All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

We keep 5,000 cash

5,000 in checking.

10,000 in savings.

10,000 in a CD that we can take cash out of anytime but only at the bank.

We save money up for our next purchase in other CD's that are the same as the emergency fund CD.

We try to NEVER use credit cards!

I haven't ran into any houses in California with adhesive on the back, they just have an aluminum rail on the bottom and clips on top. You can find framed mirrors at Walmart and Target as well as other discount home stores cheap.

A lot of times I take the old flat mirror and get some fancy trim from Lowes and make a nice frame for it. I once did a 7' x 4' vanity mirror in 5" wide ornate trim then stained it black. It looked like a very expensive mirror but I only had about 60 dollars in it.

We have all of our tenants deposit into a special bank account, they do not need to have their own bank, account they can deposit at any B of A branch. This has worked great for us for the last four years and we are notified the minute they make the deposit.

One of my friends has a rental that backs up to a parkway where cars zoom by 60-70 MPH. He planted Itallian Cypress trees close together about ten feet up the side of each neighboring fence and along the back fence.

The yard is fairly quite now in the back, it has been about six years and with lots of fertilizer they are about 20' tall. He also installed some sort of storm windows inside the house and you can't hear the traffic at all inside.

I started out as a labor for several contractors then I moved into carpentry, by 21 I decided to try truck driving and then I went to real estate school. While I was in school I started a custom car shop and ended up doing that for five years. We had a recession and no one was spending money so I went back to truck driving and I started a modeling and talent agency, I ran that for about six years.

On my final leg of my adventure I started a personal training and sports rehab clinic in Napa Valley and teamed up with a local chiropractor. I ran that place in Napa for five years there then started a new center in Danville CA, I started investing any spare money I had into stocks for a little start up company. That company was purchased by HP and my stock went from about a dollar or two, to 33 dollars and that is when I retired and started investing in real estate.

I have also worked part time for the last 15 years as a professional corporate photographer. In this job I have traveled all over the world and worked for many major companies doing everything from product shoots and trade shows to executive shoots for magazine covers.

Hi Chris,

First of all was the unit in the same condition when the tenant moved out as it was when you purchased the place? If the answer is yes then all he would owe money for is cleaning because you purchased it in that condition.

On the rent part he does owe you for back rent and you can use any money held such as last months rent or deposit to cover some of it. You would have to go to small claims court to ask for any other money owed but you would have to wait until he is working to collect.

Tenants text my second business cell phone, all alerts are turned off on texts so I am not disturbed. I have hours of 9AM to 9PM Mon-Fri, tenants can leave a message or voicemail at any time 24 hours a day because the phone is on silent during non business hours. Hire a professional to record your business voicemail message, it is well worth the money and you can use it for the life of your business. I happen to be lucky and my wife does messages for companies like Hewlett Packard for extra money.

I do check my phone several times a day for texts and missed calls and first thing in the morning when I get up. My business phone is on the same plan as my personal phone and costs 10 dollars a month, for the phone I just use a free flip phone I have had almost five years now. This phone is very small and fits in the watch pocket of my jeans if I'm wearing those.

The texts have been great to keep records, I just sent a text to a tenant that was late on rent just before this post.

I purchased a short sale home for our residence that was listed at 178,000 by B of A, their appraisal was at 178,000, our appraisal came in at 167,000 and it really messed up the deal costing us an additional month of waiting but their second appraiser magically came in at the same price of ours at 167,000 making the deal happen. Interesting to say the least.

This is how my tenants pay me, if one is a problem they will no longer be able to deposit into that account. I have not had a problem in four years doing it this way.

If a tenant is single and younger with not many bills two times the rent may be enough. Add anything else like a car payment, credit card bills or dependents and that needs to be added on to the two times.

I factor in about 500 a month for each extra person not working on top of two times the rent. In the area (Central California) my rentals are in two times is the standard on lower income housing.

Look at Craigslist ads in your area to see what other landlords are renting homes like yours for and what amount of income they require. Too much more of either one and tenants will look somewhere else unless your home is much nicer than the rest.