All Forum Posts by: David Cook

If you plan to DIY, a lot will depend on your market and what's available at what price.  My only advice would be to buy your first property in the nicest place you can make the numbers work.  A 4 unit in a B area will be easier to manage than a lot of single family homes in C or D areas.  In my opinion it's fine to hand your properties off to a manager but you need to be able to self-manage or sell the property if something happens.  Great managers can be hard to find and you never know if they will be offered a job they can't refuse, retire, or relocate.  In those scenarios you need to be able to step in or unload the property and that's much easier with a nice area and property than with a poorer area and property.

I don't think it's a good buy as an income property.  However, personal residences aren't really income properties most of the time. To me this is only a good buy if you absolutely want to live in this area yourself and you are looking at this as a way to lower your personal payment.  If you don't plan to live there yourself for 5 or more years I wouldn't do this though.

I'm no lawyer, but if you can add an "ism" to your screening criteria (racism, sexism, etc.)  You are in trouble.  I don't know if this is possible but I would try to have this thread deleted immediately since your name is somewhat unique and Biggerpockets ranks highly in Google.  If you ever are sued for discrimination for any reason I think your comments here would be easy to find and evidence that you have a history of discrimination based on physical characteristics.  

Wow, just read this whole thread.  Tons of laughs and groans.  If there is a thread for crazy things people have seen other landlords do please refer me there, I've got a couple good ones.  Here's a few more interesting tenant application situations/statements I've run into:

 "a $250 pet fee?! What if I have him put down?"  Thanks for the clear insight into how you honor the commitments you make, jerk!

"I only rent places with Samsung appliances."  Not from me you don't!

"I don't see anywhere I could fit a grand piano..." Me either!

"I'm concerned that your two bedrooms don't have enough space for us, but your three bedrooms just have too many rooms."  Allow me to introduce you to our Goldilocks Collection, it's juuuust right...

Caller:  I saw your listing on Zillow, how much would you sell it for?

Me: I'm sorry, the house is for rent, not for sale.

Caller:  I know, name your price.

Me: $130,000

Caller:  Well I saw a house at 123 xyz street and it was listed at $105,000.

Me:  Maybe you should call them?

Caller:  My credit is too poor to purchase.

Me:  I'm not sure you understand how this works...

About a year later I listed the property for rent again.  She called and asked the EXACT SAME QUESTIONS.

@Alessandra C. I actually work for a company that makes a competing cold technology.  Heat is a great way to treat bed bugs but it should be used in conjunction with a residual product to help treat the insects that may survive the heat treatment or insects that are reintroduced by your tenant.  When you check will depend to some extent on what your pest controller recommends.  Most will recommend follow up treatments and inspections.  You can have a canine detection service come through periodically for peace of mind. 

It depends on your state laws. Bed bugs treatment isn't cheap and they will likely spread if the problem isn't treated. I'd address it early and see if you can get the tenant to cooperate and help pay for the treatment.

Hello @Christopher Lombardi, in addition to being a real estate investor I sell products related to bed bug control so I have some experience in this arena.  Without looking at the situation it's somewhat difficult to advise a course of action, but if it's truly as widespread as you make it sound it may be necessary to fumigate.  Bed bugs are remarkably resilient and a standard winter would probably not be enough to eradicate the problem in my opinion.  Bed bug dogs are really useful in situations where you are trying to identify harborages in large structures with lots of units.  However, if you are doing a complete remodel and have the walls knocked out it might not be necessary.  Of course you could always bring one through after treatment for peace of mind.  Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if I can help you.  I have several customers in your area and I'd be happy to recommend a reputable service provider or help you try and give it a shot yourself.

Good luck!

David

@Wade Townsend, you could very easily bring bed bugs into your apartment and never know it. I work in the pest control industry and I've seen them in hotels, taxis, movie theators, office buildings, etc. They are hitch hikers and the fact that they ended up in your apartment doesn't really say anything about your sanitation or lifestyle like roaches would. Bed Bugs are a major problem and if your apartment complex is of any size I would be suprised if they didn't have a history of bed bug incidents. If you are intent on fighting the issue I would get in touch with a lawyer, my guess is that fighting the issue may cost much more than $500 if you did agree to Cover the cost of pest control in your lease.  One possible exception is if one of your direct neighbors including those above and below you have had a bed bug treatment recently. Heat can easily force bed bugs into adjoining units and the proper way to remedy this is to treat the adjacent units weather they have bed bugs or not. Many apartment owners balk at this because of the cost and inadvertently spread the infestation.

Hey @Eoin Maher I manage some relatively high end 3 bedroom units that rent for just over $1000 a month and I also own a fourplex with 2 bedroom units that rent for just $500 a month.  My vacancy rate is less than 5% but I'm only managing 15 doors so it's a little easier to keep things full when your portfolio is small.  I have some tenant drama from time to time in the fourplex but that's what happens in that price range in my experience.