All Forum Posts by: Chris DeTreville

We get "bad" google reviews like this a good bit. Most are disgruntled ex-tenants who didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Here is an excerpt from one we recently got....

" Beware when you sign a lease with them...there is no getting out your lease early. If you decide to still leave early you are responsible for the rent for the remaining lease term and you lose your deposit."

uh...kinda the point of a contract, yea?

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/241310/40/Judge-allows-pit-bull-biting-case-against-dog-owners-landlords-to-go-to-trial

http://bostonherald.com//news_opinion/local_coverage/2009/10/court_landlord_can_be_sued_pit_bull_attack

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/maryland-appeals-court-holds-landlords-owners-pit-bulls-liable-attacks

My ex-wife didn't like the site either. One day right out of the blue she sent me a john deere letter. She gave me a bunch of crap about me not listening to her or something...I don't know...I wasn't really paying attention.

No.

If you are risking your life by getting in a dogs "personal space" as one poster put it...then you should probably re-evaluate your choice to own the pet.

Also, if a yorkie attacks a child it may leave a scar, when a pit attacks it can easily mean death. Quite a difference. A 65 year old lady was killed by her sons pit just this week in South Carolina. She was babysitting her grandchildren, and the pit (who the owner claims was the sweetest dog, never any problems etc) attacked her and killed her. Out of the blue. She had been around the dog many times before.

Oh yea, and as a landlord you can be sued...so no, no,no.

Marc Bodinger no I don't have any numbers to show how successful it is...it depends on the time of year and stuff...we have a lot of stuff close to USC so I'd say those turnover at a fairly high rate with very little vacancy if we have a few weeks to show it occupied. But in my opinion I've seen enough rentals turn over without having to sacrifice a month of vacancy to make showing it occupied well worth the hassle.

Adam Miller I believe this one is the only one that is active, though I may be wrong. http://www.ccrei.org/

And I have been thinking about it, but haven't been to a meeting or joined yet.

Well, prospective tenants probably feel more comfortable looking at a vacant unit. You don't have to worry about a mess and stuff like that, and prospective tenants tend to spend more time in an empty unit. They are reluctant to open someones closet full of clothes, and hey, that closet might be a selling point.

An upside to showing an occupied unit is it helps people visualize furniture arrangements and stuff like that. I've found that this helps particularly with smaller units. Someone may walk into a small vacant bedroom and determine that their furniture won't fit, but if they walk into that same bedroom when someones stuff is in there...it shows them what is possible with the room. Of course, if the tenant is a slob, it works against you. If the property is desirable enough people generally can look past the filth. If I can get them to apply I sometimes offer to show it to them once the tenant is out, before they sign the documents.

But in my opinion you should try and get it re-rented as fast as possible. If it were my personal rental I would go ahead and show it and not worry about anything else. To me, its a success if I have a renter lined up and moving in as soon as the old one moves out.

I work for a management company and when someone gives their notice to vacate, we start to market the property and show it. Every now and then we get a person unwilling to let us in (most are ok), but our lease states that we can enter as long as we give them 24 hr notice. I show occupied apartments every day, and while it can be uncomfortable at times, we are legally allowed to do so, and we are obligated to get it re-rented as fast as possible. If you wait until after the 1st of the month when the person moves, you are missing out on all those people who need to move at the beginning of that month and you may have just guaranteed yourself 1 month of vacancy. Our owners don't expect us to sit on our hands and lose them a month of income just because it doesn't suit the tenant who is leaving.

That being said, we try our best to be patient and accommodate everyone. If we know someone has a child, or works nights, etc then we try our best to work with them.

Adam,

I relate completely to your situation. Your first two paragraphs fit me exactly, and the next two are similar enough to my current situation as well. Check out my thread here on how I am trying to think through getting started - http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/80843-turning-primary-residence-to-rental--make-sense

Also, I am in SC. What part of the state are you? Have you looked into joining an REI Club?

Some books I read (in order) are "Rich Dad Poor Dad" which helps kind of change the way you think about money and investing, though I don't recommend any of Kiyosaki's other books. Next was "The Richest Man in Babylon" does the same thing but does it in series of short fables. It's definitely different, but I found it useful. (This book is available in Audio version on itunes, so if you travel a lot you can knock it out in one or two trips, that's what I did) And right now I am almost through reading "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller. Good stuff so far. I open to more suggestions as well.

So, does the 50% rule apply here? Tell me what I'm doing wrong...

assuming my new mortgage payment + taxes and insurance is $650 and the rental amount when rented is $925...

Gross rents: $950
Operating Expenses using 50% rule: $475

Mortgage payment: $650

Thats a -$175 cash flow

If/when my taxes increase it is even worse. So I'm really struggling with this strategy...

If I were to save more and stay in my house as long as I can stand it, and then put it on the market once I have enough saved up...get it sold use the equity as a down payment on a new property-preferably a duplex that I can live in one side for the time being..isn't that a much better strategy? That way my savings would be cash reserves (or I could use some for closing costs, etc).

The problem with this is the timing of it all. I can sell my own house, but I can't guarantee when it will sell. (Not to mention I have to show it) Also, when it sells I have to be ready to move. What if I don't find the right deal by the time it sells? I'd have to rent month to month somewhere...And what if the right deal comes along for a duplex and my house is still on the market- I have to hope the owner is willing to accept a contract contingent on the sale of mine.

It would be a pain, but the more I think about it, getting out of this house seems to be the way to go. Any words of wisdom here? I'll add this, I want to keep the house and rent it. But what I want isn't always the smart way to go.