All Forum Posts by: Deborah R.

I am managing our first property by myself for the first time. I am doing it "by the book" - Brandon Turner's book. Rent is $1500/month for this SFH. I have two applicants (single mom and a couple) who seemed great and make plenty of money to meet our requirements but have a bad credit score. I'm using rent prep; so, I don't get specifics. Should I give them a chance to explain and possibly allow them to rent despite the bad credit? Maybe I'm just getting eager to get somebody in there, but I have been surprised how many people have bad credit. Also, before showing the home, I send them our minimum qualifying standards which details minimum credit score, responsible financial life, etc. They still paid to put their application in and seem like they'd work out well. Advice please. Thanks!

Hi, I'm new to managing our property ourselves.  We were about to accept this couple who said they have one beagle when I checked her public facebook page.  It looks very much like they have 3 dogs - a beagle, and two others that are at least part pit bull.    What should I do?  Pit bulls aren't allowed per our insurance policy.  

thanks!  I wasn't sure how difficult it would be for most people to email it to me.  May mean a trip to fed ex to scan it, I guess.  I do have a gmail account for our real estate; so, that's good.  I did consider a website.  

Does anyone have a simple site generator they could recommend that would allow tenant to submit applications?  

I am just starting to manage our property ourself.  How do you have an applicant turn in their application?  I'm hoping to avoid getting a PO box and do payment online.  I don't have a fax machine.  I don't want them to mail it to my home for obvious reasons.  I would like them to email it.  What works for you?  

These tenants were in for 3 years, and they never did any inspections before renewing the lease.  They were only in the property a few times for repairs that came up.  

Yes, Edward Hamill - that is what I read as well.  Made me think that yearly inspection isn't required unless tenant says there's a problem.  

Oh, well...    going forward, I'll plan to inspect once a year.  I'm reading Brandon's managing rental property book now. I don't think I'm ready to manage it myself yet - but hopefully in a few months I'll be ready.  

So, the management company has pictures before tenant moved in - screens were fine.  Pictures after tenant moved out - show the damage.  Looks like dog jumped up on window and tore screen.   

I brought it to management company's attention when it wasn't withheld from tenant's security deposit (even if it is cheap).  They said I couldn't withhold the cost of the screen because I hadn't done yearly "screen inspection and repair".  My reading of the above section is that it does NOT indicate that annual inspection and repair is required - just that it only needs to be done once a year.  Our tenant never complained about screen or asked it to be repaired.  

So, is my management company reading it incorrectly?  In the future (with pics to prove), could I withhold screen repairs from security deposit?  

Hi, I have one property in Florida managed currently by a management company.  Our tenants' dog damaged the window screens.  The company is saying that we can't take the screen repair out of the deposit since we didn't do annual maintenance.  They are citing the following section: 

83.51 Landlord’s obligation to maintain premises.—

(1) The landlord at all times during the tenancy shall:

(a) Comply with the requirements of applicable building, housing, and health codes; or

(b) Where there are no applicable building, housing, or health codes, maintain the roofs, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundations, and all other structural components in good repair and capable of resisting normal forces and loads and the plumbing in reasonable working condition. The landlord, at commencement of the tenancy, must ensure that screens are installed in a reasonable condition. Thereafter, the landlord must repair damage to screens once annually, when necessary, until termination of the rental agreement.

Commentary I have read on this interprets it that repair doesn't need to be done more frequently than once a year if a tenant is repeatedly requesting screen repair.  My reading of this is that repairs only need to be done if necessary - NOT that we must go out annually and inspect.  

How do you do this in Florida?  We've already given their deposit back, but I am curious for future reference. 

Thanks!

Debby 

It went well!  Our refi of our primary residence with Suntrust was s l o w.  Much faster with RP funding.  We'd use them again!  

I have put some money into fund that flip within the last couple of months.  I was also looking for someone who has completed an investment with them. 

Yeah, so, I won't have an LLC or any entity. The property has a loan and can't be owned by an entity. But Amanda recommended a separate checking account to keep rental expenses/income distinctly separate. Should we just put our names on top of the checks in that case?