All Forum Posts by: Chris Szepessy

Even if you did prohibit your tenants from having guns, I feel the "good" tenants would follow the rules or not rent from you and the "bad" tenants with bad intentions wouldn't care and would have them anyway.  Basically, criminals don't follow laws/rules.

I want to be able to retire fairly early and have something to pass onto my kids.  I don't want my kids to have to work a 9-5, worry about being able to take time off, miss their kids' sports games/school activities, etc.  It kills me every time I can't make it to a game and I don't want my kids to have to go through that with their kids.  

And I just like real estate.  It can be a little stressful at times, but I can see myself doing this for many years.  When I "retire" I'd like to still be able to mow the lawn, do small repairs, etc., just to stay busy.

When I refinanced my primary home, Zillow’s zestimate was within $500 of the appraisal. It seems to be pretty accurate in my area, but I have seen some where the zestimate isn’t even close. It was closer than this one million dollar trailer, but still pretty far off.

Originally posted by @Brian Garlington:

Forgot these

Me..... Are you on Section 8, Vash or Eden?

Caller....... No

Me.......Whats your gross monthly income before taxes.

Caller..... $720 per month

Me...... Maam the rent is $645/mo and we need verifiable income of at least $2,000 a month if you’re not on Vash, Section 8 or Eden.

Caller...... Why so much?

Me (Speechless)........

Caller....... Are you still there?

Me.......Yes. Ma’am we need your verifiable income to be at least 3 times the rent? Otherwise you stand a good chance of not being able to pay the rent.

Caller......Are you saying I should go get on Section 8?

Me........  I’m not going to tell you what to do or not to do about that, I just know I can’t rent to you because you don’t meet the income requirements. 

Caller .......OK

Another one

Me...... Are you on VASH Eden or Section 8?

Caller........Naaw, I pays for mines.

Me..... The rent is 645 per month do we need at least $2,000/mo in gross verifiable income. Do you have that?

Caller......I have the verifiable incomes.

Me.......Such as?

Caller..... It verifiables.

Me.......Ok such as......

Caller....... I told you it verifiables from month to month?

Me........What does verifiables mean?

Caller....... Verifiables.... you know like a lot of kind?

Me.......Do you mean “ varies”? 

Caller.......I think so. I make good money.

Me.......How much do you make per month that we can look at with pay stubs (I surely wasn’t going to say verifiable again).

Caller........ What if I give you it all in cash? 

Me....... Sounds good but we need to see paystubs for the last 3 months and we need to call your employer, current landlord and do a background check..... after we show you the property.

Caller....... But what if I don’t like the place after I see it? 

Me..... (Speechless with my mouth hanging open)

Caller.......  O wait....that was dumb.... if I don’t like it I don’t have to rent it. Sorry cuz.... it’s been a day.

Me.......(Half jokingly) What did you Smoke today?

Caller...... Some Black Widow

Me........Seriously? Brah that eliminates you from qualification. First sentence of the ad says no smoking of any kind.

Caller....... Naw cuz I ain’t gonnee smoke at your place.

Me....... I know you won’t.

Caller...... How do y’all make sure nobody is smoking in the spot.

Me...... By not renting to people who have just told us they smoked some Black Widow at their spot.

Caller........F$3k You (and hangs up)

Haha I couldn't stop laughing at the "verifiables."  You seriously have to wonder how people make it through life...

I had a person text me (when my ad said to call) and their "signature" at the bottom of the text was Ms. yoyo da baddest.  I didn't even respond.  You aren't gonna be "da baddest" and rent from me.  

Another story...A guy called me and said he and his female friend (but not girlfriend) were looking for a place.  Said they both work for a state politician.  I'm thinking that these people could make good tenants.  Man, was I wrong.  They show up before I get there (great, they're punctual), but they're both sitting on the stairs, smoking.  We go in, start showing them around and he then says "yeah, we work for (politician), but only for another month.  We're working for his campaign and after election day, we won't have a job.  We can give you this month's rent and then, uh, we can go from there." I just looked at him.  I gave them the application and they brought it back about 10 minutes later, incomplete.  My wife and I read what little bit they filled in, laughed, and moved on.  

If it were me, I’d still be leaning towards a truck. A Toyota Tacoma probably gets around 20 MPG. Not quite as good as the Santa Fe, but just the versatility/convenience I feel makes up for it. I’ve always been a truck guy, so I may be a little bias towards them. Not sure if you’ve test driven any of the vehicles you’re interested in, but doing so may take a couple off your potential list. A 3/4 ton truck is probably overkill for what you need. A half ton or midsize would most likely do just fine.

I suggest a small/midsize truck with extended/crew cab.  You really can't beat the versatility of them.  I have a 2006 Ram 1500 that only gets 10-12 MPG but I have a 1995 Subaru that I drive daily so gas mileage isn't really an issue.  I don't use my truck every day (sometimes not even weekly) but I sometimes wonder how anyone gets by without a truck.  If you do get a truck, you'll find "friends" you didn't know you had who will always need help moving something. lol

You could also consider a Caravan with stow-n-go seating.  I know a van isn't exactly cool, but I see quite a few people who use them as contractor vehicles.  

Depending on how bad the floors are, you may be able to do them yourself.  The belt sanders are harder to use and less forgiving if you mess up.  If you just need to get the poly off, a buffer may work.  They are pretty user friendly.  You could also save money if you just had a professional do the sanding and then you can do the poly.  Around here, the going rate is about $2 per sq. ft for sanding and $4 for sanding and poly.  

It seems as though it wasn't the first time this has happened to him.  He's getting shot at and is still yelling at her.  The typical "couple" who always beat on each other but stay together anyway...something I'll never understand.  The city I work in has a few people like that.  They never shoot one another, but you see their names in the police blotter every week for domestic violence type stuff.  Seems pretty simple to just stay away from one another.

I love to paint.  In fact, I've been in my primary home 8 years and have painted the LR, DR, and hallway about 6 different times/colors and each of the 3 bedrooms 2-3 times.  I also paint the trim every year whether I paint the walls or not.  My father was the "handyman" when I did property management so I would always help him do the painting.  I'd always do the trim and he would roll.  I wasn't so fond of it back then, but now I actually look forward to doing it.  I've never gotten an estimate for a paint job, but after reading some of these estimates, it makes me happy that I enjoy doing it and that I'm pretty good at it.

We stayed up that way Memorial Day weekend a few years back. We went to the Hall of Fame. I can’t remember off the top of my head where we stayed, though. Like I said, I don’t know much about running a campground, but I think with the hall of fame there, you can probably do pretty good. I know what I like in a campground, so if you’re looking for opinions, feel free to reach out. Also, as already mentioned, check some of the RV forums out there. There’s people with a lot more knowledge/advice than me. Lol