All Forum Posts by: Chris B.

Here in AZ, generally it's not feasible to expect substantial or sometimes even any cash flow. Possibly negative . There are exceptions, but if you invest in average SFH in decent neighborhoods, it's all about the appreciation. When interest rates bottomed out, and the property had time to appreciate, cash out refinancing allowed me to acquire more.

i think multi-family options are likely to cash flow better.

You could do something like what you want if it was your personal primary residence and even then the interest rate would be ugly. I'm guessing you'd need to pay for PMI also. As an investment property, I don't think your want is an option for you.

If you offer more $ for the property than the all cash offers AND you appear to the seller to be highly qualified in the method you are using for sourcing the payment, at some point your offer will be more appealing than the all cash offers.

I don't understand why you would consider a 1031 for another property in two years.  If it is your primary residence as indicated, just sell it and skip the 1031I 

Persue all 3 payment options concurrently and see which pans out as your best deal.

Consider just signing a new lease with the husband only assuming you have verified that he does qualify for the property by himself.  It seems to me that any addendum signed later after the initial lease may create a messy situation.  Consider getting a statement signed by all parties which states that everyone has agreed to terminate the current lease early on X date and all obligations by all parties have been paid in full and that the deposit will be kept by the landlord and will be applied to the new lease.  Include text so that states what will happen if the new lease isn't signed by landlord and husband such as the return of keys by all parties date.

Enforcing the termination of a lease due to non-compliance (unauthorized resident) is not the same as ending a month to month lease.  I don't know NY law, but in AZ, you may send two certified letters.  One is a 10-day notice to comply or quit and the other would be a notice of termination of the month to month lease (30 days here).

It looks like NY may be 30 days for the fix or quit and 90 days for the termination of the lease notice.  Send both and separately and use certified USPS.  Keep digital records and pictures.  You can enforce either notice so you may not need to wait the full 90 days in this situation.

Sometimes you need to turn down applicants even though you have not picked someone to sign with yet.  I have one property in an area going down hill and this is common.  I might get 5 to 10 totally unqualified applicants before I get a good one.  The sub 550 credit score people come out of the woodwork to apply for this home.  They are likely applying for rentals en mass in the area and I'm not alone.  I list some of my requirements:  the minimum credit score, income requirement, and background check / eviction requirements in my ad.  They ignore it.

The simplest way is to tell them that they do not meet my criteria.  You can provide more details, but there is no legal requirement to do so. I don't. The more you say, the more they can challenge you if it comes to that.  If you tell them their credit score is too low (or some other reason) and somehow you obtained information that is inaccurate, then there is the potential to cause a legal problem. 

In my state I think we have 14 days to provide a list of deductions to a tenant if money is to be held.  Text isn't an officially acceptable way of relaying this information here.

On the somewhat rare occasion when I deduct from a security deposit, I send an itemized list of the expenses deducted to the tenant's new address via certified mail.  I tell the tenant I need an address to return the deposit to and nothing else and I've always gotten an address.  In the case if I don't receive a new address, I'd probably send the letter to my property where the tenant was living and let USPS mail forward the letter.  I keep scans or pictures of all of all letters I send this way including the letter as readable before it goes into the envelope which includes the tracking number written on the letter, plus the filled out certified mail paper and the envelop after its addressed.  I generally get a picture of the letter at the post office with the paid postage on it also.  Possibly too much, but I'm not 100% sure what I'll need.  Its easy to store this proof forever.  You can also print out the tracking information from the USPS website too.

Given this, if a tenant asked for money back a year and a half later, I'd ignore the request.

I find greater than 80% of tenants leave holes in the walls.  Most holes are usually pin sized, but nails and bolt holes and anchors do happen also.  Also, most situations are of just a few pin or small nail holes here and there.  I deal with this without charging the tenant if its not excessive.  Sometimes as Nathan had pointed out, it is excessive.  I have text in my lease stating that the tenant is not allowed to make repairs to holes in walls and that any repair work that takes over 30 minutes or is larger than the size of small nail will be repaired by the landlord's hired labor at a cost of $30 per hour plus material costs.  I rarely exercise this clause unless it really is bad.  I've had a past tenant poke hundreds of pin holes in ceilings, more in the walls, and put anchors and bolts in several different rooms.  This tenant was billed accordingly.

My rentals have Sherwin Williams SuperPaint in Accessible Beige / satin for the walls.  I can reorder this paint at a later date and the color is always a good match.  Sometimes the texture of the patch will show though. 

I completely back Kevin's opinion on cosigners.  Friends with rentals have generally indicated that the cosigner is either nowhere to be found or ignores all communication when needed.

Need to move in immediately is a red flag to understand.

Responsible tenants usually plan their moves and thus need to give notice to their old landlord and also are proactive in lining up a new property substantially before the move day arrives.  Even moving for work (not switching jobs) usually has a reasonable lead time.

Yes, your other concerns are also valid.

BTW, if I want to verify a bank statement, I ask them to bring it up on the app and show me. Copies of copies of fake pay stubs and bank statements are a real problem lately.