All Forum Posts by: Deborah Burian

While you can theoretically raise the rent, you might very well be better off to look at a 20 applicant pool as a wonderful thing and carefully select a high-quality, long-term tenant at your current price.  Best wishes in whatever decision you make.

You have to balance the courage of your convictions with your ethical responsibility to rent to a qualified tenant.  If you think she's lying, you are seeing some evidence, can that be quantified?  In our community we can look up everyone's court history which often makes a short end to a difficult tenant applicant.

We are transitioning all rents to an ePayment system (eRent.) We have a small number of long-time tenants who are always going to write a check and we have 'grandfathered' them through but we no longer accept tenants who can't manage the eRent.  This is a larger city though and that may not be an option in smaller communities with a less diverse tenant pool.  We made the transition due to the relative unreliability of the U.S. Postal service.  We have NEVER accepted checks at a physical location nor traveled around to collect rents.  Life is too short to chase the rent.

You're also in Moore, OK which, in spite of being a major tornado alley is also a pretty popular location... if the house hasn't sold for a year, there's something else going on.

Welcome from a fellow Oklahoma investor.  IF you're in or near Oklahoma City, look for @Paul Choate and @jj gritts meetups.  Feel free to ping me if you just want to talk real estate.

I find Oklahoma to be very landlord friendly in the law, however, if a tenant digs in and gets before the judge, the judges can be unpredictable and I've seen them do crazy stuff.  In the end, with good paperwork, it all works out and we're talking about  month delay, not years like one can get in some other states.

Welcome  from a fellow OKC investor. Ditto on the Meet-ups, @Paul Choate and @jj gritts both host great events.  Feel free to ping us if you just want to talk local real estate.

At 54 showings and no offers, it's a price problem.  Inventory in Oklahoma City is still quite low so there is a mis-match between your expectations and the home buyers' desires.  You are above the first-time home buyers price point for our market which decreases your opportunities as well.  I agree that $80sf should sell well in Oklahoma City so there is something else going on that we as investors are not seeing.  Although I do know two-story's are not considered desirable in Oklahoma for reasons I don't understand.

Our tenants pay their own utilities unless the property is not sub-metered by unit.  In that case, we have an idea of the utility expense and account for it in the rent price.  In Warr Acres, we have to pay the sewer/trash but it's a set amount and again, accounted for in the rent.  Tenants are responsble for lawn care in the single families.

Welcome from a fellow OKC investor.  I find that @J Scott 's Book on Estimating Rehab Cost is pretty close to Oklahoma City pricing and it's an excellent resource in addition to pricing.