All Forum Posts by: Claudia R.

I'm trying to do my research on a property I'm interested in and I want to find out if there are any open liens on it. According to this, there are two? However, this property is under foreclosure so is it through one of them? Can someone more experienced help me read this and advise on what questions I should be asking please? #HelpANewbie :)

@Account Closed thanks!

@Kevin Vandenboss thank you!

I love this thread btw - and great ideas! I have one pressing newbie question though, in order to move a property into an LLC you have to have that mortgage paid in full or refinance under the LLC right?

What cool/time-saving/user-friendly tools do you use for any and all land-lording duties? 

What are your favorite bookkeeping software, tenant application tools, maintenance tools, etc. Thought it would be great to have a thread to share these in. 

-Claudia

A comment that comes up over and over is that the Texas real estate market is different than the rest of the country. I'm curious as to why people say this, any thoughts from the RE experts? 

@Naeem Kapasi did you ever find a plumber? I'm in need of one too.

@Zachary Sales Oohhh! Thank you! 

@Ryan Detig You're the best! Thanks!

@Lynne Smith I don't have experience with renting for foster children - but do know quite a bit about the foster system so I'm going to throw some questions out that you may want to find out about which could potentially impact things. 

1 - Is this a group home or is this a family who has and frequently accepts short term foster kids? (short term vs. long term are very different. Short term as you may imagine are emergency situations usually resolved within 3 months - until they find a next of kin, etc. the court moves quickly on these, unlike the others).

2 - Is income used for rent going to be used to qualify for rent? Foster parents receive income to care for room and board of children, this could potentially impact.

3- There is a limit on how many children can be in a room (yes no more than two) but also same sex. There is also a house inspection to pass (which mainly deals with where they store knifes, meds, alcohol, etc.) but if any of the children are handicapped, does the home have to be accessible? 

Those were the ones that initially came to mind might be more pressing for you to know as a landlord. 

I also think the potential tenant may know that the foster kids they take may have potential behavioral issues - many don't and are fine - but many also do in which I would make sure your lease is comprehensive in who pays for "holes in the walls" and crayon marks, etc.