All Forum Posts by: Bill S.

@Brian Flanagan welcome. Tell us a little bit more about yourself. What skills and experience you have that you think might be useful in the jobs you are considering.

@Clare Cui - I don't ask the prospective tenants questions aside from a preliminary qualification check and our rental application. The saying in the business is (it's a bit jaded I admit) "see the tenant's lips moving, see the tenant lying." We do have a general section on our application and ask the following questions.

Have you been served a late rent notice in the last 7yr?

Do any of the people who would be living in the apartment smoke?

How long do you think you would be renting from us?

Have you ever filed for bankruptcy? if so, when?

When would you be able to move in? have you been convicted of a felony in the last 5yrs?

Have you ever been served and eviction notice? if so when?

How many animals do you have? (list type, breed approx weight & age)

Have you ever had reoccurring problems with your current landlord? if yes, please explain:

Why are you moving from your current address?

List any verifiable sources and amounts of income you wish to have considered (optional):

If you were to run into financial difficulty in the future and couldn't come up with the money to pay rent, do you know someone that would loan you the money? if so, provide the person's name, address, & phone number so that we can use them as a reference for you.

Have you been party to a lawsuit in the past? If yes, please explain why:

We may run a credit check and a criminal background check. is there anything negative we will find that you want to comment on?

How did you hear about this apartment?

Do you know of anybody else looking for an apartment? please provide their name and number. if you refer a friend and you each end up renting separate apartments from us then we will pay you a referral award.

Again we hold these answers loosely and use them to guide our questions to their references. 

We also check their social media postings. Most know to make those private but not all do and you would be surprised what shows up on those.

The bottom line is dig, dig, dig. I tell prospects that are moving in with the SO that I probably know more about their partner then they do from a financial standpoint.

@Clare Cui my questioning starts with a couple easy short answer questions (a sort of "yes" set"). Things that verify data the applicant provided like when they lived or worked there, how much was rent or their pay. Then I move to something like, how did you find them as a tenant/worker (meaning how did the lead come to them)? I ask them any late payments, or no show no call for work. I ask if they would rent to them again or hire them again. If I don't find people talking freely and glowingly, it's a pass. I get three of each job and tenancy. So current job, and prior job and then the one before that. Out of those 6, If I can't get at least 2 people to talk to me or I get any negative feedback from anyone, it's a pass.

Finally, no matter how good/bad the credit any collections related to housing (except cable company). 

Also to @John Steffen's comments about stories. I pretty much go deaf when people start with a story. I literally don't care what their story is. If they say that their landlord treated them poorly or any talking bad about a landlord it's a no go. While I know there are bad landlords, it is typically the case that good tenants know how to avoid bad landlords. At best these folks lack good judgement which to me makes them a bad tenant.

Remember, a vacancy is a blessing compared to a bad tenant. Keep looking.

@Emily Gowen so as you pointed out you would not have to do a 1031 exchange on your current home to avoid the capital gains tax and coupled with what Dave Foster pointed out I think, speaking from experience you would have a high likelihood of success. 

I think you should seriously consider your financial goals and strategies. It's doesn't really sound like you are much into being landlords so doing a 1031 might just change from "annoying when things come up" to full fledged head aches when you buy more and or larger properties in your current market. I would suggest you do some soul searching before you make and decisions to sell. Figure out how you want to handle you investing and what role real estate plays in that. 

@Masyn Grant Barney so I think you are bit jaded in your statement that a 4-plex sells for $1M and only rents for $4800 per month. We have similar numbers here in Denver for the sale prices of 4-plexes but our rents would be in the $6k per month if you picked the correct property, offered the right amenities, and marketed it correctly. While this is not a huge cashflow generator, it's much less in the red than you indicated. In addition, right now you can probably find one for less than $1M if you also negotiate hard on some overpriced listings that have sat on the market.

I think you are falling victim to negative thinking and bad press. I would encourage you to investigating some of the deals that have sold and learn how those folks are making them work in your market. Sure some will just be stupid money and some will not cash flow and the owners don't care. At the same time you should be able to find a few deals that people have made work and you can see what can they did to make them work.

@Meghan Begue - I have investigated moving to STR to increase cashflow. I cannot get over the hump with that, more time, more work and more costs for me and I can't convince myself that the juice is worth the squeeze. My suggestion is to focus on loan paydown, property appreciation, and tax benefits rather than the cash flow or lack there of from the investment. There are still several powerful wealth generators from a long term rental and cash flow is not the only one.

Also, I have heard that after you have built enough equity, you can refi out of the VA loan into conventional financing and then use your VA benefit again. Check this out with your lender but that might be the best way to approach the acquisition of future properties vs using cashflow to save up for another down payment.

@Clare Cui so I don't have an answer. Generally speaking, I avoid co-signers. If I allow them, they must own real estate and have impeccable credit. It has been my experience that problem children will present themselves in the screening process if properly screened. My advise would be to do more phone calls to past job references and living situations and ask open ended questions. If you are careful and listen well you will be able to see through the smoke and mirrors to the real applicant. Also the market has softened and it take longer to fill vacancies. Be patient. The days of posting on Friday and having an approved applicant by Sat pm are gone for the time being. Stay the course and look at upping your marketing approach. Get better pictures, stage the space and make sure it looks and smells great.

@Shane O'Neill Boulder and East Knoxville. You are in two completely different worlds. I don't really have anything to say but good luck to you.

@Sara Valentine shame on you for not requiring the tenants to abide by the lease. You now have a "situation" do deal with.

Now to the situation. How can you prevent them from DIY? You can't. If the lawn is in good shape minus normal wear and tear when you get the property back. Who cares what it looked like for months up to that point?

Per Colorado law, your lease can give you up to 60 days to return the deposit (which it should if it was drafted by a competent landlord attorney). You should know by then if the sod sticks or not. That said, you are far too concerned about a small patch of grass. Let it go, if it's gone when you get the place back, fix it and charge them. You will have to demonstrate to the court that the costs were reasonable. What is "reasonable" depends on the judge hearing the case. If what is there when they give you property back is good, no harm no foul.

In the future, your lease should strictly prohibit animals that are not on the lease (which should already be in your lease). Beginning and end of story. If they want to keep the animal pay the lease break fee and find a place that takes pets. Otherwise the pet is gone. Being kind and generous will only cost you money not to mention heart ache. Case and point being this post.

@Shane Petersen from my experience, your best bet is to find and insurance broker that sells SafeCo. They will also have other companies that they can place the policy with. What makes you unhappy with the current company? If it's just the cost, insurance costs have soared and some companies have completely withdrawn from the state. I have seen my rates double in the past 5 years. I also had some property I had to find different carriers for as well as having them remove the roof from coverage and other lame games.