All Forum Posts by: Blair F.

George Smith I email my tenants a welcome packet when I receive security deposit from them. First thing listed under "Before Move-in date" is electric & gas set up. I provide a link to electric company set up page and suggest they schedule turn on/transfer ahead of time so they are all set up on move in day. Lesson learned sound sounds like, good luck!

Ty Monroe I've lived next to my tenants for two years no problems. Question for you, are you currently a renter or have you been a renter from a small landlord before? Treat your tenants how you as a renter would want to be treated. Rent increase: do it at the beginning of a new lease term, give plenty of notice, if they are not comfortable with it they have the choice to leave and not renew the new lease. That's how I would want to be treated. Also I agree with the last comment to screen the tenants well, have strong criteria and you will have reasonable people as renters.

Matthew Mason I recently refi my duplex out of FHA. I agree with comment before. Think you are asking the wrong question. 1) how are you going to refi to conventional? Has the market increased/you made improvements to now have 20% equity on new appraisal? It took me a 1.5 yrs to do this. 2) how are you going to qualify for FHA mortgage number two while having mortgage 1? Do you make enough to qualify for both on your income? What is your debt to income ratio? Once you have two years of rental income on your tax returns you can count a portion of rents toward income in qualifying for the mortgage. Would speak to your mortgage guy about that. Good luck!

Pete Kelly quickbooks online

Daniel Alegre I use Cozy.co and really like it. Free for landlord, free for tenant. I have an A class rental so my tenants seem to like the ability to auto pay and do everything electronically. It also has credit report options

Daniel Green have you considered moving into the duplex? You may want to confirm with someone more experienced, however it is my understanding that once you have two years of rental/landlording income on your tax return you can count a portion of the rental income in your debt to income ratio for conventional lending. I currently live in a duplex and plan to use this strategy to buy the next one

Paolo Ruggieri shotguns are popular in New Orleans as well. From my experience, people prefer a renovated shotgun where either a hallway has been added or the kitchen had been moved forward to front with living room. I would say it depends on the current condition of the duplex. Some shotguns the kitchens are in such bad shape a total renovation is needed, in that case l would move kitchen up and create open living dining space rather than put in full brand new kitchen in the back. But probably depends on your end game and if you are looking to sell at some point.

Paul Herrera I believe that once you have two years of rental income on your tax returns you can count a portion of the rental income from your first duplex to offset your first mortgage in your debt to income ratio, then you would be free to qualify for a new loan.

Chris Conroy you must live in the home for 1 year with an FHA. Additionally, you can only have one FHA mortgage at a time. Therefore you would have to refinance out of the FHA before you could get another one

Christian McGourty I refinanced out of my FHA after 19 months, probably could of done sooner but I waited until a few improvements were complete. I'm in a hot zip code, property went up 21% with improvements. I think that was just lucky with the market. Also few other points. I asked about 5 or 10% down conventional in my area and they would only do it on a single family home, not multi-family. Also, back to counting income for debt to income, with 2 year rental history I believe only 75% of income is counted. That may vary by lender but something to be aware of. Don't buy too much on the first one.