All Forum Posts by: David Terbeek

Have you checked out the National Association of Residential Property Managers website yet?  It is a trade group specializing in 1-4 family rentals.  Good luck with your endeavor.

Take the time and expense to use the LLC. Also, as noted, have a separate bank account and treat it like a business to keep it legitimate should someone decide to sue. AND have insurance. Having multiple layers of protection will help to keep your personal assets safe in a litigious society.

In Ohio it is really easy to get an Exterminator license.  I have thought about that a few times for our management company, should we do the work in house (after licensing).  Does anyone have thoughts on the pros and cons of doing that?  Is there liability if we are licensed?

There are some costs associated to obtaining and keeping your license so depending how much you will use it and/or how you will use it would be important questions as to decide whether to secure a license.

I would agree with the last post, each agent works differently and at their own pace.  You may want to consider an alternate agent that more matches your fast pace.

Tony-  I've worked with Emerald City Properties many times with good success.  

@Matthew Whelan, I do know a local mortgage broker that can do most investor deals from $30k+. Andy at Brooker Financial, in Strongsville. Below $30k things don't work out due to laws restricting the percentage of fees. Sorry, I am not aware of any HELOC providers.

Chris, our company has a similar policy in place giving M2M, 6 month and 12 month options.  Much like you we have a small increase for the 12 month and larger for the shorter terms.  HOWEVER, 2 years ago, that was not the case - we were just happy to have someone renew given the local market conditions so there were no increases.  The costs of turnover are very high so if your market is not escalating quickly and/or you value the security of keeping a tenant there is nothing wrong with offering a lower rental amount to keep a good tenant for another year.

The best benefit of having an EIN is that you can use that with utilities, government paperwork and anywhere else that someone wants you tax ID.  For the sake of personal security, you should avoid putting your SSN on anything that is not absolutely necessary.  An easy and free way to guard your identity.