All Forum Posts by: Kyle Coleman

 I tend to agree with you, I was only teetering on the idea of letting her pay the fee monthly instead of making her come up with the cash up front. Don't worry, I'm not about to get bullied on my first rental. :) 

 
I realize "non-refundable deposit" was erroneous now. Thanks for pointing it out.  I changed it to "fee". Thanks for your other information as well, would you consider allowing someone to pay it via increased rent, or should it be up front?

Thanks,

 I appreciate the insight, I didnt intend on budging in the sense that I would lower the payment.  The budging I was thinking was converting it to a monthly payment of increased rent so that they don't have to come up with an extra 750 bucks right from the get-go. That comes out to $62.5/mo and pretty close to what another poster said of 30/mo per animal.

All,

I'm a first-time landlord, we're looking to rent our first property as it is. I have a SFH that is entirely tile, so floors are pretty durable. My question is this, I set a non-refundable pet deposit that is half a months rent and a stipulation that the animals must be under 50 lbs.

I have a potential tenant who claims that the pet deposit is unreasonable and her two dogs don't cause damage. How should I handle this? She's asking that I negotiate the deposit, should I budge? Is half a months rent too much? Should it be non-refundable? 

 Robert,

I didnt really have a demographic selected, since its my first property in the area, I figured I would see what bites.  I'm not opposed to renting to students, but I would prefer families. I'll give David a PM to see if he can offer any assistance. 

 Bob, 

I tend to agree with you on appliances, I'm curious about why you advise them of this.  Does it matter where they get their appliances from? What is the downside to renting appliances?  I'm only asking for my own edification, I feel like there is a back-story here somewhere. 

Also, as a new landlord - if you purchased a unit and it already had washer, dryer, stove, refrigerator etc in the unit, would you remove them or have it be known that if they fail, the tenant is responsible for bringing in their own.

Thanks!

 Actually, I bought the landlord Nolo book. I intended to freshen up on all the laws pertaining to Louisiana.  It appears that this state may side more with the landlord than the tenant in a lot of areas.  I guess that's good, but I don't intend to have my tenants taking me to court. 

I've seen both, but having one in the unit seems more common - at least in my area. 

Hello BP,

Been lurking / reading and learning for a long time. However, the time has finally come to get over analysis-paralysis and buy my first unit.  It's a 3BR 2Bath near LSU (state university). The average rent rate per room for a student is 550.  It's currently occupied, but all tenants are moving out at the end of May (graduating). 

My question to BP is this, what are the firsts things a new landlord should be doing - the house will be move-in ready.  I've read all the guides, and I have a really good idea of everything I should do - but it's almost information overload at this point.  I'd really like some bullet points, quick and simple.

Thanks all, very excited to finally start the next step.

Kyle

 That'd be great Samuel, I ordered the book you suggested as well.  I'm always in the market to meet investors and grow my network.