All Forum Posts by: Ben S.

I also did some more searching on area rental rates and am unable to find any single family homes for rent even remotely close to this property for less than $1400, and most are over $1500. Townhomes start at $1300, and some apartments go down to $1200, but even those are very few. As such, I believe these homes will rent for an average of $1450, rather than the $1300 I was intially planning (this is due to learning the homes are a bit larger than I had originally estimated, and it seems rent prices are rising in the area, and my research was a bit more detailed than before). 

As expected, I walked around the property the day after the last day of my notice to vacate, and it appeared most someone was living in most of the homes still. A couple people answered the door, but most didn't though I could hear noise inside. Starting the eviction process (delayed a week due to my wife giving birth to a beautiful baby boy shortly after I walked the property). Hopefully this leg of the project goes smoothly.

At least I did gather some info: It looks like 6 of the 10 homes are block and stucco with the same dimensions (one has a small addition) of 950 sqft. This is bigger than I initially thought (I estimated 850 sqft). I also walked inside the two homes that are in the worst shape (broken down doors and windows, trash inside, etc) and found the floors were solid and the bare parts of the frame I could see were not rotting. None of the rooflines were sagging, though all need new roofs. 

When I went to list my rental with Zillow they had section for other info and one of their examples was must have credit score 650+. I guess at least Zillow allows that. 

Good info, I was going to post because I setup two open houses this weekend, both with confirmed appointments and then generally broadcast to everyone interested (about 15 contacts, 4 confirmed to come to Saturday appointments) and not a single person showed up. I contacted a couple of them and one said their sister had a heart attack and another said they totaled their car. Crazy. Had a couple people who were super interested and who I emailed and talked to on the phone and then they disappeared. Very mysterious. I wasn't being super in depth for screening as I figured I would get enough people through during these open houses and let everyone interested fill out an application and talk to them in person. Now I'm not really sure what to do.

I'll be renting my first home soon and have been reading up on all the criteria for selecting a good tenant. Can I or should I include some or all that on the listing to cut down on people contacting me who don't meet the standards anyway? It'll be 650+ credit score, income 3x rent, no evictions past 7 years, etc. It doesn't look like people usually have that in their listing. 

Thanks

Have enough rentals to make six figures and systems so they are managed. Live (1+ months) in Italy and a few other countries in different parts of the world with my family. Be debt free. Have time to help others.

 Going through a full length eviction (30 days) will be much more expensive with the timing of my other projects than making a couple grand. The word of the eviction officer and judge is I can have people out in less than a week from my notice date, due to my generosity. This is part of a bigger investment portfolio so I have to factor in the overall financial impact, not just in these homes. 

I have not asked for any money. I have already spoken with the eviction officer and everyone is aware of the situation and appreciates that I am being generous in helping the people there. Considering that I likely will need to evict some, and have to deal with more squatters or break ins, and have a rehab phase when I could use some extra eyes on the place, I am trying to be on as good of terms as possible with the police (and others in the county). The people there are very poor and were previously section 8, so I'm doubtful they could afford to pay anything any way. 

As for SWAT, if I do it it would be to just help them and to make some friends who can be helpful in the future. 

I bought some run down houses recently and a local SWAT guy called me asking if was going to demolish them. He said they don't get a lot of training in different types of homes, and it would be helpful if they could use it for a couple weeks. In particular, they would break windows and use small explosives to blast open doors. He said they would of course sign a waiver that I wouldn't be responsible for any injuries due to the condition of the home. He also said if the house was just trashed and I was going to rehab it could they use it and just not use the explosives. I didn't ask then, but if I do it, I will definitely ask to be able to watch the show. 

The second thing (that more people know about) is you can call your local fire department and they will burn down your home to use it for training. The best part is, if they do this, they will haul everything away for free! They have some criteria, and I'm sure they don't even do this in some place, but it's worth a call. 

So, you can potentially help two groups of people out (first SWAT and then Fire Dept) and get your house demolished and removed for free!

Just wanted to give a bit of an update on this deal. Not a ton of movement as I increased the notice to move until the end of the school year as requested by some of the tenants. This delays me another month, but actually is good since I am working on finishing up my other two rentals in Virginia. 

Also, i quickly discovered that I will have squatter issues with these homes, as one tenant moved out and the next day found someone had broken a window and gotten into the house.

I got a call from a SWAT guy asking if they could use some of the homes once vacant for training, especially if I am going to demolish any of them. If you have a house you are going to demo, you can contact the local SWAT guys and ask if they want to train there first, and then call the local fire dept and ask if they want to torch the place for their training (and then they haul it away for free).  

Starting mid June to early July I will hopefully be able to start a bit of work (trash removal will be a big job).