All Forum Posts by: Allen Clark

Love the single piece tub surround vs tile. Love it!

I did this once. I bought the place as a private sale and the seller was aware that I was doing it. I also let any prospective tenants know that I did not actually own the house yet and the expected closing date was x. I did mention it to my lawyer and she said I was fine. 

If the deal fell through then I planned to refund any fees I had collected. 

Personal preference as others have said. My criteria in Seattle is the following:

- < 20 min walk to downtown
- no HOA at all
- I would live in it myself

This lets me charge a premium in rent. Plus I really do not like HOA.

I would do it and then bill them for usage (add it to the rent and include an invoice). If they are moving out the prorate based on past usage. 

Maybe, at some point, you can convert to natural gas?

Start high and then drop. In Seattle if I get great response to an ad it means I under priced. Ideally I want 3-4 people calling off an ad. Too much more than that and I pull the ad and raise the price.

I had this happen to me in Seattle and I went after it as aggressively as I could. I talked with the police and they said this is common and almost always is done by people outside of the country. There is very little they could do to follow up. I signed new tenants pretty quickly and then put very visible signs in the windows that said "This house is not for rent". 

Watermark all your pictures as someone else said. That helps too!

I have a fairly demanding full time job in tech and travel for work as well. So I self manage 4 and that's all I have capacity for. Pretty happy with the 4 I have and have decided to pause (unless something interesting happens to appear).

I rent out premium properties and charge a premium price. I charge a high rent and I don't charge extra fees. This works for me and generally works for my tenants as well. I come in every four months or so to make sure that upkeep is good. I was recently under whelmed with the cleanliness of one of my properties as the tenants were moving out. So we took care of the issue with professional cleaners. No problem.

It's very common in Seattle to charge a $300 non refundable cleaning deposit. I don't charge this today. My theory is that I want people motivated to keep a clean house. If they know that they've already paid for the move out cleaning then maybe they never clean it at all?

This recent move out has me reconsidering that. Maybe I should collect the $300 fee and then that ensures a deep clean when people move out? What are your experiences with this?

Thanks all for the good ideas. The house is currently occupied so there is no risk of a rogue person moving in. Here is what I have done.

- Called Seattle Police and they have all the information. They may decide to pursue the scammer - up to them 

- Briefed my lawyer in case there is an issue in the future

- Posted a huge sign in the window stating "NOT FOR RENT"

- Notified my tenants of the situation so they know not to let anyone in who is claiming that they want to see the place or are considering renting the place

I think I am covered now. I will watermark the photos in the future - great idea. 

Thanks again!

Someone copied my ad and is posing as the owner for a rental I have in Seattle. I have a new renter under contract but I am now worried that this scammer will have others under contract. I have forward the ad to my lawyer for her opinion but wanted to ask here as well. 

Have you had this happen to you? What would you recommend?