All Forum Posts by: David Hines

The benefits of an LLC are the ease of creating and managing it as well as liability protection. However, similar liability protection can be had with an umbrella insurance policy. One of the concerns with putting property into an LLC is the due on sale clause in most mortgages. Meaning the lender can call the loan due if ownership of the property changes. If you own the properties outright, then putting them under the LLC is less risky. If you have mortgages, then you may want to consider umbrella insurance.

In order to avoid this in the future you may want to look into electronic rent payments. Usually, you can automate late fees to kick in on a certain day and the tenant won't be able to pay rent without the late fee. Most tenants expect the fee for using the service to be passed on to them and I've found they prefer this to having to mail in a check every month.

The ozone treatment will be most effective when you've already removed the source of the smell like carpet, padding or drywall. I've found it is much more cost effective than sealing or special paint, etc.

Look into an ozone treatment. You may have to do it several times, but we've had a lot of success getting rid of pet and smoke odors.

I agree with the others that 3x rent is sufficient. However, be careful on excluding the first candidate due to the children. Familial status is a protected class and you don't want to give the impression that that is the reason you are denying them. Most municipalities have guidelines on the number of occupants per bedroom so I would look into that in your area.

I agree with Lauren that making sure the property is clean is the biggest part of making it rent ready. Make sure you don't upgrade anything beyond what other homes in the neighborhood have, that's just wasting money. Tenants need functionality, if they need granite and a travertine backsplash, then they should buy a home of their own.

No, because the insurance policy will usually only pay if something needs to be replaced due to an insured hazard. For example, if a hurricane damages the roof, then you can file an insurance claim. However, if the roof just wears out over time and you have to pay to replace it, there is no insurance claim and that is why you need to set aside money for cap-ex. How much cap-ex you need to set aside depends on the age of big ticket systems in your property such as roof, a/c, driveway, etc.

Unfortunately, it sounds to me like the fault may be mostly yours. When your financing addendum was close to expiring, it was your responsibility to confirm loan approval or cancel the contract if you were worried about losing your earnest money. Lesson learned, be more cautious on future transactions.

If it were me, I'd say no and tell them they'll need to get any commission from their client. Most buyer/ tenant representation agreements are written in such a way that the tenant would owe the commission and not you. If this agent has decided to show properties without a buyer rep agreement, then they are risking doing the work for free and it's on them. Politely remind the agent that if their client is interested in your property, they are duty (and possibly legally) bound to assist regardless of whether they will receive a commission.

Christian, I think Eugene may have made a typo. 100% of first month's rent for using an agent and putting on mls is pretty standard. Usually this is split 50/50 between the listing agent and the tenant's agent. This agent who contacted you is asking if you are willing to pay the commission they would get if the property was on the mls.