All Forum Posts by: Kathleen Leary

Check with the town/city that you can offer it as a rental - some areas specifically prohibit residential rentals. Executive rentals can be a great deal - quite often, the tenants aren't even there much of the time. Throw in a weekly cleaning service & lawn care & you should have people lined up down the block.

Also make sure they don't decide to charge YOU for their "improvements" - while it may be spelled out in your lease that they are not to make changes to the property, they may feel that they've spent money you should reimburse them for. Sit down & have a talk with them - keep calm, be business-like & see if you can come to a middle ground.

In this state, as well, a broker has additional training & licensing. A salesperson/agent must work under the supervision of a broker, even if they are not directly involved with selling to the public (i.e., an investor who has their license to use the MLS - they still have to be affiliated with a broker). Both can write offers, etc. In day-to-day dealings, either would be fine - I'd be more interested in their experience & willingness to work with an investor rather than a private home buyer.

If you hold a property 15 years, you WILL need to spend major bucks to fix something. Plan from the start to have money to cover it or you will be in over your head before you know it.

The correct answer is, "In my experience, area properties that fit your criteria may be difficult to find. But let me work on it & see what I can come up with. Please give me a few more specifics as to what sort of deal you're interested in & I'll get back with you as soon as possible." If they say anything other than that (or something similar), there are a bazillion other agents out there that would be happy to work with you. Life's too short!

There are lots of pros & cons either way - I'd suggest talking to a tax expert, at the very least. In this state, it's pretty cheap ($160-ish) to open an LLC & you can do it in about 8 minutes online. Other states have much different costs & requirements. I put my first property under contract in my own name, then transferred it to the LLC at closing (cash transaction). Keep in mind that an LLC is a flow-through entity & does not have the benefits of a corporation when it comes to taxes. No need to rush - you can always transfer later.

A property owner I know painted her rental kitchen bright salmon (it's BRIGHT!) - the first thing every single prospective tenant says when they walk in is, "Uh, can we paint this?" She thinks it's just beautiful, but I notice her own kitchen is not that color. Hmmm. Stick with light colors in the tan-sand-beige-greige range, white woodwork (easy touch-ups), with maybe a pale blue or cream for baths, utility rooms, closets, etc. No pinks, purples or bright colors - it may be boring, but there's nothing to hate about it, either.

I lost my "cube job" almost four years ago - except for the lack of money (which IS a problem!), I'm very happy with my life. You've got a lot of opportunities to do things you've been putting off - or don't do them at all. It's up to you what you make of this "bonus" time. Best of luck!

I try my best to keep my property looking nice, inside & out & insist that tenants do the same. Years ago, I used to live in trashy student/low-end rentals, myself & I assure you: if the landlord doesn't care about the place, the tenants won't, either. I think it's great that other landlords let their places go - it makes mine look like a palace!

Out, out OUT! And pronto. They've already broken the lease & now they're in charge? You might want to re-think that set-up.