All Forum Posts by: Dana Dunford

@Patrick Moore - I would use Nolo as a starting ground. Here are tenant-landlord laws for you:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/overview-la...

@Dale Lotts - I started by making it myself and can show you techniques to do the same through leveraging multiple tools out there. Feel free to ping me, and I can walk you through that processing to set up yourself a good process.

@Ben Kirchner - Congrats on your first rental property.

(1) Use a State-specific lease. You can check out LegalZoom or RocketLawyer.

(2) You will want verification from their former employer and landlord. You will also want to pull credit and background check (although you can't "blanket discriminate" against someone with a criminal history).

(3) This is a very smart question to ask ... and yes, you want to change it over to a summer turnover. Try to get the tenants to sign an 18 month lease ... or a bit longer so that you are getting closer to a summer turnover.

Best of luck!

@Melyssa Green -- Your tenants should be provided a portal where they can submit maintenance requests. Your property managers should be able to give you visibility / access ... where you can see that the maintenance requests have been closed.

@Laura H. - You hit the nail on the head. Some property management companies have reverse incentives (not aligned). However, the best management companies will align incentives with yours -- from leasing to management.

@Dale Lotts - If you schedule the showings at convenient times (early evenings and mid-day on weekends), then yes, you should be able to have fewer showings. I have an automated response to all of my postings, which includes (1) a small questionnaire that I have tenants fill out in order to apply to the property, (2) scheduling times. After the tenant schedules, they receive a calendar invite, text alert (2 hours before the showing), and email reminder. This process weeds out anyone who is not qualified but saves me a lot of time.

@Eve Mahoney - My experience is the following:

(1) Zillow and affiliates -- Most traction in A and B class neighborhoods. Fewer scams and higher quality tenants.

(2) Craigslist -- Most traction in C class neighborhoods. However, you will have to deal with the scams and everything else that goes along with it.

(3) Other websites -- It doesn't hurt to also post on the other 40+ listing websites out there. You will get traction from those as well and you don't want your excuse for vacancy to be ... I didn't advertise my property well enough.

Hope that helps.

@Anna Milligan - In my experience, you are always going to have no shows. The best way to minimize the no shows is to have constant communication and reminders with the prospects. I send automatic reminders, follow up emails, calendar invites, and texts to confirm that they are still going to make their appointment. I also send an automatic follow up after the showing to ask for advice if they decide not to apply (why aren't they applying). 

Definitely do not get rid of the $35 application fee. If they are not willing to pay that, then they may not be willing to pay rent.

Have you done a recent price comparison with other properties in the area? 

Definitely after -- you will want to pre-qualify them before the showing, but you don't want the application fee to give them reason to not view the property and fall in love with it. In fact, I've never heard of anyone who charges before the viewing. 

I can confirm that Thumbtack is an incredible app. I use it very frequently.