All Forum Posts by: Ben Clark

Hello everyone. I bought my first duplex last year (Owner occupied), so I’m relatively new to this rental business. The duplex I purchased is in good shape, and for the area, it’s more of a higher-end rental. I decided to give one of the bathrooms a little bit of an update (sink, vanity, flooring, paint, lighting) and turned out nice. My question is, how do you all decide on weather or not to do minor updates, such as, paint ((especially paint)), flooring, appliances, etc. the reason I ask is, I second guessed myself when I was done with the bathroom. Sure it looks a lot better, but, does it actually make a difference as far as attracting tenants, getting more for rent, higher appraisal value, etc. there was nothing wrong with the bathroom beforehand, it was just simply out dated (in my opinion). I’m just trying to figure out how to balance out the home side of things vs. the rental property side of things. Hope you all understand my question and have some input. Sorry about grammer and punctuation, I typed this on an iPhone and it’s really glitchy! Thanks

Hello everyone. I bought my first duplex last year (Owner occupied), so I’m relatively new to this rental business. The duplex I purchased is in good shape, and for the area, it’s more of a higher-end rental. I decided to give one of the bathrooms a little bit of an update (sink, vanity, flooring, paint, lighting) and turned out nice. My question is, how do you all decide on weather or not to do minor updates, such as, paint ((especially paint)), flooring, appliances, etc. the reason I ask is, I second guessed myself when I was done with the bathroom. Sure it looks a lot better, but, does it actually make a difference as far as attracting tenants, getting more for rent, higher appraisal value, etc. there was nothing wrong with the bathroom beforehand, it was just simply out dated (in my opinion). I’m just trying to figure out how to balance out the home side of things vs. the rental property side of things. Hope you all understand my question and have some input. Sorry about grammer and punctuation, I typed this on an iPhone and it’s really glitchy! Thanks 

I am unsure of the current lease. I just know it expires the end of August and would assume to be month to month after that. wisconsin law is 28 or 30 days notice to move out, but that’s not really what I’m trying to accomplish. I’m just trying to figure out the best approach/timeframe, to give the current tenant, that his rent will be going up, either September 1st or October 1st.

200.00/month is quite a jump, so I kinda want to give home the extra time to decide and not ruffle any feathers right off the bat, considering he will be my neighbor. 

Thanks 

I have been doing my research on wisconsin landlord/tenant rights along with asking this same question to multiple property managers, just to get different perspectives. I’m kinda leaning towards giving the tenant a 60 day notice of notice of the rent increase, that way, like AJ said I wouldn’t take as much of a chance on potentially missing a months rent as I do not currently have anyone lined up for it, cause i haven’t actually taken ownership yet. 

I’ve also heard (rule of thumb) to try and get 1% per month of the total value of the home, do you guys support that or does it just depend on the property/situation?   Thanks all! 

Hi everyone. So I close on a duplex (I'll be occupying one side) next week in a nice neighborhood where I live here in Wisconsin. I feel like I got a pretty solid deal on this property considering the market. Each side has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, single attached garage, private deck, central air, etc. the place needs nothing and is approximately 1300sq ft per side. Unfortunately, due to my "lack of credit" I kinda had to go through some hoops to get financing and ended up finding a lender that would do an FHA loan. The cost of the property is 192,000.00 And I'm putting approximately 10% down. Since I didn't go with a conventional home loan (20% down) I will have to carry that additional PMI insurance. My approximate monthly payments will be around 1600.00. The current tenant is only paying 750.00/month. His lease is up at the end of August. Ive compared this property with other comparable places in the area and figured 950.00/month would be appropriate. Would you give the current tenant a 30 day notice right away since his lease expires at the end of August? Or would you give 60 days since its quite a bit more money? Also, would you require a year lease right away if they agree to the rent increase? Thanks in advance! I hope someone can relate!