All Forum Posts by: Cassandra Brown

My husband and I have the opportunity to move a house (1,700sqft, two story, built in 1910) and move it onto a lot approximately 30 miles away. Has anyone ever done this? If so, what did the process look like? Would you recommend it? The house is currently $10k, and the prospective lot is $60k. We understand there will be additional costs (foundation, utilities, etc.). This would be a rental property. Any experience and advice welcome, thank you! 

Husband and I are looking to flip a property in order to gain capital and begin BRRRRing. Going to do some driving for dollars and call some landowners to see if they’re considering selling. Obviously we are targeting rough-looking properties: tips on what to say or what to avoid saying during these calls?

My wife and I recently purchased our first property, a duplex we are house-hacking.  I want to compile a file of information, either digital or physical, that could potentially be used as a piece of documentation showing past successful investments to a bank or lender in the future. I thought I would track profit and costs, repairs and updates we have completed, some photos, details of purchase and rent history etc.  Are there any tools or templates for this sort of document? What have you all used for this sort of thing? What information is good to include and what is unnecessary?

Thanks for any help or input you can provide!

We are arranging our first lease. What are some suggestions you have for places/best websites to get a state specific lease? We need it for this weekend so don’t have time to meet with an attorney. Thanks!

@Larry Alexander Yes! She actually makes 4x the monthly rent.

We are first time landlords doing an owner-occupied duplex. We just had our first showing of the rental side yesterday and liked the potential renter. She filled out an application through Cozy.com and her background check came back spotless, but her credit is in the lower 550's. She told us she recently went through a divorce and is working to get her finances back in check. The issue mainly seems to be with her credit card payments. If she checks out financially with previous landlords (never been late on rent), should we still consider her? We were going to make 600 our credit cutoff. What questions should we be asking ourselves and the potential renter? 

First time landlords here. We are just beginning the tenant screening process. What are some key questions to ask tenant references? Categories include: personal references, employers, and landlords?

Also welcoming any other tenant screening advice/rules of thumb!

@Lynnette E. Thank you for your thoughts on the matter, and for offering tips for if we were to decide to move forward in renting to them. We do feel that there are certain friends we would not tent to, and others where we would be able to successfully balance the personal and professional aspects. These friends in particular are a young family who are actually looking to move out of their single family home and start renting, as their current home isn’t conducive for their family.

I agree that each applicant should be screened as if they were a stranger. This will keep us covered in the event that an issue did come up legally at a later date. Again, thank you for the advice.

@Craig Curelop. Very true about the convenience of renting to friends. We aren’t intimate friends with this family, but we have known them for years and they have owned their own house (and kept it well cared for) for several years as well. We feel that we would be able to line up a lease agreement to keep everything on the landlord side professional. And we would be comfortable lining out that our lease is a business agreement from the beginning. Thank you for your words of wisdom!

@Kyle J. Thanks so much for your advice. It’s a tricky situation, and my husband and I will have to have some further conversation about it. It seems unanimous that renting to friends is a lose/lose situation!