All Forum Posts by: Jane Z.

We currently have tenants (a couple with three kids) who paid a full year rent up-front in addition to one month Security deposit - $1150 x 13 = $14950 cashier check when signing the lease. They just immigrated to US so don't have any employment, credit or rental history. The father seems having his own business in his native country and fly between US and his native country often. The tenant's brother-in-law and mother-in-law bought houses in the same community so they would like to live in the community as well.

I saw the same craziness in our local trustee sale earlier this year. Some bidders seem defying the economic rule, bid way more than mls listings. At that time, I thought maybe the banks bought back their own properties even though it still does not make a lot sense. For example, the mls listing for similar properties are only $140K, but they bid $160K or more for a property they don't even get a chance to see inside. Since then, I don't go to those trustee sales any more. Maybe someone here could give us an insight on what is going here.

I have read lots of articles lately that those big hedge funds bought lots of SFR and converted them to rentals in Atlanta, which puts a lot of pressure on Atlanta rental markets. I totally agree with their analysis except the situation I experience on the ground is different. When I first invested in 2011, rental markets for SFR were supposed to be very good, but it actually took me a while to find a good tenant. Since May of this year, rental markets for SFR suddently pick up. Between my sister-in-law and I, we have close to 20 SFR, both of us experience the same thing. Granted, our SFRs are in better areas of Atlanta. I just don't understand why and whether this could sustain. I have been waiting for those hedge funds pushing their SFRs to the rental market, but things seem getting better? I am confused. It is not that I don't like it. But I would like to have a logic explanation so I could adjust my investment strategy accordingly. Do any of your Atlanta rental investors feel the same?

I have got a tons of good information from this website and thought it may be time for my contribution. As a full time working professional, I know time is limited for us part-time landlords. But we could still find the quality tenants with minimum efforts if you do it in a systematic way. The following is currently my process after tuning it up for the last three years.

1) Using free google site to create a simple tabbed website, which lists all your business information, application process, application acceptance policy, rental information, application form, pre-application form, FAQ, etc. The website cut down all the talks. Actually no talk is necessary because all the information is out there for them to review any time. I think quality tenants like an informational website. They are busy at working and don't have much time calling around either.

2) On postlets.com, create your rental ads. Postlet ads make your rentals look professional. On the ads, put your website link at multiple places. Postlets will generate a code for your ads. You could plugin that code to your google website so that postlets and your website will be synced all the time. Whenever you make a change to your ads on postlets, it reflects on your website too. On the ads, we mention that we only have open house on Sat and Sun from 2 to 5pm unless they download and fill the pre-application form on our website. We usually have a lockbox on our properties. Once they fill the pre-application form and make an appointment, we will give them the access code once they arrive on the property at the appointment time. We usually change the access code once a week or less.

3) Post your postlets on craiglist. Create more ads at vFlyer, RentLinx, etc. They are all free. But I like postlets ad the best.

4) I use Mrlandlord.com to do the tenant screen. They only charge $10 for screening. I charge $10 non-refundable applicatoin fee per applicant over 18 years old. But on the application form, I say I will reimburse the full application fee during the second month occupany if I accept the application. This way the application fee could cover the screening expense, at the same time not discourage the quality tenants.

5) Take good pictures of your homes. Many times I took more than 50 pictures from different angels and only pick the best ones for the ads. Good tenants like decent-looking houses.

6) Online automatic rent payment is required for all my properties. I use eRentPayment. They charge $3 per transaction. I have nothing but good things to say about their service. With this service, we never need to call our tenants for payments and the rent is always paid on time on the 1st of the month.

7) We always take care of our tenants problems as soon as possible. If a tenant pays rent online, I think he deserves a responsible landlord.

So far my landlord experience is very positive. No single late payment for the last three years.

Thanks for your suggestion. Since we don't live close to those rental properties, it is very difficult to manage them ourselves. Besides, we really don't want to deal with tenants. She charged us the first month rent, and 5% of monthly rent afterwards. The way she handles is that she will give us the tenant applications and her recommendations. We will then have the final say on whom we want to rent. She told us most of her clients never even see the tenants themselves, which she thought it is a good thing because this will take any emotion out of the business. Based on the contract signed between us, we are not even allowed to advertise or interview the clients ourselves for three months.

Actually this $55000 property is the first and cheapest one we bought. The most expensive one is $80000. We have seen close to 200 propertis and only bought 3 so far. The $55000 property is only about 1250 sqft, which may explain its lower price. What we did is redoing the floors, repainting the walls, replacing gutters, HVAC inspection, plumbing inspection, and many other little things. Since this is the first one we fixed, we consider anything we bought as an expense for this house even if it could be used for the next one, such as the pressure washer.

My friend bought her house under $50000, which is more than 1400 sqft. Since the garages have been converted to bedrooms, the house looks much bigger.

Thank you all for your response. I think we are too impatient. When we consulted her before making the purchase, she told us the rental price could be at least $900. After we spent close to $10K on renovation ($55000 on the purchase), she said the house now looks very nice, then put $1250 on the ad. Our own target price is $1000, which is what we consider fair market price.

I also have a question on the merit of changing garages to bedrooms. When my friend bought her property, she specifically bought those properties that have converted the garages to bedrooms. So a single family homes with 3 bedrooms, 2 garages becomes 5 bedrooms with no garage. My friend then justified her higher rental price on more bedrooms. When I mentioned this to my property manager, she said those kind of homes may be bigger, but no life, meaning low appreciation potential in the future because they are not traditional homes. What is your thoughts on this?

Just finish repairing my first rental property. It is a ranch home with 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms. Nice, clean, lots of trees and privacy in a good school district. My property manager took some pictures last Wednesay and put on MLS, which seems also flowing to other websites, such as Zillow. She said she will also post ad on Craiglist soon.

The property manager was referred to me by my real estate agent. I consulted her before I bought any of my rental properties. Since she has been working in property management business for more than 12 years, I thought I should value her opinions a lot. Basically she is against buying at rundown neighborhoods or bad school districts, even though those neighborhoods are at very convenient locations. She values a good school district more than anything else. The other thing is that she prefers not putting a 'For Rent' sign in front of rental properties. Her theory is that internet savy tenants are better quality tenants. Besides, too many 'For Rent' signs make a neighborhood look not very nice.

It is less than one week since we put the ad, but my friend, who bought in a bad school district, but a convenient location, told us she rent out her house even before she finished the repair with a good rental price. I was so sure about my investment strategy, which is only buying single family rental properties with positive cash flow in decent neighborhoods at good school districts. Now I am a little lost. I could buy even cheaper properties in those bad neighborhoods. It seems it is not difficult to get them rent out at all with a good price. I told my property manager my worries. She said it took time to find a good tenant and the tenants she placed before have never live less than a year in the properties, usually several years. The other thing is that I think she put the rental price ($1250) too high. But she said we could lower the price after two weeks if no one responses. I am so nervous now. Not so sure whether my friend or my property manager is right because my friend always argues many houses in good school districts are too far away from the main traffic.

More questions. How do you know which utility companies served in the area? Just google online and called all companies may serve in that area?

Thanks J. You are really helpful. That solves my problem. The properties are in Atlanta and we feel like summer here already.