All Forum Posts by: Jared Boundy

That all depends on the lender.  With my last 2 purchases, I think I could have gone below 25%, but the rate wouldn't have been as good. I've got a great local lender if you want contact info.

AirBNB actually has a way for you to list your property for rent, but assign someone else (possibly your tenant) as a delegate. That should help you be able to track the usage and keep your tenant honest. Why not partner with someone who is taking initiative and has a working business model. But I agree that if you do this, you don't need a property management company anymore. Negotiate a profit split, ensure they have their own insurance to cover liability, and make it a win-win. You could assess a fee for them breaking their lease and then change the lease to allow it in he future.

Hi @Chadd Chase, always good to see another local from the Seattle area.  I'm with you, wishing I'd found BP sooner.  At least we're here now.  I'm just getting going with some multifamilies myself.

Depending on your local laws, there may be an advantage to a lease. Here in Seattle, you can only get rid of a m2m tenant for specific reasons. If you live in the property, that's an exception. But with a 6-month lease, you can just not renew the lease if things aren't working out. You'll specifically want to know if your state or city has exceptions to the rules for owner occupied rentals. Cozy.co or properlyrent.com work for both screening and rent collection. I'm using cozy, but testing out properly with a new property because it seems to have a more robust listing feature. I rented to roommates for a while and then kept the house as a rental when I moved out. I had several tenants who ended up moving for a job, getting married, etc and moved out before their lease was up. I was almost always able to find another tenant fairly quickly (0-1 month, being close to a university), but because of that hassle, I added in a clause that imposed a lease transfer fee if they found someone to take over their lease. I would always get a new 6-month lease with the new tenant. Often they could help find a replacement tenant when I reminded them that they were responsible for rent for the remainder of the lease or until someone else moved in.

Thank you @Marcia Maynard.  I just purchased 4 of these and am excited to try them out.  I found refurbished for sale from the cadet factory store.

Usually they look at your last 2 yrs tax returns, and the W2 backs it up. Could vary a bit for a HELOC. My brother just got a great deal at Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union, so I'm about to check them out myself too.

Hello BPers, I'm planning some repairs on a rental property that I'm closing on next week. Went for another look this week and realized the downstairs unit doesn't have heat in the bedrooms. So I'm considering these different electric options: 1) cadet wall heaters with built-in fan 2) plug-in panels (VonHaus 450W Wall Mounted Electric Flat Panel Heater - Paintable Slimline Low Energy Eco Ceramic Space Heater (23.5 x 23.5 x 0.4 inches) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZ3NE3E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_H0Q1ybQHE3DNG) 3) convection heater (http://m.homedepot.com/p/Stiebel-Eltron-1000-Watt-120-Volt-Wall-Mounted-Convection-Heater-CNS-100-1-E/206160725) So I'm wondering if you have experience with any of these models or styles. Plug in would require no wiring, just mounting and be less expensive overall. I'm just not sure how well these all really hold up. Electric heat is very affordable here, and tenants will be paying utilities. Thanks in advance for your insights!

Nat Chan it's definitely worth considering from all angles. I was in a similar situation a couple years ago, when I raised rent once on a few of my tenants. I gave 2-3 months notice and was raising it less than 10%. I actually had hoped that one of he tenants would not be able to afford the increase and would move out. I was pretty surprised when he was he first to say "sure, that's fine." Now as I'm selling that property, one of these tenants moved out and said "thanks for all the cheap rent!" However, these were single guys, not single parents or seniors. A good rule to think about is adding some value to them when asking for something. I'd suggest: choose whether you think you should increase $50-80 or whatever. If it's 10%, I'd say the rent is going up 10%, but if they sign a new lease it'll only go up 5% for them. 5% is nothing after 5 years, but only you can decide how you want to treat your tenants. You are entitled to be as generous as you want. I agree that asking them isn't best, but giving them options to minimize the increase is a way of being generous: offering a discount on a lease, discount for being on time, or for doing some of the maintenance. Heck for the guy whose done his own repairs you might even want to just give him a bonus free month or something to recognize his contributions. Whatever you decide, I hope it works out well.

Wow, that's amazing! Great work and great payoff

I'm very interested in this discussion because I've recently realized there are some areas where I do need an accountant (filing a 3115).  One fact that I hadn't thought much about is the fact that you can deduct the costs associated with filing your taxes.  Are there specific limits to that?  I'm just thinking that if i can deduct the cost it may not matter much if I spend say $400-500 with an accountant GW $60 on TurboTax.  But I'm not clear if you can always deduct the full cost.