All Forum Posts by: Jen Harwood

Hi @Casey Blakely, I am assuming you mean advertising properties for rent, right?

Yes, I use Craigslist almost entirely, with a bit of Zillow as well.

Yes, Craigslist has definitely been the most effective way to advertise in my market (in my experience)

No, I wouldn't outsource my Craigslist advertising, but I don't have a lot of units - I save a template with the pics and description for each property so it is very quick to list each one

I hope that helps!

Hey @Andrew Eichelberger, we pay WSG as a pretty standard matter of course on our Boise rentals, without passing that on to our tenants. However, if you wanted your tenants to pay those utilities as well, I think you have an easier option without going to the trouble and cost of sub metering. 

First, I would definitely not recommend doing a billing plan where you receive the bill and then retroactively charge your tenants for it (this is something you'll face with sub metering as well). Water and garbage bills are every two months, sewer is every three months. You can imagine how quickly this will become complicated - you'll have collection issues, possibly issues with timing reconciliations, etc. Not to mention your tenants wondering why the water bill is SO MUCH HIGHER in the summer than it was in the winter (they may understandably wonder if they are subsidizing their neighbor's extravagant water usage - and you know who they are going to be asking about that). 

Instead, I would recommend that you charge a flat monthly rate to each tenant to cover your average utility cost. It would be a separate charge above and beyond rent. I don't know about Meridian, but in Boise the sewer charge is a flat quarterly charge, regardless of usage, so that is easy to budget for. Garbage too is relatively flat. It may just take you some time to figure out what the right amount is, but if you just bought this property you probably already know the historical utility expenses.

The downsides are obvious - if your water bill is higher than the rate you are charging, you as the owner are going to eat that charge. But, as I mentioned, it's pretty standard in Boise for landlords to cover those charges anyway. Also, if you have tenants in place, you'll have to wait until your leases roll over to implement this charge; however, I would think you'd have to do the same if you sub-metered and wanted them to start paying for their own water. Maybe you don't have tenants yet so that is a moot point.

My approach in rentals and business is always to just go as simple as possible. Good luck!

Hi all, I'm posting a general discussion here in the hopes that it will catch the attention of the Head BPers In Charge if other people agree.

I've been using the Rental Property calculator a lot in the last week or so, and let me start by saying I absolutely love it and find it to be incredibly useful. However, I think one thing would make it a lot more enjoyable to use.

I usually calculate my results and then want to tweak the purchase price and/or rent assumptions - as you know, finance is rarely absolute and it can be helpful to understand the range of returns you might get based on changes to these two numbers. Especially if you are talking with someone else like an investor or partner about a property. 

To do this, I have to click on "Edit Report" and go all the way back to the beginning of the calculator (starting with the page where I enter property address and property taxes, neither of which are going to change as I am analyzing this particular property). I have to wait for each page to load and then click the "next" button. I realize I am a product of my generation, but I am impatient to see what happens when I make these changes! Ideally I wouldn't need to revisit every page of the calculator to get there.

Does anyone else feel like it might be helpful to be able to tweak at least these two inputs on the final results page of that calculator so that you can quickly see what impact these changes might have on your final returns? Or even have a button on the final page that takes me to the right place to make these changes rather than defaulting to the beginning?

If I am being picky and overly analytical, fair enough and I will go quietly into the night - but in the interest of BP seeking continual improvement, I thought I'd put it out there.

Thank you so much @Claire Fenton! I think you are right. Using that search on Zillow, it looks like we can safely count on $1250. I see a very similar comp currently listed for $1400, but I'm not sure if ours would actually go for that. Thanks again!

Thanks @Jonna Weber and @Steve Allen! That is good validation of the rates we were thinking. Seems like that $1000 mark isn't as much of a mental barrier as it used to be.

Really appreciate the help!

Hi fellow Boise buy-and-hold investors! I have two SFHs coming up for rent this year but we've been renting them to the same families for several years so I believe the rent may be below market. I'd love to get your thoughts on what you think we could reasonably ask for them.

(A) One is a 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 1150 sq. ft. off of Northview and Milwaukee. It backs up to the huge Fairmont Park and public swimming pool, so it's a great family house. It is a pretty typical SFH rental in Boise but does have newly refinished wood floors throughout and new interior paint as of a couple of years ago.

(B) The other is a 3 bed, 1 bath, 1000 sq. ft off of Cole and Ustick. It will in all likelihood have new carpet throughout before it is listed for rent.

Greatly appreciate any thoughts.

Hey @Justin Heitter, welcome - love CDA! Between North ID and Spokane it seems like there should be ample investment opportunities. You'll learn tons listening to the podcasts and reading the forums. It will make your head spin in a good way :) Take care!

Thank you all - very helpful advice and recommendations!

Oh wow, thanks @Will Pritchett! Are you using a general cloud-based system for payments? I use cozy.co currently - I wonder if they offer a similar credit-reporting service.

I do agree on the credit score front. It's more of a data point to be used as part of an overall picture - definitely not a deciding factor for us.

Thanks @Account Closed, we always pull credit history in addition to landlord references, but in our market it's fairly common to have renters that did a short sale on a home or some other issue with their credit that doesn't necessarily have to do with rental history. I haven't seen a lot of rental history on credit reports, but maybe that has changed in the last year or so?