All Forum Posts by: Val Csontos

The way I prevent/reduce this "game paying" or at least make my time at the courthouse worthwhile is by:

For example, if the rent is $1000 in our unit, than i write the lease for $1200 and the Tenant gets a discount if they pay by 4th of the month. My lease was looked over by a Maryland Judge and he was fine with it. According to local laws, late fees are here in MD about 3-5%. But I do not have late fees, just rent discounts for timely payments!

Each time i "file for failure to pay" rent i just write in $1200 and no late fees. And if the tenant plays with me until eviction this way i get an extra $600.

Good luck on your next one!

If our market rent is $1500 for a unit, we write the lease for $1700 and there is a discount of $200 if you pay by the 4th.

This way we almost never have late payment. Our lease was tested in court once of twice.

It is an old Carollton Sheets method and if works really well.....

@Andy Luick I went to see your website. Interesting niche you are into! Is your rewards worth your risk? what happens if say you send a guy to live with someone, and the guy you sent as "roommate" steals an expansive item? Can the homeowner come after you since you sent the client? I thought i saw similar business model on tv and from the show i got the impression that the entire thing was in the gray area....Just curios...

@Cal C. In Maryland we can only ask for first,last rent and deposit. Once in awhile I wish we could have a 4th month, so we woulndn't cut so close with evictions :)

Ian,

When someone put down family-member as currently landlord i do not really consider this as a rental history. I would not work too hard to verify that side!

I would focus on: honesty, (make sure no identity theft) source of income and timely payments of obligation ie credit report . IMHO

Michael,

I say, do the best of both worlds! For your personal finances pay everything in cash and be depth free (other than the mortgage).I wish I did this part sooner :)

And for investment property you could do like I sort of did:

I purchased most of the investment properties 10-15% below retail with no money down rent it out (made a little cash flow from day one). On a couple of hosues I purchased the Refrigerator from the first month's rent. Than years later built up reserve and aggressively tackled paying down dept.

Warning: comment sense must be applied on high leveraged purchases at this stage to make sure you are not taking over someone's differed maintenance issue. Like you need a new roof in 6 month!!

On the long run you will be all right and in the mean time you can get started on investing with little or no resources.

Ian,

First:

I wouldn't bother there are plenty of "regular folks" out there! Not worth the hassle or risk.

Second: if you really want to give these people a try, run a credit check on each adult member! This will help you sort out with names make sure they are not fake! Also make sure you check for valid picture IDs too!

finally if credit is lousy but they did not lie about their name and address than I would ask for: first month rent deposit (same amount as rent) and last month rent on 12 months lease!

if they balk at the 3xrent for move-in than you know they do not have any money just stay a way!

I hope this help good luck,

Regards!

Matt (Paul)

Currently walking distance to the casino, townhomes are selling close to $500k (I personally would never go for it, but is great for my rentals),

Also in Severn, Hanover, Odenton, in the past 3 years, my rents increased $3-400/mo per unit (Single Family) $200 (multi-units) mainly do to the BRAC bringing close to 6000 hi-tech jobs relocated to the Ft Meade area! In Odenton/ (Seven Oaks town homes) my rents are up from 1550 two years ago to $1800 now. Just In last 2 years my properties had experienced an 8% price increase based on sales data from MRIS.

ps.: there is a small part of Severn where I would not want to own anything but, Toll Bros. are putting up mid level Townhomes even next to those. Demand is high around here period!

Scott,

Wow what an educational thread! I had learned a lot, just by reading posts!
I am a "buy and hold" and "buy fix-up and hold" guy out of Annapolis but have rental units around Ft Meade area. I saw you had moved here recently. May be one o these days if you have time we could meet-up, grab lunch or cafee? Regards
Val

Matt,

I mostly do buy hold, fix-up/hold around Ft Meade and I live in Annapolis, and my vote is on Anne Arundel County as rents around here nearly doubled in the past 6 years! We had received 6,000-10,000 new jobs! Just this week Verizon is moving here 1000 jobs from CT.