All Forum Posts by: Jennifer A.

I personally have a couple tenants with foreclosures in their past. Also, I would not rule out someone due to bankruptcy. As mentioned above, the key is to get at the root story. Many people have illnesses or a job loss or some other one time event that force them into bankruptcy or foreclosure. My two tenants with those issues are wonderful! And, they are so appreciative that I actually gave them a chance when many others wouldn't. As a result, they are intending to stay much longer (plus they know how hard it is to find a place to rent with those items in their past). I'd give them a chance and ask some more questions.

One thing I look for in their credit history and in their civil court filings is for a pattern of behavior. If I only see one or two things at approximately the same time and they are otherwise clean, it lends credence to the theory that this is a one time event. Plus, I look for honesty about the situation.

If you have to discover the foreclosure or bankruptcy on your own, that isn't good.But, if they are forthcoming and their story checks out, I'd give them a chance. It could likely pay off in having them stay longer, which means less turnover, which means less costs for you.

Good luck.

Last year we had a single mother with three small children going through a divorce. She was a great tenant. We bought her a Christmas tree. She really appreciated it.

Good work. It really pays to do your homework.

In some states there are laws about what a landlord can/cannot do with tenant property that is left behind. I'd check your local laws before doing anything with it.

I've been a landlord for a 1.5 years and fortunately haven't had many big problems other than a dispute between my tenant and a neighbor. I want to be a good neighbor, but the neighbor was complaining about things like my tenant's children and the way they played with her child. Sadly I got sucked into the situation more than I needed to be. I think the neighbor has finally figured out that I cannot and will not evict my tenant simply because they can't get along, but it drives me nuts!

If they are otherwise qualified, I'd ask them why they didn't put that information down. Over the years, people have been trained to protect their social security number, date of birth and other highly personal information. They may not realize why it is so important to a potential landlord.

Thanks everyone. Yes, it will cash flow a little bit with $150k cash out. Rent is currently about $1700 per month with a great tenant in place.

I purchased a property at a foreclosure sale for $150,000. I paid all cash for the property. That was in May. I'm now trying to cash out on the property. I have put about $8k into the property. The property is assessed at around $200,000.

The bank is telling me that they can only cash me out for 75% of the purchase price, not the actual assessed price. Obviously I'd like to cash out more than that to get the maximum amount of my money back to move on to other investments. Do I need to look for a different bank or is this typical? I read about so many of you buying and then refinancing and getting most of your money back that I can't help but think I'm at the wrong bank (where I've done 3 other loans but none have ever been a cash out).

Thank you!

It depends. Because I have small children, I would not buy something within direct sight of my home. I don't want my lives to get too mixed up with my tenants. I'd worry about my children playing with their children and there being problems. Or, if they didn't have kids, with their dog or something like that. That said, if it was one street over or further, then no.

You'll have to find a charity to donate the time share to that hasn't caught on to this strategy. Many charities will no longer accept time shares as they have realized what a money pit they are and how difficult they are to get rid of. Many people that I know end up deeding them back to the association for nothing or having to set up shell companies to deed them to and then abandon the shell companies. These are an absolute nightmare for most people.