All Forum Posts by: Chloe Nave

Thanks everyone for the responses!

@Marcia Maynard, I definitely will stick with cash, money orders, and cashier's checks in the future. I did not know the local REI member at all but responded to a post he had on our local bulletin board seeking housing for a tenant (usual type notices for this REI). If I don't hear from him this week then I suspect he was a "partner" and will warn others.

@Rhonda E and @Joe Gore, I used a paid tenant screening company and checked public court records myself. The company is Landlord Tenant Services   (http://www.ltservices.us/) and they have an A rating with BBB. I think they are worth it and would not rely on a tenant internet search, especially after this first encounter with a less-than-honorable prospective tenant.

Yes, I took an application fee from the prospective tenant but it was in the form of a check and her background screening indicated charges for "bad checks" in the past. Still, since I have the check I will take it to her bank Monday and see if they will honor it.

As a new investor looking to lease purchase properties to potential home owners I am so glad that I invested in a professional tenant screening service to find the best possible candidates. Here's my story of how I almost got scammed (I think):

I responded to an inquiry from a local REI member who was looking to place a tenant (friend of his) into a home in a certain area. I am closing on a home in the desired area and plan to lease it with a purchase option for $1000/mo. This sounded like a perfect opportunity to have the home leased out almost immediately after closing so I was excited! The local REI member spoke very highly of the prospective tenant, assured me she could pay the requested rent, and shared his 25+ years of experience in real estate with hints of how he could be of benefit to me, a newbie in RE investing. I showed the home to the prospective tenant, she completed a credit and background application on the spot, and wrote a deposit check I required to hold her position in the home pending results of her screening. Meanwhile the local REI member called me several times and even recommended the same screening company that I had researched online. To my surprise the results came back "Not Recommended-High Risk" so I immediately informed the tenant that her application failed. She said she would call the screening service right away and I told her if she could get them to change their recommendation then I would reconsider leasing to her. I called the local REI member and he expressed surprise about the results and stated that he would talk to his "friend" about it. It's been 5 days and I have heard nothing further from the prospective tenant or the local REI member who had recommended her. In fact I still have the deposit check which I suspect is worthless since no one has called requesting it be returned.

Bottom line, there were several negatives that came back on this prospective tenant which I may not have known without the professional tenant screening service. I am so thankful that they called me personally to share the results of the background check and their recommendation. They even stated that it is not often they put "High Risk" on the results but this tenant was quite adept in hiding her background and they wanted to be sure I understood the risks if I chose to proceed with accepting her application. Believe me, the $50 screening cost was worth the service. I will continue to screen future applicants through them until I get one who is recommended . . . . and I will be cautious about tenant recommendations from eager REI members.

Hi Sarah,

Unfortunately I'm in Missouri and I have no recommendations for you. However I hope you might help me since you are in Jax. My brother lives in Orange Park and is looking for a landscaper to re-sod his lawn and do some light landscaping. Do you have a referral you can share?

Also we will be looking for a property manager when we rent the home out, hopefully, by September. Any recommendations?

Thanks @Dmitriy Fomichenko! I will heed your advice.

Hi, I'm Chloe Nave and I'd like to introduce myself.

I joined BiggerPockets because the information I've seen on the website is so sensible and easy to understand. I'm a computer nerd who loves to analyze and research so I enjoy finding leads but my goal is to enjoy financial freedom and that requires deals. That said, my husband and I decided we would invest in real estate now that we are retired. Last month when our son moved out of a family property that we owned free and clear, we cleaned it up and rented it out. We have since put a contract on a short sale property and are waiting to see how that turns out. If we get it then that will become our second rental.

Since we don't want to run out of retirement savings buying rental properties, I enrolled in a Subject To and Lease Option training course offered by a local REI. So we seem to be building a foundation on rentals and I'm trying to get my husband to take advantage of the information on the internet about being a landlord rather than continue with his trial-and-error experiential method. I've pointed him to BiggerPockets as a start so hopefully it will help him change gears.

Anyway, I want to learn to wholesale as an alternative exit strategy for property we don't purchase/option to rent/lease. I have just started to build and qualify my buyers' list and I set a goal to complete my first wholesale by end of next month. I've been told by others in local REIs that my goal is realistic although I still feel very unsure about approaching motivated sellers. My expectation is that once I do my first wholesale I will get over that feeling and pursue them more aggressively. Overall it would be wonderful if we can end 2014 with 5 rentals and 3+ wholesales.

So why did I join BiggerPockets? To stay motivated, to learn from its many contributors, to connect to others who may become my associates, and because it's such a suitable format for a computer nerd!