All Forum Posts by: JD Martin

I would use all of that but think that the best options comes from word-of-mouth and referrals, either from other tenants or neighbors. If you let everyone you know (and like) know that you have a place coming up for rent, as well as (decent) neighbors, you will be surprised to know that almost everyone knows several people either looking for a place or about to be looking for a place. From that point make sure you go through the screening process (I would screen my own mother!), but I think it increases your chance of getting a good tenant by degrees. Social pressures still hold true, and no one wants it to get out to their friends and family that they were the problem tenant, destructive tenant, or deadbeat tenant. 

I think it makes sense to start a new tenant with a 12 month lease and then going month to month beyond that point. It takes time to get any place ready for rent, and you want to have at least some level of commitment from the tenant on the front end, especially if you have a place that's fairly desirable. We are a college town and I would not want someone to flake out and leave in November, leaving me with 2 or 3 difficult months to rent, and pay additional heating bills, etc. Once someone has proven some level of commitment (my rents are low compared to similar houses), I have no problem going month to month.

I have everyone fill out electronic applications. There are 2: one "in-house", wherein I can verify employment info, salary info, etc, and one from Smartmove, wherein I get access to their credit/criminal/eviction history. There's no charge for the in-house one, and a $35 charge for the Smartmove one, which they pay directly to them. I collect no money until I say "OK, great, you're in", and they sign the lease. 

I don't do paper applications in any manner. I suppose if someone really elderly or completely technologically-challenged really wanted in, I would have to consider the issue, but it doesn't seem to be a problem for me. I also keep a website that I put my available homes on. Everything is electronic. To me, there's little reason to go the paper route. The exception is the lease, since I want an actual ink signature on it. That has to be old-fashioned paper for me, but courts will accept electronic signatures. 

The question I would ask of the people who say "Hey, it's OK, just be happy you have the rent" or "Just get a little more rent money to cover the costs" is this: would you be OK with the tenant operating any kind of business out of the home as long as it wasn't explicitly illegal? If so, do you have a clause in your lease that prohibits tenants from operating a business out of the home, or do you encourage such activity? 

I don't think most landlords see their only objective as making immediate rent money. Protection of principal, managing risk, ensuring long-term neighborhood viability, and possibly even social factors (providing a nice home for a reasonable price) are all important issues, maybe even more important than a few short-term dollars. Otherwise, shouldn't everyone run slums? 

There are downsides to allowing tenants to operate a business inside the home, which is why most landlords don't allow it. Aside from whether or not it's permissible in the area's zoning, with a few exceptions such as nice downtown areas, housing in commercial areas tends to be less desirable. Consider this example scenario: right now you have, let's say, a one-year lease with a tenant who is keeping the place up and making lots of money for themselves. They decide to leave after a year to own their own place and make more money. In the meantime, people living in the same apartment building, or on the same street, get fed up with the parade of non-stop strangers and move out. Now there are multiple vacancies on your same street, and when you go to re-rent you end up taking less money.

I could go on, but the point of the matter is whether or not the landlord should be OK with the tenants operating a business out of his home without his permission. 

PS: What they're referring to is the fact that the boards were originally side nailed so that the nails didn't show. Any reciprocating saw will make quick work out of these nails. 

^^Usually, to replace a single piece of T&G, after chiseling out the rotted piece, you cut the tongue off the new piece and face nail it into place. If you were replacing a whole bunch of boards, the process would be the same except all the new boards would be intact except the very last board.

If your guy doesn't know how to replace a piece of T&G you probably need a new carpenter. Draining the water is not a bad idea but consider: the T&G you have has been there for 90+ years. It was probably good quality heartwood, but even run of the mill pine or oak that's properly finished is going to last a couple of decades. 

^^This is a great idea, re: humidstat wired in parallel to the fan switch. I don't think I'll get to it on my current reno but next chance I get I will probably put something like that in. 

 Sounds like it all worked out! Excellent!

I like the smartmove setup as well, learned about it from this site, and is what I use. I also have an in-house application that I use to verify information that smartmove isn't going to do, like call employers for salary/employment verification, but the smartmove credit/background check takes the entire thing out of you having to worry about it - and the tenant pays the fee directly, so you don't have to deal with it. It also recommends whether or not you should approve based on their credit/background/income scores, and I follow that up with the application information to make a decision.  

I think multi-family can be a difficult way to start. On paper it seems so attractive - all your units in one place, one roof, one foundation, one stop for maintenance and inspections, etc - but in reality, you are instantly taking on the challenge of dealing with many tenants, and dealing with the tenant interactions with each other. Couple that with the limited market for resale, and I think it's something to really think through. You may consider starting with a single family home or two. 

Your key to making money is cash flow or a strongly appreciating property, or both. If you have a property that doesn't appreciate much, but has a strong cash flow to expense ratio, you can do well. If you have a property that breaks even, but is rapidly appreciating in value, you can ultimately do well. If you have both, you are really loving life! If you have neither, you are going to be in trouble!

You have to decide to some extent what your goals are other than "making a boatload of money". If you want income now, then you need to focus on properties that don't cost you much to own but generate a high level of rent, which opens you up to certain areas that may otherwise not be worth looking at. If you want growth of principal, you should select properties that are in hot neighborhoods, or neighborhoods that will be hot.