All Forum Posts by: Josue Vargas

@George Kopp Looks like you have a lease agreement/contract already executed.  I assume she saw the property and agreed to the condition and terms in the lease and there weren't any blinds installed, then I believe is your option.  

Blinds are attached to the property, and they should remain in place. 

This is what I have done with curtain drapes and rods: 

* Negotiated the cost with the tenant.  I picked what I want to install and showed them. They preferred something different.  It was a back and fourth three times until we agreed.  

* Tenant paid half the cost of materials, I paid half the cost of materials plus installation.  

Make clear curtains/blinds etc. will remain in property when tenant moves out. 

In which Country is this listing?  Looks like someone needs to talk to the Broker who owns the listing.  

@Jacqueline Blue

I have not read all the posts above, but I want to say I would not do a lease for 2yrs for the better qualified prospect tenant.  You can always say thanks but no and ask them full rent and one year lease.  At the end of the lease, renew for one more year and I would negotiate the rent at that time.  Or have a month-to-month lease option after the main term of the lease.  

1) Don't cut yourself short because you are somewhat insecure.  A two year lease does not necessarily means you will have them paying rent for two years.  Read the lease agreement, hopefully prepared by a Broker or an attorney.  

In this market I would be happy to take a tenant who wants a 6 month lease.  It is a sellers market (or landlord market), meaning lack of properties, more people willing to pay more generally speaking.  

2) What if the best qualified tenant defaults or breach the lease?  I could find a new tenant within a week, but now I'm stuck with this 24 month lease making things harder for me.  24 months is somewhat lengthily for a residential property.  

3) Just my personal experience, tenants who moves in from out of state and have great credit scores and very nice jobs wants to buy a house within an average of 8 months once they become familiar with the area.  This means you will have turnover often = vacancy + other most likely expenses. 

The big difference, is the PM have large probability to know the know the REI the market way better than your think or your BFF in BP. He knows who is garbage and how is not. Unfortunately, your property, in my opinion, is well below average rental standard prices, at least for this market. Granted, I do not know specifics of your property, but if you can't rent for $700.... well.

If you can't rent for the asking price, you have two options (In my opinion), since you are new and apparently with no cash to put into the property.  Drop the price and rent, or get rid of it.  (get rid of it meaning sell, do other strategies so you don't loose much $)

Advice, shift your mindset of making $25 less today vs what can you do tomorrow.  You will learn, and taking that $25 hit (or not) will make you grow.  

Now, take the time to scrutinize the 150-200 inquiries from FB and finding a good tenant. Good luck with that.  

@Mary M. (broken link)

Spiders in Texas could be a bit scary for some tenants.  They could be species that do not carry poison to human body, however, their bite can be very painful to them and also for pets.  Not to mention scorpions and such creatures.  Is a genuine concern for the tenant.  I believe tenants want to be in a peaceful environment. 

To me a spider is an "eight-legged predatory insect with an unsegmented body consisting of a fused head and thorax and a rounded abdomen. Spiders have fangs that inject venom into their prey, and most kinds spin webs in which to capture other insects."  WOW that was a lot... That said, to other people spiders are just pets.  I think for the majority of spiders, they belong on the backyard, not in the tenant's sleeping quarters.

Nothing against them, they provide good and as such they should belong to the environment they meant to be where they strive most :) 

@Joe S. 

Tell your PM they should know the property was leased "as is", nothing noted to that nature in the move-in inspection report, unless otherwise explicitly noted in writing.  Hope they did a great inspection at move in.  I'm not against PM's, some of them do a great job.  But things like this concerns me, sometimes they just forward invoices and they do not tackle the problems for what they were hired, I think.  Just my opinion.   

If "pest control service company" is not included in the lease, is up to them to provide their own pest control service.  Seems they have not done that. They are lucky no scorpions or nasty centipedes have shown on yet.

It really depends on your availability, interest, and time.  If you want to learn, by any means the answer is yes.  If you don't care about learning the process and you trust the sub or contractor, or just don't have the time, then no.  I would however be there for any work done in the property I'm not familiar with, for at least a couple hours, then swing by when they are finishing, and have one of the foreman or team leaders explain to you the process (bug extermination company scenario, I don't think is worth it).  

You will learn so much you it will feel you can do everything yourself, but let the experts deal with if, please!  

Not only for pest control, but for general maintenance and repairs... 

What do your contract say?  

My contract says I need to notify the tenant and give "reasonable" notice to enter the property for maintenance issues etc etc.  In this case, it is my job (if I'm managing the property) to schedule and coordinate.  I think, if they want to be there at their will is OK, but not a requirement, of course if the lease allows.  I also charge $50 per trip or whatever the service call is for the job if they can't enter the property because the tenant have been notified with reasonable time (in written) and the property is not available.  Communication is key, make that clear, it should be in "black and white", no grey areas.  Yes, document, document, document.  

Protect your assets!  

@Wade Suhr

Taxes.  Most of the time people with very small business like landscape or whatever wants to write off expenses against their business, for tax benefits.  Think about all the industry small service/construction.  Landscapers, nanny, cleaning pools, the handyman guy, housekeeping, the food truck, the guy who comes to my house to teach my son's classes of drums or guitar ... LLCs is very common.  Anyone with a US passport or SSC can have one.  Now think about that for a moment... 

First, is your property intended to family rental?  

If its for family, look at your lease/contract.  I'm not a lawyer, but it should be pretty clear your rental is intended only for family use, no business.  Now if you have a commercial space, that's a different story. 

I would rent to an LLC, if its possible, also it means a new contract and at a commercial property rate. If you intend your property to be filled with family, stay away from this.

If you decide to rent to an LLC, know the state/city requirements before doing this. I recommend talking to an attorney.