All Forum Posts by: Dan Perrott

@Mike Girard - if you do not install the tile correctly and you do not maintain the tile (i.e. caulking, sealing, etc), it is going to fail.  The difference is that the concrete board will not fail as easy because of what it is made of.  The concrete board will allow leakage just like the green board but you will not have to replace it.

Secondly, concrete board costs about double than the greenboard.  It not the most costly part of the job though.  The finish work is. 

Good luck.

@Max T.

If the lease is written as 15 per pet added to the lease amount (written not verbal), the I think you may have to reduce the rent.

If it is written in the lease to charge the lockout fee, then you should stick to your lease.  

This is not mean, this is what you agreed to by signing the legal document.  Its not that big of a deal - because you agreed to this prior to the tenant being locked out.

You are not being mean, you are running a business.  Good luck.

@Cameron Skinner - Thanks for you comments.  We started our business with this mindset and have absolutely had great success.  You are spot on - if you take care of the tenants they will take care of your property.  If you provide a clean, well-repaired property, they will take care of the property.

However, there is a line in which some tenants may take advantage of you.  What we have found is that no matter the situation, you must follow your business rules.  Late rent policies must be consistently applied to all tenants.  Helping tenants with things that are against your business rules will impact your business success. Helping tenants has its limits.

All in all, I can sleep easy at night knowing that we do everything we can within our business to help others by providing good homes for our tenants.

@Mike Girard - green board works.  There is nothing wrong with it.  There are just newer techniques and materials, like cement board, that have proven to be better.  I have used it for over 30 years and it does work.  It is a matter of preference and what your local contactors use.  You also need to make sure you match the local building code requirements.

@Mark Wikkerink - most doubles in Indy are is D/C- areas.  They have high turnover and because of their areas, may experience a high level of maintenance.

But - it does depend on the area.  I own a couple of duplexes in Castleton and they are great properties in a C+/B- area.  Most tenants stay 2 or more years. 

As in all real estate.  It's location, location, location.

@Abad Marroquin - First you need to contact a lawyer for legal council.  I am in no way giving legal advice but I am talking from my experience.

In Indiana, I would take them to small claims court to recover the lost rent and damages.  You would also may have to sue for possession of the property -it is dependent on your abandonment laws.

In the small claim court in my area, I have walked into the courthouse and spoke with the court clerk.  They were able to guide me into what forms are required.  Note that there may be limits or legal representative requirements in your small claim court.  This is if you are planning to represent yourself without council. 

Finally, you may be able to forgo all of this if you can sit down and have the tenant sign a simple payment agreement for the outstanding amount.  I would also get them to sign a paper to say they are cutting their lease short.  I have used this strategy and made an agreement that they are responsible for the rent until you find another renter.  It is sometimes easier to go this route.  You can always take them to small claims court if they do not pay.  Note that our courts will not usually give you rent for when the tenant was not in the property.

Good luck.

@Liam Goble

 Glad to hear that someone else works their business through elbow grease.  Allot of people on the BP forums will push that you should hire other people to perform the rehab/maintenance work and to manage the day to day tenants.  The "investment" model pushes volume with the least amount of personal physical work and sacrifice.  I don't say that the "investors" don't put in hard work, but the model that they choose is to build a much larger empire (which comes with different kind of headaches).  Their focus is on speed to obtain the real estate to add to the portfolio while paying others to rehab, maintain, and manage the properties.  What they hire others to do is the cost to build the bigger empire.  Eventually we may hire someone to manage our properties - but for now, we choose to use elbow grease.

What I have seen with our properties is that they are managed better, have less vacancies, demand higher rents, and overall are in better repair.  Absentee landlords don't seem to understand this difference.  No one will take care of your investment like you will.  This is the benefit of elbow grease.  This is the disadvantage of the hired property managed portfolio - owners are blind to what is actually going on.

I, like you, enjoy performing the work on the properties.  There are times when I have to work day and night.  They are just seasons in our business.  But the majority of the time, I just collect the rent.  Most tenants stay in our properties for multiple years.

Stick with your strategy.  Eventually our portfolios will get too big to self-manage but for now, we choose to keep the profit from our "hustle"

Thanks for your post and encouragement.

@Sean Kremer - Thanks for the heads up on the Menards flooring.  I had looked in the past and their flooring did not seem to be of the same quality.  It was thinner and did not seem to me as to be as good of quality.  I will check it out.  Thanks.

@Cheryl Daniels - one process we use is to have documented rental criteria that a tenant must meet.  Credit score is just one of the criteria (we require > 600).  Other items such as no evictions, no bankruptcy, verifiable 3x rent in income, and no legal action related to past leasing are a few of our items. 

Step back and take your time in creating rental criteria that you would like to have every tenant meet.  Note that you must make sure you are not discriminating (by law) in any way.  Financial minimums, smoking, pets, and criminal history are areas in which you can set what you want your minimums/norms to be.

Good luck!

Menards - lowest overall prices with good quality for the supplies that I purchase.  If I am looking for a higher priced item, I play Lowes against Menards with the price matching discounts.

I use Menards for paint, electric, plumbing, kitchen cabinets (I custom order) and misc hardware items.  Shopping by sales and rebates for high-volume items is also a great savings.  Most Menards employees know me by name and have been great to work with (at multiple locations).

I use Home depot for 1 item - Allure flooring.  It is hands down the best flooring available for use in rentals.