All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Griffin

Hey @Bill S. we use Buildium right now and they allow the tenant to make monthly payments automatically. What system do you use for automatic debits? How much do they charge? If the tenants don't have all the money at the time withdrawals, do you still get your money no matter what? I understand that it would be considered late, but what does the system do? More information would be greatly appreciated on this.  Thank you

Hey @Brent Bowers and @Daniel Eisman I appreciate the compliments! We took the opportunity in those calls to just see how she was doing, to let her know we were still interested, but not pushing for her to sell right away. She responded well with that approach. 

As for the land, somebody that knew my husband and I bought properties, contacted us. We called the seller and he lived out of state. My husband asked him how much he wanted for it ( he had already heard he wanted 5,000 for it) the seller confined he wanted only 5,000. My husband told him we'd take the property, and to send over the contracted. 

We did an O&E and everything was clean. No liens and it was owned free and clear. The reason why he was selling it is because code enforcement kept bothering him, asking him to board up the windows and clean up the lose debri. He bought the property in 1999 for $39,900. 

It's considered Colorado Springs but it's 12 miles east of fountain. Total cost of the property including purchase clean up and removal is going to be around 6,000. People pick up scrap metal for free. Very happy with this purchase.

Thanks@Robert Blanchard! The owner had it since it was built. Her husband passed away 10 years ago and she has been managing it herself. She is in her 80's and she has not raised rents ever since her husband died. She had records of every little thing she did from light bulb changes to appliance changes. She actually went one day before closing and bought new stoves for the units from Lowes. It is 2 1/2 miles north of Peterson Air Force Base. There is always new troops coming and going. 

Hey @Les Goss we actually looked at the Rentometer.com just now, and we are 250.00 below the average. It looks like a really good site, thank you for letting us know about it! We use Zillow Rent Manager and it gives us pries as well, but we like this Rentometer.com better because it is more detailed. Thanks again

Thank you @Dan Mackin and @Michael Wentzel! We are not sure if they are going to be good tenants, but either way once they leave, or we ask them to leave, we will be able to update the units and raise rents. The tenants have been there anywhere from 5 all the way up to 14 years! We knew the prior owner had trouble collecting rent this month because she was very relaxed with them. They are all on month to month tenancy. This will make it more convenient for us.

Purchased a New 4 Plex in Colorado Springs. It has a lot of potential. We got it at a good price, with it being off market. It took us nearly 8 months until the owner wanted to sell it. My husband would call her once a month to see how she was doing. My husband called her one day and finally she said, "Im ready"! Being consistant does pay off in the long run. All 4 units are currently rented, well below market value. They are all 2 bedrooms 2 baths. Each unit has their own seperate meters. We are excited to make it more profitable and adding it to our portfolio

We also just bought a piece of property for 5,000 for 36 Acres, here in Colorado Springs

Welcome to BP. Bigger Pockets is a good resource for a lot of information and different opinions on different topics. Make sure you always take the information and feedback with a grain of salt and do your due dillagance. Make sure you sign up for keyword alerts on subjects you are interested in. Have fun and make sure you ask a lot of questions

Oh Thanks! My husband made that website and its still a work in progress. We do have a lot of ideas on there. We think the relaxed approached is a good way to do it. After taking the aggressive approach for a long time, we are now realizing that too much momentum makes it easier to stumble. My husband is enjoying life a bit more now. He almost takes a whole day off a week now ha ha. Thanks again.

Welcome to BP. Bigger Pockets is a good resource for a lot of information and different opinions on different topics. Make sure you always take the information and feedback with a grain of salt and do your due dillagance. Make sure you sign up for keyword alerts on subjects you are interested in. Have fun and make sure you ask a lot of questions.

We just recently acquired a 4 plex  here in Colorado Springs that has existing tenants living in it. This was the first month of the tenants  under us as the New Management.  We were checking the rent amount deposited from a particular renter, and noticed that he paid 2 months of rent in advance.  When we noticed it was still actually short by 60 dollars, I gave him a call to notify him he was short of the full deposit amount. When he answered the call, he said "Hello how are you?" I said " Great how are you?" He said "I'm doing good, and asked " Did you call?" I started to say " Yes, I'm calling you today about your rent." He then says" Ohhh I'm sorry but I don't speak any English." I laughed and said " But you have been speaking English ever since you answered the phone." He laughs and says, " Oh no, I don't speak English." Too funny! We are Bilingual as well, so he wasn't going to be able to get over on us! It was a good laugh.

Do you guys have any funny rent collecting stories?

Julia Waldorf -Real Estate Choices