All Forum Posts by: Bienes Raices

I've been getting a very slow trickle of responses to my ads (perhaps due to the time of year, I'm not sure). There is nothing wrong with the property that would make it hard to rent. The people who've been responding have a FICO in the 500s and/or other issues.

I was thinking of dropping the rent further to get someone decent in there soon (I've already dropped it $100 over the past couple of weeks). Is this a good idea or will I just end up getting an even worse applicant pool by doing this? Thanks.

If you use cash remember to check whether the former owner pulled permits for any additions or other major changes to the house. Not a big deal to check but there will be no lender there to catch these things.

@Matt P.

Hola....this person's main source of income is a business they "just bought" (don't know the date) so I have a strong feeling they are not going to be able to produce tax records from last year to prove income, and I know the SSI income alone will not be enough to cut it. I'm actually more concerned about the business than the SSI because both partners work there and of course there is a high chance it could fail. If I determine on the phone that they can't produce the tax records I'm just going to tell them I have to pass.

@Matt P. I'm concerned about a significant other or relative moving in (I had suspicions of this at one of my other houses).

@Chris Da

It's so obvious that the SSDI is being milked, at least here in Florida...this time it was the child who was on it but normally the profile seems to be a single mother under 35 or 40 with at least two kids, from what I've seen.

I have a tenant with a real disability who collects, and a friend who's on SSDI, food stamps, etc., so I get the legitimate side of it too, but you'd have to be blind to see what's going on.

I have Safeco now for my umbrella and my agent told me they will do up to 16 houses under it. I think Traveller's (which I used to have) would only do up to 4.

My lease, which I bought from a lawyer, says "a reasonable number of guests may stay for up to 72 hours without getting landlord's permission". I was wondering if that was typical of what other people are using in their leases or if there's something better I should change it to. Thanks.

thanks Kyle--that makes sense

Nature's Miracle (normally used to remove pet stains) works well. Just be sure to apply to an inconspicuous area first as a test.