All Forum Posts by: Danielle Ratto

Quote from @Bjorn Ahlblad:

Our own application is the most important part of the screening process for us and we ask that it be fully filled out. We do not invite more than 10% of applicants to complete it as most applicants do not make it that far. We do not show units without that application and some preliminary screening. 

Sure we do a background and credit check that is kind of at the end of the process and there are rarely any surprises. We ask the applicant if there are going to be any negatives on those reports and tell us now so we don't waste their money or our time. 

Do you use something like Google Forms to create your application? I am wanting a more thorough application and thinking of creating my own as well. I would love to know what you have included in yours that is more detailed than typical applications. Thanks!

We will be renting out a unit next month and haven't had to rent in a few years (yay for great tenants!). Our last vacancy we used Cozy.co for tenant screening. I know apartments.com has an application / screening process, but wasn't sure if there is something better. I've seen Innago and Zillow rental manager in my research, but not sure if there are any other hidden gems out there. We are looking for something free for landlords, as we don't have that many doors yet. What do you use? Do you like it or recommend it? 

Thanks!

@Jonathan R McLaughlin thanks for the recommendation, I appreciate it! I’ll contact him next week. :)

Hello all,

Happy New Year!

Looking for an attorney / lawyer that is well versed in landlord / lease law. Located in the Seacoast area a plus, but anywhere in NH works since things are mostly done over the phone / virtual these days!

Thanks!

@Thomas Cummings I would like his contact! I’m in N.H. and might be looking for a CPA this year!

My husband just went down in our tenants basement to replace the smoke detector and discovered water marks from a very obvious recent flooded basement. My husband texted them to see what happened in the basement and they said there was a small leak in the washer a few weeks ago, but it is now fixed. There is no way this was a small leak. The water marks are about a foot high and it is extremely damp in there. There was so much water that it seeped all the way over to our side of the basement (it only houses our oil tank and furnace and is accessed through the outside so we don't go down there much in the summer and didn't know it was wet). It is extremely moist down there and we have had a stretch of 90 plus degree weather with extreme humidity the last 2 weeks so we are now worried about mold. We believe it happened over 2 weeks ago and they never notified us. 

Who is responsible if we need to have servpro (or similar company) come and dry the basement out and check for mold? Our lease does state that if they fail to notify us of things needing maintenance and repair within a prompt manner they can be held financially responsible and We do require they carry renters insurance so I am wondering if it is something renters insurance would cover? 

Thanks! 

Editing to add we are a little more worried than usual (we would probably just run fans and a humidifier and clean up ourselves) but our forced hot air system comes from this basement and we have a newborn baby so really don’t want to be having mold coming through our air vents! 

@Raymond McGill Will there be a meeting in July? 

Hi fellow BPers, 

My husband and I are looking for some contractor recommendations in the Seacoast NH/Southern NH/Southern Maine areas. We will be purchasing our next property in the next few months and are focusing on distressed properties to fix up. 

Anyone have someone they would recommend? Or anyone to steer clear of? 

Thanks! 

@Raymond McGill Did you ever end up finding a good contractor? My husband and I will be purchasing our next property in the next few months (hopefully) and we are focusing on distressed properties in our search. Finding a good contractor has proven difficult, nobody seems to respond to calls or voicemail. 

Anyone you can recommend? 

@Colin Reilly  Having grown up in Dover and my husband in newmarket I can tell you, you will find great tenants in those towns and also bad tenants in any of those towns. There are streets in both dover and Newmarket to steer clear from, but overall they are definitely nicer towns just prepare to adjust your expectations for cash flow (margins will be slimmer). 

We have had great tenants and our current tenants are three young adults out of college who are all teachers and can't afford the expensive rents those other towns have. They are quiet, pay their rent early, and are ideal tenants. We screened our tenants THOROUGHLY to prevent bad tenants (as much as possible), but we definitely get all sorts of crazy applications and calls from unfit tenants. We pre-screen over the phone with our criteria before we ever show the apartment to avoid wasting our time and to weed out any potential unfit tenants. 

Good luck in your search! If you are set on those towns you might want to get creative and try to find some deals off the market, or have all your ducks in a row to be ready to jump as soon as you see a potential deal hit the MLS!