All Forum Posts by: Alissa Schmitz

I didn't realize Lula was a standalone company, I had only heard of it via TurboTenant. Now that you mentioned this, I looked into it and, at a glance, they offer "Full-Service Maintenance Coordination", which offers the phone answering, troubleshooting, etc. I didn't see pricing, so I'm curious what that is for this subscription.

Thanks for feedback! I wondered about using your own vendors, here's what I found:

"Currently, you cannot directly add your own contractors to Lula's network. However, if you have a preferred professional you'd like to work with, you have some flexibility. During the Lula setup process, select "I will choose which maintenance requests will be sent to Lula" instead of opting for all requests to be sent automatically. With this choice, you can manually assign the request to your preferred contractor using the "Send Work Order" feature whenever a maintenance request comes in. This allows you to work with your chosen professionals while still benefiting from Lula's platform for coordination and communication."

TurboTenant offers a maintenance program for $149 annually; they will respond to tenant issues, troubleshoot, assign to a pro, and charge your card on file (unless it's over your set amount, then they will call to confirm). I don't use TurbotTenant for other features, but am considering using this feature only. Has anyone had experience with this service?

I added my latest rental property to Stessa then clicked the button to syndicate with Zillow, Trulia, and Hotpads. It worked because I can see the listing on Zillow (as someone looking for a rental property). I received a request to tour via email from Zillow Rental Manager (ZRM). I created an account with ZRM, the same email that received the request, but I don't see my listing there. I then created a ZRM account for the email associated to Stessa account, but it's also not visible when I log in. So my question is - how to manage the listing once it's syndicated from Stessa? I would like to be able to respond to messages, schedule tours, etc, within the source site to keep it contained, not via text/email. Thanks for any insight!

I can see that - not wanting to get scammed. And, that's good feedback re: 3/1's being harder, I didn't realize that. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!

We are under contract for a 3/1 SFH in a suburb of Cincinnati. Before making the offer, we did a quick analysis and felt this property could work as LTR and possibly MTR, or STR. Now that we're under contract, I'm debating how to decide which to go for. Here are my thoughts:
- MTR and STR would require furniture so I do need to pick a lane (LTR or MTR/STR).

- We currently have STR and LTR in our portfolio so I'd like to try MTR.

- We could furnish it and go for STR/MTR simultaneously, but we get occupancy near end of October, which isn't the best time for STR. Also, I can't really list it until I have my own proper photos, which means waiting until we get occupancy, so it could potentially sit empty for a while.

My questions are:

- Aside from listing on Furnished Finder, are there any other ways to connect with potential MTR tenants? (ie, connecting to a local hospital to reach traveling nurses or a FB group, etc?)

- Any advice for determining the highest and best use for a specific property?

Appreciate any insight!

Thanks, Steve!

I heard about this off-market deal and I'm wondering if I can make it work. I'll post the property details below but here's the situation:

Owner recently purchased the property this past April (5 months ago) but now has to sell due to personal reasons; would rather not go through the hassle of listing. She will have to rent and would like to stay in the general area for school reasons. I'm looking for an investment property.

- purchase price: $287k; mortgage (from internet): $272,650

- estimated current value: $272,260 (RVM on RPR)

- 3 bed / 2 bath SFH

- potential rent: $1400 (Bigger Pockets estimate); listings in the area for $1700+

- near 2 universities

- potential add value by finishing attic (690 sq ft); otherwise no rehab needed

The owner said she would be asking $305k in order to break even. Regardless, I think the way I can help is to get her out of her current financial situation as easily as possible and have her walk away with some cash to put down towards rental. Her budget for rent is $1500-1600. I could rent the property back to her until she finds something else. Even if the opportunity isn't a "home run" on paper right now, I think there are appreciation and higher rent opportunities in the long-term.

I'm trying to think of different solutions - ie, taking over her mortgage, or paying it off, or transferring the property to LLC then assigning to myself (or my current LLC).