All Forum Posts by: Daniel D.

I'm interested in this, too.. Looking to see what people have to say - good or bad

Once, I stopped by a rental that the tenants had just moved out of on my lunch break.. Later that day in my office I noticed the same thing you did - fleas! I cancelled my appointments and kept my office door shut for two days while I was squashing fleas… LOL. But, for the rental property, I just called an exterminator and had him spray the yard and the yards surrounding the yard, since I owned them as well. It cost $200 - I charged it off to the tenant from their deposit. Inside the house, I bombed with flea killer, waited a few days, and went back in to make sure everything was OK… It worked like a charm, inside and out. I don't think fleas are that big of a deal if it is an empty house, but they would be a real problem in a house that people were living in.

I suppose that it has been easier to walk away from these issues so far, but I do feel that I am leaving a lot of money on the table.  There certainly appear to be large discounts on some of these houses.. @John Chapman Do you have a local company that you could recommend?   

Hey BP Friends,

Curious to know how some of you handle foundation issues on properties that you are considering purchasing.  I have viewed many homes over the years but every time I see big cracks in concrete or big cracks in sheetrock, what I consider obvious issues of foundation problems, I run and hide.  To be honest, one purchase has a few hairline cracks in the foundation that were very small and I just tried to look the other way.. so far so good..  I was told by a concrete guy that every concrete truck has six cracks in it, you just don't know where they will end up.

In the area that I want to own properties in, it seems that if you wait long enough you will have a foundation problem..  when it happens to your home you just fix it, deal with it and move on..  but when it looks like it has happened on a property I am interested in I think of all of the things that could be screwed up in the process, and run..  So my question is this.. sometimes I see a great house, and a great price, but it has obvious foundation issues.  Does that scare y'all away?  Do any of you just work that into the renovation figure because you have a foundation specialist you trust?  It seems that if I could get over my fear of foundation issues I could make a killing - Anyone feeling me?  

I think I'd put the new roof on immediately and reno/rent the empty unit.. Then I'd tell one of the tenants that you need to do extensive repairs to their unit and so ask them to move out and renovate/rent that one, and so on. In 6 months you could have higher paying tenants, and the ones that were there during the Renovation actually helped you pay for it..

My tenants use Chase QuickPay or mail. If it is not a full rent payment I can decline payment. I think anyone letting tenants deposit rents directly into the landlord's bank account should reconsider. If a tenant pays a partial month of rent the clock can start over on an eviction proceeding. I'm not aware of a case to prove it can happen, but it is technically possible in some jurisdictions for someone to be late paying rent, get notices and eviction proceedings ramped up, then pay a few dollars directly to the landlords account -which starts the whole process over again. Just my 2 cents (worth what you paid for it, no doubt)

Try getting harder numbers on your suspect properties.. Check with the tax office to see exactly what the taxes are running.. Call your insurance provider and give them the address for a premium quote. Check on Zillow/craigslist/MLS to see what the house might rent for. Aim small miss small. Love the comment about taxes, that's helpful.

I have used RentecDirect since 2009 and I really enjoy it - it is cheap, has a great interface, tons of features (that I rarely take advantage of), and it continues to get better almost every time I log on (they show you any new features added since last logon on your home page). Check it out

I had to replace two toilets that were cracked  at the base due to an overweight tenant..  very frustrating.  one caused a water leak that the tenant completely ignored, and I didn't find out about either toilet until the move out inspection.

I like the idea of adding "stability bars" where possible to ease the load a toilet can take (sorry for the pun.. just had to).. 

The one I used successfully was plain white, typed, personally signed, stamped, with hand written envelopes.

I am sure someone has a better idea than that but when I do it again this summer I'm probably not changing a thing.  

Good luck!