All Forum Posts by: Cynthia Stith

My cash out needed is $75K my current rent is $1845 and projected rent after improvements/remodeling and next lease up (6/25) would be $2295. No HOA - monthly taxes/insurance are $310/month. There is no current mortgage on the property.

Adding a 1st lien is satisfactory. I am the only person on the deed/title and I intend to hold this property for a long time.  If possible, I would like for the loan to be for 10 years.  Thanks!

I need to do some roof work, and while I'm doing that, I'm looking to remodel/expand a bathroom and do some additional rennovations around the house that will help me increase the rental income potential.  

I have a SFH investment property that currently has no mortgage. It just appraised for $300k. I tried to do a traditional cash-out refi from my previous lender and because I am self-employed, my W2s showed some business losses which skewed the debt-to-income past their acceptable level. I have great credit, verified income through bank statements, and cash reserves.

Any suggestions on whether or not Hard Money, DSCR, or anything else might be a better fit? Thanks!

Hello, 

I wanted to reach out to see how other independent landlords collect application fees.

I manage the property from out of state, so physically being at every showing is impossible - and I don't necessarily want to tip my hand that I don't live in the immediate area to prospective applicants.  I have a pretty good system of letting interested applicants that I've had a quick phone screen with use a lockbox to take a peek at the home to make sure it fits their needs, and I then email them an application.  I'm not sure how to collect an application fee.  Any suggestions?

I have used services like Cozy.co in the past to collect rent - but not sure about the application fee.

I know that plenty of services will do the screenings for you, but I don't mind (and actually prefer) to be the one who vets each applicant.  Should I use something like PayPal or similar to collect a modest application fee? 

Thanks for your suggestions!

The property is in Kentucky, and I'm the landlord/owner.

Thanks!

If you live out of state, flying in to file can be costly.  Can I hire someone else (not an attorney) to file the initial eviction paperwork for a tenant not vacating after a 30 day notice or do I as the owner have to do this?

My strategy was to see if having someone else doing the initial filing would help get the tenants out if they see actual legal activity, and if that didn’t work I would hire an attorney.

Thanks!

I just put my unit on cozy.co and *LOVE* it.  No cost for me (except they do take up to 5 days to post funds) and no cost to tenant (unless they pay by CC and cozy charges them.

I was so tired of "the check is in the mail".  I don't mind waiting a few days for funds as long as I know it really is coming and not just floating around.

Good luck!

So I'm in the process of removing 2 tenants who morphed into 8 people living in my SFH. I thought I did all the right things by hiring a licensed PM (not the cheapest) who answered my screening questions the best - and I am going to be taking repossession of the property in about 30 days.

I've been watching and reading some great things on tips for setting up virtual "showings" and I was researching lock boxes when I stumbled upon smart locks.  Is this the answer to helping solve how many people are living in your home when you rent it out?

Has anyone successfully used a smart lock instead of physical keys to help reduce the likelihood of multiple copies of your keys floating around?  I'm willing to pay for WIFI to manage this from a distance - but not sure if anyone has completely cut the "key" cord.

Let me know!

Thanks!

Cindy

Hello!

I am reaching out to see if anyone has suggestions/insights on how I can add an exterior camera to remotely view my out of state rental property.  I'm not looking to do anything that would show the interior or view inside the property - I'm more concerned with the outside - i.e. making sure the landscaper actually came or that the snow removal actually happened, and to get an ideal of how many people might actually be living in the property.

I just checked on my out of state unit and was a bit surprised to see the landscaping was only happening monthly (although I'm paying for 2xmonth service) and that the 3 roommates actually had a total of 8 people living in the home.

Since the tenants are on a month to month lease, I just served 30 day notice to terminate the lease - so I plan on cleaning/remodeling the home once they are gone and I'm wanting to make sure I don't have the same issues with the next tenant.

BTW - Before anyone says the solution is better screening - I get it! I did not screen the original tenants because I decided to use a licensed realtor to do property managing for me.  I wish I would have known that the only screening he was doing was whether or not the tenants had money to move in so he could collect his commission.  So, I will be doing my own screening - but want to make sure I can also keep an "eye" on what's happening.

Any advice?