All Forum Posts by: Patrick Donovan

I have a property that I is available for rent April 1. Most of the people inquiring about it are students since it is so close to the 3 universities we have here in town. My question is if I find some tenants who are interested and fill out applications and everything looks good, how long should I hold it for them and what should my terms be since most want to move around the end of May? Should I have them sign a lease agreement from April 1 and have them paying rent for the two months they aren't going to live there? Or if they want to fill out the applications should I basically just tell them that they better hope they are lucky and no one else gets it before them?

. @Brandon Turner has a great book (The Book On Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down)  I bought it Amazon for a few bucks. Tons of others.

This book was a huge help for me as well. I had no idea how many possibilities there are until i read this book. I am about to close on my first property and started with FHA, which didnt work out because someone told my banker false info which made me not be able to get the FHA loan. But if i hadnt read this book i wouldnt have thought to ask my mom to take some money out in a home equity line of credit to get me enough for my down payment.

As long as you can make the FHA loan work it might not be a bad idea. That way you have more cash reserves to start out with. If you haven't checked out the investment calcs here on BP you really should they will give you some good info. I like the idea of a 30 year loan because you will be able to spend less of your own money on mortgage. The less your mortgage payment is the more you can save for another downpayment , saving for repairs and all that as well. Hope this helps a little. I am also new to the game and am doing an owner occupied duplex. Id love to hear more advice as well !

That's why I cant really tell if was him or not because I don't have his middle name, SSN or anything. I plan on doing a background check and stuff I just wanted to know before I even had to go through the trouble of showing him the place and getting it. Hopefully it does show up on a report though since it was so recent. I also let them know that there will be a background check and I will call previous landlords, employers, bankers, ect. He seemed like he wasn't worried about the background check when I mentioned it so it makes me think that it wasn't the same person. I guess I will find out if he fills out his application. Thanks for the input!

So i got an email from a prospective tenant last night and when i googled his name the only one that pops up in the state of IL, which is where his phone number is from, is a man who was just charged with a felony last month. What are my options on asking to find out if this is him or not? I know i can ask if he has ever been convicted of one but if he lies and says no, what wuestions can i ask to find out?

Originally posted by @Mike Palmer:

@Richard C., @Patrick Donovan:

I don't think your numbers are very accurate for our area and this property in particular. As an area we are running under 5% vacancy right now (I think last year was 3%, and has been under 4% for the last 3 years consecutively). My properties personally have virtually zero vacancy (over the last 4 years I have less than one week total for all units combined, which includes 3 tenant turnovers).

I would also wager maintenance, repairs, and capex at more like 10% total on this place (assuming the HOA takes care of the yard and exterior structure/maintenance).

He also lives virtually next door, so paying 10% for management would be silly. He should be able to manage this place with very little time or cost.

I only run the numbers say property management at 10% simply because in the future if I am unable to manage the property, say I have to many, get hurt/sick, or something like that, then it would be accounted for since most property management that I have looked into or heard of charge somewhere between 8-10%.

As for the vacancy I completely understand that I guess I could have looked into that more before I said that. I just go for the 8% so I know I am not going to lose on it.

 And cap ex and maintenance I go that high even if things are new just to make sure I cover my a**. I don't want to push that money into something else and not have any in reserves. But with all the improvements on the property I can see why you can rate that so low.

 I appreciate the insight and constructive criticism, makes me think a little more clearly about my numbers.

I am purchasing a duplex and the seller contacted me and asked what I thought about him placing a tenant before closing. I know that it is easier to have a tenant In place right away but I will be living in the other half of the duplex and want to know who I am dealing with. I have an application and lease that I am sure he does not have (I have seen his lease agreement before). Its not a horrible lease agreement but I have a lot more in mine. I suggested that he do a month to month since closing will be early in April. Is this the right way to go about this or what other options do I have?

I have not looked into it that much. From the sounds of it just means that you won't get all of the same uses that a Pro member would get. Don't quote me on that though.

Go to your dashboard, scroll down a little bit and on the right hand side there is a section that says upgrade to pro to see who has viewed your profile. From there it will show you all the advantages of pro and plus and show you what more you get from them.

House-Hacking is the way I am doing it. Finding a partner is a great way to start as well. But I started and I only have $6,000 and am getting a FHA loan with a 3.75% interest rate and only 3.5% down. Property must be owner occupied for at least a year but after that you would be able to rent it out and keep the low interest rate. The PMI will still be in place but after running the numbers it will still work for me as a rental. I am buying a $140,000 property with just $6,100. I also found a down-payment assistance program that was offered by the city, but I had a little to much money to be accepted for that program. Anyway long story long you can definitely get started with a small amount of money you just have to find which way works best for you.