All Forum Posts by: Joe Garro

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!  Just wanted to update you that we've got a tenant that passed our screening for our house for a 6-month lease...we offered $50 off rent for the term, and then the price will go back to normal rent with yearly leases. :)

I'm going to get the lease signed and all money for rent and deposits as cashier/certified before giving keys.  One last question for the thread, what does everyone use for their lease agreement form?  I've downloaded one with and without the Texas Association of Realtors label on it (I'm not a realtor member)  The realtor version states "USE OF THIS FORM BY PERSONS WHO ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® IS NOT AUTHORIZED" so I'm guessing not a good plan to use it?

Thanks again everyone!

Thanks for the info @David Ivy, I will definitely check out that guide, and the property does cash for extremely well. (even if we did lower the rent for the slow period)  That was one of our main criteria - to find a house that would cash flow well.

@Bart H., I'm definitely with you on getting the lease dates to line up ending during the busy season.

@Eric Guiltinan definitely agree with you on keeping the 3x (and other requirements) in tack, better to wait for the right tenant than rent to the wrong one!  Yeah, I'm not a fan of CL for most real estate postings, as it's format is not the best setup for people to find your place...especially once it gets down on list from all the other spam/scam postings.  I'll keep the background check credit in mind as well.

Thanks for the replies. @Jordan Schneider we closed on the property just under one month ago.  When we purchased the house we had the realtor run lease comps in that area to have an idea of average rent and where to start.  However based on the time of year, I'm thinking we may need to lower a little to get it leased until the summer when it's peak moving time.  The fee here is usually one months rent for leasing through a realtor.

@Alvin Price nice to meet a neighboring investor!  I appreciate your advice, and we feel the same way it's just a matter of time considering the ATX market.  Along with frequent CL postings, I signed up with Zillow Rental Manager (which syndicates to Trulia and HotPads) and Cozy (which goes to realtor.com and doorsteps) and cozy is also the online property management platform we will use to collect applications (credit and background checks) and collect rent via direct deposit if the tenant chooses.  As for the screening, we are sticking to our plan and making the initial qualifications well known (3x rent for income, 2 yrs of references, no evictions) and if they are interested they will be required to submit a credit and background check, which they pay for via cozy.

Truth be told, we already had people call/email but disappear after qualifications are mentioned.  We don't plan on changing the screening process as you recommended.

Let me know if I missed anything. :)  Thx!

Hello BP Community!

My name is Joe, and I live in Round Rock, TX.  My wife Tawnya and I have been contemplating investing in Real Estate for years, and just last month purchased our first investment property.  (A real nice Single Family 4/2 home in great area in Round Rock, TX)  We both have a great deal of interest to continue to add properties to our portfolio, but are taking things one step at a time, and I'd love feedback or advice on anyone who's willing to share.

Furthermore, we are currently still trying to get the house rented without the aid of realtor to start (as we'd like to avoid the typical one month's rent fee) and I've read and utilize advice from other BP articles. (using cozy, zillow manager, and craigslist to greatest coverage)  I know it's a difficult time for rentals being so close to Christmas, but any additional advice is also appreciated.

Thanks!

Joe