All Forum Posts by: David Stone

I wouldn't reject based off contaminated furniture, but here are some acceptable reasons you can reject the applicant. I get these calls a lot when screening tenants and rarely do they meet my minimum qualifications. 

1. Unsatisfactory references from landlords, employers and/or personal references. 

2. Evictions.

3. Frequent moves.You have to decide what constitutes frequent moves and apply the same criteria to every applicant.

4. Bad credit report.

5. Too short a time on the job.

7. Smokers.

8. No verifiable source of income.

9. Too many vehicles.

10. Too many people for the property. Check your state’s Landlord-Tenant Law.

11. Drug users. They must be current drug users. If they are in a drug treatment program and no longer use drugs, the Federal Government considers them handicapped and protected by the Fair Housing Act.

12. Pets.

13. Any evidence of illegal activity.

14. History of late rental payments.

15. Insufficient income.

16. Too many debts.

17. Conviction of a crime which was a threat to property in the past five years. 

18. Conviction for the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance in the past five years

If the property cashflows and all the numbers look good, then how many 0 down properties could you afford to pick up?  We got a duplex essentially 0 down, we offered $5k down owner financing, bought over market value (full asking price), cash advanced a credit card to pay for the down and closing costs, cash flowed every month and eventually raised the rents (to increase the value of the property) and sold it, making around $70k after cashflow and profit selling in a few years - essentially we created money out of thin air. I would grab as many of these properties as I could get my hands on as long as the numbers work!

It was Rich Dad that got my mind thinking a completely different way about making money and what was possible. It's what got me excited about making the change away from a typical job and to live with more freedom.

During the recession, we were getting people who could otherwise afford a home but were probably too afraid to buy at the time or were having difficulty qualifying applying for our rentals. Our rents kept going up even though home prices were down. Recently with the market strong and interest rates low, those qualified people now seem to be buying homes and our quality of applicants has gone down, causing us to reduce our rents. I imagine when interest rates go up and home affordability goes down, there will be more demand for rentals and rent will increase once again.  This is what we're seeing in our market anyways.

Some auction properties list on the MLS at the starting bid amount and the bids are open for anyone to see. For example, I got tons of calls for a $29k home listed on the MLS but it was a Hubzu.com auction and eventually sold for $75k after multiple bids. I dont think anyone is trying to mislead you for their own personal gain, probably trying to get you in the right direction so you actually have a shot at the property :)

I have 4 kids and mine don't destroy houses. Because I parent them, have respect for mine and others property, and immediately attend to accidents that do happen. It all comes to screening the adults you are putting in your homes. How do they keep their home, their car, do they show up groomed or sloppy? Pay attention to these and other indicators that give an insight into who the person is in addition to your minimum standards they must meet but flat out discriminating cause someone has kids will cause you to lose a whole lot more in the end... not worth it

Start with a hand written letter stating you would love to buy their house and to give you a call, short and simple and if/when they call, try to get an in-person appointment to take a look at the property and discuss how you can help their unique situation. Just make sure you are dealing directly with the owner/decision maker.

You may consider hiring an attorney to send a letter to the old property manager. This shows you are serious, gives them that "oh ---" feeling that an attorney contacted them, and probably will cost 30 min of work hours which in my area would be about $100. Call an attorneys office, explain your situation, and run some ideas off of them... it might be worth the money.

They are definitely pushing an agenda here with this article using an extreme example to push a case for all tenants.  

“It just shows a perfect example of how tenants without strong rent-controlled protections are vulnerable to displacement and injustices.”

I would not have given a vacate notice to ANYONE who paid my mortgage for the last 30 years and kept the place nice (I would have just found another deal and housed my daughter there or worked with the family in an effort to coordinate a plan for housing the tenant to soften the blow), but landlords should not be punished and criticized in general when following the current laws that were put in place.

I agree with JasonD, cage or bowl typically not considered a pet. Although we did have tenants who had multiple caged snakes and we charged them a pet deposit, but one or two small caged animals is probably OK