All Forum Posts by: Jane A.

@Wesley W.

I like this: "(m) You and/or your guests are not allowed on the roof at any time."

you never know how creative people could be :)))

@Wesley W.   AWESOME!  I will update my list :)))

Sure, Zelle is used by all major banks and transactions are FINAL!!! this is the key!  Almost all other payment systems could cancel the transaction, but Zelle is final, at least my banker promised this :))) and your bank account is not exposed to the tenant.  We used to collect checks in PO Box as well, but at some point turned all the transactions to effortless.  Some people use our deposit coupons and deposit the rent in the bank, some use their own online payment tools, some use Zelle, Cozy, ClearNow.  We do not care as long as payment gets to our bank account :))) 

Yes, I use COZY :)))

Historically happened this way, that some tenants use ClearNow to pay the rent, sometimes even PayPal :))) somebody uses their own apps to make payments.  I like Cozy because it is easier to sign up, free and tenants could use Credit Cards if they want.  I tried to use Buildium but found it is not friendly at set up stage, so I quit.

For listing I use only Zillow, no signs or Craigs List - a smaller volume of better quality prospects.  I plan to try Cosy for listing as well, hope it will send it directly to Zillow :)))

I use Quickbooks for tracking cash flow
Zillow is implementing tenants screening and payments, so they will dominate the market soon after they will add main features. 

For managing different legal entities and different accounts I found that www.rentmanager.com will work the best and has very reasonable price and almost unlimited functionality.

Regarding Cozy, it will be great if it will be able to manage different entities from one account, so I will be able to send rent from different properties to different accounts.  

Cozy definitely has potential, it feels user-friendly.  If you guys will be on the top of the main functionality for small landlords (up to 30 units or so), you will win the game in this segment. 

@Michele Fischer , thank you for  "no using the oven as a heat source" idea, almost funny, but true

Yes, I am going to implement regular visits to check on all the safety

This area is not safe, because of that it is relatively cheap.  International students may do not know that and rent around the university.  Location looks good because the City takes the trash away for free.  Return on investment may be good because you could buy cheaper here and still collect regular rent.  The rent is not high here even it is close to the Plaza area.  This location is considered as "the wrong side of the Troost".  During 2008 you could buy a house for 10K or so.  Now probably for under 80K.  You may have problems with evictions and collecting the rent for with local tenants, or with a turnover with students.

@Brandon Reed Thank you, yes I will join the Pro group to check on next level of discussions.  Legal docs are usually state specific and I have my professionals who check all my docs and offer templates. 

One thought is - to sell the whole portfolio, pay taxes and wait in cash for the better opportunities to invest during the next economic cycle.  This is what I should do.  What I will do - keep all the portfolio as a long-term investment because it works and will work during the downside of the cycle.  If I would own anything is Arizona/Florida/California/Nevada, I would definitely sell because these markets have the history of a few times folding. 

Your input is needed!  Please contribute into safety rules I am about to send to my tenants.  The goal is to decrease the liability.  Thank you!

HOME SAFETY RULES

For residents of (address)__________________________________________________

Dear ______________ (names),

In order to keep your home safe and comfortable place please acknowledge via your initials the Home Safety Rules and report any safety problems you noticed. Please be sure to follow the following rules to keep your home warm and safe.

• 1.Respond to the HVAC company for fall furnace and spring AC checkup visits - ______ (initials)
• 2.No use of open wire space heaters________(initials)
• 3.Keep your dryer vent clean and report if you need any help from technician ____(initials)
• 4.Report if your carbon monoxide and fire detectors will stop working ________(initials)
• 5.No use of basement as a bedroom ________(initials)

Regards,

your landlord

@Account Closed  Once we had around 60 showings and no offers on seller's market for 2 months during summer.  The big house was in a very good location, after a full renovation. No real feedback from the agents, it was very stressful!  I lost whole summer watering the grass :))) I feel your pain.  I was loosing around 1K monthly just holding the property, so I started to run open houses on my own for one hour or so, talked to people, got very detailed feedback, added some details here and there to stress the advantages and remove attention from disadvantages, got the offer and closed the deal.  Sometimes there are some tiny details in perception, which you could get only personally connecting with people who enter the property.  Dropping price 1K or so every week and open houses will move your listing up on Zillow.  A lot of people look for the house without the agent and after just ask the agent to do the paperwork.  Some buyers prefer to have an agent from their side just for paperwork.