the fact.

The electric in this particular town I can put in the tenants name and have shut off when they leave, or I can have it return to my name if they turn it off. I’ve chosen the option of turning it to my name because if it gets cut off in the winter my heat won’t run.

@Aaron Steinfeld I don’t know if you could do this with Section 8 but in my regular lease I state that for every individual that moves in after the allotted 21 days visiting time that I give them, that has not signed a lease there will be a $100 per month charge additionally to the regular rent, and they must be also fill out the application and once approved sign a lease.

So far this hasn’t been a problem for me, I had one tenant ask to move in her boyfriend and at the same time he applied and signed the lease we just negotiated an adjusted rent rate and signed a new year long term so it worked out well for me and so far so good!

@William Mitchell Also once you pay down the credit card debt I would think you can expect to see your credit score go up considerably which will help you get better rates on your financing if you need financing.

@Matthew Lindsey While I agree with @Nathan G. in theory that if he’s been doing it for the past 2 years it’s probably fine, you might just run it by your insurance agent to check and be sure and that may answer your question once and for all regarding what they tell you about your coverage for liability.