All Forum Posts by: Chad Pierce

I have been using an online company called Clearnow for a few years. The first property is $14.95 and each additional property is $2.00 per month. They can pull from a checking or savings account. I have had great success with them and after 6 months, they even report the tenants to credit agencies. I make it a requirement and build the charge into their rent. I do not rent to anyone that does not have a savings or checking account or refuses to participate in the auto draft program.

Great tips Sharad! Being thorough and questioning everything will help to get a better tenant into your property. Unfortunately, a good number of lifer tenants happen to be less than honest people.

I choose to manage mine myself. I have put together a good team of tradesman to fix things the more complex issues. Other than that, I like to be able to monitor my properties and deal with the tenants myself. I have found that someone or company that has no real skin in the game, isn't going to be as motivated as the person that holds all the risk!

I just sent out a round of these letters to my tenants the other night. I made sure to thank them for being such good tenants. I explained to them that the rent increase was necessary to help offset the increases in my property taxes and insurance. I also gave them 60 days before it would take effect. Around 90% of my tenants are multi year tenants so I am pretty confident that no one is going to leave.

I used them for my previous personal home and one of my rentals. I did a lot of checking around and I was happy with the price and quality of the materials. I had my flooring guy do the install and he was only had good things to say about the flooring.

I use Quicken Rental Property Manager 2.0. It works great for managing all expenses. I got it on Ebay a few years back for $25.00.

I collect it when we meet to sign the lease. I always ask for it in cash, money order or certified bank check.

I make it a MUST as part of my lease. I give them 30 days after move in and they have to have the Insurance Company fax me a copy of the policy. When they renew the lease, I ask for another copy to make sure it is current. So far, I have not had anyone complain. I am diligent in explaining the benefits to them when they are signing the lease.

Great information Todd. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Don't forget to set up systems to help you maintain sanity when working the buy and sell side of the business.

As far as marketing, I am a HUGE believer in bandit signs. Not the sexiest part of wholesaling but it definitely gets the phones ringing. Use a company like aweber.com or constantcontact.com to manage your email list. This service is worth it's weight in gold! Good luck and look forward to hearing about your successes.