All Forum Posts by: Alvin Sylvain

Quote from @Andrew Garcia:

Hi @Marlon Perez, there are a few things to take into account.

3. Construction could run over budget or take longer than expected.

 Count on it.

Going the construction route, just add those considerations into your plan. It's not just that contractors will paint you an overly optimistic picture, because they will (and not necessarily because they're crooked or anything, people are just naturally over-optimistic), but also there is bound to be something happening that nobody could foresee. Better to be ready for those little surprises than to be knocked on your keister when they happen.

Quote from @Nathan A.:

Quote from @Edwin De leon:

Ok, give me a link to a webinar you are recommending where do i find many Webinars that BP offers ?

They’re listed on https://www.biggerpockets.com/... I’m not seeing any upcoming installments of the Dave Meyer multi family webinars right now but you can catch a replay on the podcast show 694: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

I am glad you were able to point the OP in a direction to find those webinars. I've been on BP for a number of years, and my experience is that particular webinar comes up at least once a month. Always advertised on the Home page. How could could anybody miss it? I mean, it's like I trip over them every time!! :-)

Attend one of the many BP Webinars that cover "How to Buy your First (Second, Third) MF". It's free, and doesn't advertise getting the "Pro" membership too much. (that is, they do, a lot, but the solid information is well worth it).

As I recall, they will also cover using the BP Calculator for working out whether a given deal is worth the investment. You must become comfortable with working the numbers.

We have done gift cards in the past, but not every time. In fact ... I think ... we only did it the first time.

The thing about a "gift basket", what do you put in it? A bottle of champagne? (we don't drink) Cheese? (we're allergic) Nuts? (we're deathly allergic) Nah, if you're going to go that route, the gift card is best (we're vegan, we don't eat at Outback Steakhouse). AAAHHH!

I think there was a similar thread a while back about giving tenants a present for Christmas. As I recall, the consensus was fairly evenly divided between the "yay" and the "nay". I think the long and short of it is, do it if you want to and you think maybe it will make somebody happy, and maybe a happy tenant is a better tenant. But don't sweat it if you don't want to, and maybe a happy tenant should be one with a nice, well-maintained place to live.

Quote from @Curtis Mears:

@Jordan Deaver

In the long run, you should develop a process that is the same for all prospects. You get a prospect and run them through your process. Don't skip steps, even for referrals or friends.

Even more so for referrals or friends.

My Dad swore off being a landlord because his very first tenant, who was a highly recommended friend of a friend, was a complete nightmare.

Long after the fact, I told him, look, I don't care if the applicant is BFF with the Governor, we go through the process.

(especially if he's BFF with the Governor!!)

Quote from @Michael S.:

@Alvin Sylvain

The system uses a password breach detector, and your current password may have been breached. I suggest changing to a new password at least eight characters in length with uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Also, don't use a previous password you have used for other sites. 

I did change the password ... in fact, it wouldn't allow me to proceed until I did!

I know all the password rules, and I changed it to something never used before, anywhere, by anybody.

The system was perfectly happy with that new password ... for all of five minutes ... then forced me to change it again!

I don't mind the extra security, in fact I encourage it ... but if you're gonna be a stickler for bad passwords, then you need to be a stickler at the point in time where the password is created! Not five minutes later!

Honestly, I expect I'm going to get locked out again coz I'm not going to remember what I changed it to.

Is anybody else getting this crap? Then you change your password, and it takes it, then five minutes later IT COMPLAINS AGAIN??

Quote from @Christine Grippi:

Hey there! I use apartments.com which is free for you to run background checks on your potential tenants. They pay a $29 fee for it. I dont accept anyone with less than a 600 credit score typically or have any evictions on their record. If they have any felonies I usually dont accept them unless they are just driving violations.

There are a number of screening services with similar strategies. We have had Zillow, Apartments, and Avail running at the same time for advertising, and I have found we get like 1 or 2 hits per day on Zillow (during the holiday season), but only 1 hit or less per week from the others. I think it may be because it's a House not an Apartment, so Zillow appears to be the "go-to" website for Single Family Residence.

We were using just the Zillow application (also $29), but were disappointed with the lack of in-depth credit reporting. Once the New Year starts, we will try using the Avail application, which is more expensive ($55) but more in-depth. Probably more importantly, Avail can handle the ITIN numbers for immigrants who do not have a Social Security Number, but use their ITIN number to pay their taxes.

@Daniel Patrick Glushko

What's unpopular about it? Sounds like a good strategy to me.

Quote from @Mark Jones:

Did you ask them why the stated more income on their application for ssi than they provided?  Maybe they have another ssi type income that they forgot to give you proof of.  I agree about using overtime.  Since that income varies, it may not be around the entire year and if you are using that as income to pay the rent, they may not have it.  If they have been on their job for a long time and have history of the over time which you should be able to see on a W2 then I would feel more comfortable using it.  

Thanks for your reply. As it so happens, we just went ahead and rejected them. If this one thing was the only discrepancy, we might have looked for an explanation, but it wasn't. Next time we get somebody relying on overtime to qualify, I think that idea of asking for a couple of years' worth of W2 forms is a good idea.