All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I use the budgeting feature for personal expenses, but fairly loosely. It's a way for me to quickly see on the dashboard once you login how my personal spending is going throughout the month for each budget category. If I didn't create budget categories I would have to go to the trends and pull graphs, etc., which requires a few more steps.

It's definitely help me identify where my money is going each month and be more conscience with my spending. Of course, this all relies that all your transactions are properly categorized.

When a transaction posts for a particular vendor click on "edit details" for that particular transaction and there should be an option to create a rule - "Always rename xxxx and categorize as xxxx."

I've been using mint for about 2 years and love it. I use it to track all my expenses - personal expenses and real estate. I have it tied into all my credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and mortgages. What I use most is the trends graph over time, which allows me to see my personal expenses and income over time. There are a bunch of other useful graphs like net worth graph and all the data can be exported to spread sheet. As far as separating personal and real estate income/expenses I created a custom tag "real estate" and tag all real estate activity with that tag. In the trends view you have the ability to hide transactions that have a specific type of tag. It's great way to consolidate all your transactions in case if you need to go back a few months or years to track down a particular expense.

I have yet to protest my taxes yet (stupidity on my part), so this year would be the first for me. Some of this information I got from talking to other realtors, investor, instructors and the like. I can't vouch to say that any of this works, but it's definitely something I will try this year and would like to hear if others have success in doing so as well. Unfortunately, this would only apply to Texas because of the State Property Tax Code. But I would encourage others to find something similar in other states.

1. Submit written notice at least 14 days prior to your hearing requesting what evidence the appraiser will be using to determine your property assessment value. Referencing the Property Tax Code-

The advantage for property owners is that they can know in advance what data (e.g. comps) the appraiser used or plan to use to calculate your assessment value at the hearing. But it doesn't stop there.

What I understand this to mean is that in your hearing the appraisers can ONLY use the data/comps that the appraiser already provided to you.

2. Unless if I'm reading this wrong, foreclosures cannot be excluded from determining property assessment values according to the Texas Property Tax Code.

I plan to literally print this section of the tax code and bring it to my hearing in case if the appraiser excludes any of my comps that are foreclosures.

3. From what I heard when you protest your property taxes you're given a scheduled date/time for your hearing. In some cases the hearing can be in front of a panel of several or just one. However, I've heard others say that you can walk-in any day/time before your formal hearing and request an informal hearing the day of. The advantage of this is that you catch the appraisers off guard so to speak or give them limited time to prepare for your case.

Again, I haven't tried this myself since this would be the first year I will be protesting my taxes. But would like to hear if others have any success in the above.

Sorry to hear about not getting any late or legal fees. From my (limited) experience my impression is that the rules vary from courts to courts and from judge to judge. In one case where I had to file an eviction I tried to loop in late fees in the case filing and the county clerk asked me to only include the rent that was outstanding and actually went through the exercise of calculating the pro-rated amount of non-payment of rent to the dollar. I would say that YMMV in terms of what amount you can claim in a FE&D claim for non-payment of rent. It seems that some courts allow you to include late fees and some don't in your case filing, but it doesn't hurt to request for it in front of the judge, whether or not it was in the petition. In the case when I was not allowed to list late fees the clerk deferred me to go to small claims court for that amount.

In your notice to the tenant I would include late fees and other costs allowable dictated by your lease agreement. As far as filings in the county if they let you include other misc fees (late fees, attorney fees, etc.) in the petition do it so you don't get short changed as with @Dick M.

You can also call the county clerks office that your property falls under and ask them. I had to call at different times of the day since some clerks were grumpier than others. If you have time on your hands find out what days the eviction hearings are at the county and sit in on several hearings. You'll learn a lot just hearing other people go through eviction hearings. I've found that was a great way to "recruit" prospective attorney's that you've been impressed with and ask them for advice in your particular case. Great way to seek free legal advice! YMMV

In the notice I've always included both the rent and accrued late fees. For me it's the amount you are willing to accept from the tenant to not evict the tenant. However, when I file for eviction in the JP courts I only specify the pro-rated rent amount that is owed when I fill out the forms. When you actually go in the court hearing you can request a judgement for the non-payment of rent, late fees, attorney fees if any, and court costs when you present your case. That's been my experience with the JP / County courts in Dallas.

Welcome Ozzie. You definitely come to the right place for info!

If you decide to go the "not pet" route, you should also include verbiage in your lease on what the penalties are if a pet is found on the property. E.g. Tenant to be in default of the lease, initial fee and/or daily fee until pet has been removed, etc.

I used to not allow pets at all, until I found out that some tenants were bringing in pets without me knowing. I found that even if tenants say they don't have any pets, they still do! Now I charge a pet fee or increase the monthly rent along with a pet deposit to cover my cost. You might also check to see what type of pets/breeds are allowable by your insurance with your premium going up.

I would check your state statute to see exactly what they require. They may only require one notice, two, certified, not certified, etc.

At least in Texas...

As for doing this online, I would also like to know too. The local postal offices have been PACKED this past week.