All Forum Posts by: Kevin C.

Wow - Nice!   

I'll assume that is a 2/1, maybe in the 700 to 800 sqr ft range, would that be correct?

I supply Fridge, Washer and Dryer in my rentals and it states in the lease that those appliances are in working condition when tenant moves in and any repairs after 30 days are their responsibility.

My rentals are priced in the same ballpark as yours, and I've not had an issue.

A long term tenant called about their dryer not working once and asked who was responsible for repair, I replied that they were, including a copy of the lease and pointing out where that was covered in the lease.

This particular tenant keeps house in tip top condition and recently renewed for 2 more years.

Now had I not had that clause in the lease and I was faced with the same situation you're in I would probably lean towards a credit of $50 to $75 off next months rent.  

Nice job Kathleen!

I've been using Chase's QuickPay for a couple years now.    Agree with Andy, downside is it takes a few days for the funds to post to my account, unless tenant happens to be paying from a Chase account in which case the funds are available immediately.

The service is free and tenant does not have to be a Chase client to use it.

Besides the few days it takes for non-Chase initiated payments to clear, it's an excellent product.

Fixed those pics for ya!

IT Director here. Been at this job for almost 20 years.

Purchased first rental back in 2007, moving along slowly, have 3 rentals now.

Correct - DFW stands for the Dallas - Fort Worth area.

I use Quicken Deluxe.

I set up categories for each property, like this:

Woodhaven:Rent Collected

Woodhaven:Taxes

Woodhaven:Insurance

Woodhaven:Repairs

I then set up reports based on each property - in this example I would have a report for the category 'Woodhaven'.

Quicken allows you to attach receipts (scans, pdfs etc) to any transaction, which I do on big ticket items.

I keep all rental related receipts in a folder based on property.

Each year I scan all the receipts to a pdf for each property, then I forward those pdf reports along with a pdf of each properties expense/income report to our CPA.

Been doing it this way for the past 7 years without a problem.

You sure the HOA fees you're seeing are monthly amounts and not annual or semi-annual? I have a newer rental in McKinney, Heights of Westbridge and the HOA is $400 a year. Very nice subdivision with pool and parks.

Another rental we have in Allen with a HOA, the fees are $230 a year.

We used to live in Twin Creeks in Allen, a golf course community with multiple pools, tennis courts etc. HOA fees were under $600 a year when we lived there - we sold that house in 2009.

We've lived in the Allen / Lucas area for the past 20 years and I'm not aware of any subdivisions where the HOA's would be $200 a month.

$200 a month vs $200 to $400 a year for HOA fees makes a significant difference in the financials on a rental. Check those numbers, I'm thinking you'll find the HOA fees are nowhere near $200 a month.

If you're looking at condo's sure, $200 a month and more for HOA fees, but not with typical SFH's in the areas mentioned.

I invest in the same general area you're looking in, parts of Allen, McKinney and Frisco.

Properties are moving fast in those areas, but I do occasionally see a property go by that would fetch 1% or maybe a bit more of the purchase price in rent.

I'm watching out for a distressed property that I could add some value to to push that rent to price ratio up a little.

The good thing is, rents in the area have been on a tear in the past year or so. If that trend continues, the cash flow has the potential to increase nicely year over year.