All Forum Posts by: Karen Dayley

What type of properties are you looking for in the Frankfort area?

Have you all read

Federal Register/Vol. 63, No. 245/Tuesday, December 22, 1998

This doesn't support Rob's points. We are not discriminating based on number of children. Landlords do have some discretion on occupancy policies under the Fair House Act. Read it.  The Frank Keating letter clearly states this and outlines the other extenuating circumstances. I am familiar with our state and local laws and abide by them. I was more concerned about this situation for completely other reasons that I am no longer wishing to discuss on this forum. I was hoping for some level headed discussion and opinions but clearly that is not what is being offered, Lesson learned on my part.  

This is not a situation of a family with 4 dependent children. This is family bringing another family to live with them.  

We have received a rental application from a couple who probably would meet our financial rental criteria but they have listed that another family will be living with them. They are US citizens and will be sponsoring another family, their niece, with her three children. The niece  will be coming to the US to learn about American life and the children to go to school. The children's ages are 19, 15, and 12.  The apartment they are applying for is a 3 bedroom with 1.5 bathrooms. We think 4 adults is too many for this apartment. We think the wear and tear on the apartment will be considerable. How can we say no? Our rental application states no more than 2 per bedroom. We added this so people with 3+ kids wouldn't try and rent our 2 bedroom apartments. We did not foresee this situation.  

Thank you Joe.  I ask similar questions when I do a phone interview with potential tenants but I haven't requested this information via email.  I think I will start. Thank for sharing this information.  

I am so appreciative you all responded. Especially to Ken P. for such detailed feedback. Let me share what has transpired since my post oh so many months ago. We ended up buying the property for $165K, not a great deal, but the bank did 100% financing. The payment is $1,095 for a 20 year loan at 5%. Financing charges were about $2,000 give or take. We bought it on May 26. There were 3 units rented for $400 each the landlord paid the water which runs about $150 per month with 3 units rented plus the coin laundry going. (2 washers, 2 electric dryers)

Since 5/26 we have had the following rehab expenses:

5600 new flooring in vacant apartments

1500 new appliances

1800 parking lot sealed and striped

1500 handy man labor

450 plumbing repairs

300 HVAC repairs

50 electrical repairs

350 miscellaneous improvements including patching the roof, utilities, etc.

$11,550 Total

We have rented all 3 vacant units, 2 BR’s for $475 and $470, and 1 BR for $395. Our rental income has gone from $1200 to $2540 in two months. These apartments rented in days once they were ready. New tenants are paying all utilities. I have implemented the RUBS for those units. I will transition the other units to paying the water & sewer in a few months once they see we are making improvements to property and grounds etc. This takes us from the red to the black on this property with still a lot of upside to go. As the older tenants move out, we will update their apartments and we anticipate we can rent those for $550, but we are taking a break on this property now and moving on to our other rehab projects.

Thanks for the response. I think excel would work fine when I'm sitting at my computer but I have a hard time updating excel on the go. I'm taking calls while driving around and going about my day-to-day life. I was looking for a more mobile option. Thanks again.

I have been finding it difficult to respond to and keep track of all the phone calls, emails, and texts I am getting from prospective tenants that are responding to my apartment advertisements.  The rental market in my area has picked up tremendously and I used to get just a few phone calls/emails a day but now I'm getting 25 or more per day. I don't have time to do phone interviews any longer and to schedule individual showings. I have been setting up open houses and struggling just to respond to all the inquiries with dates and times of the open houses.  I would like an app to record the names and phone numbers of calls/texts/emails that I am receiving, what apartment they are interested in, record that I have responded to them, and if they are confirming a showing or if they will be attending an open house. Does anything like that already exist? How do others track prospective tenant leads  and responses?

I'm in the same boat. We recently purchased a foreclosed duplex from the Master Commissioner and there are two tenants in there now. One tenant has said she is moving by the end of the month. We are glad for her to leave. Her apartment is in really sad shape and we would like to get in there and rehab it right away. She also has a pitbull and we need for her and her dog to leave. She did not pay rent to us for July but claimed to have paid the previous landlord. We don't believe her, but we will forego the income as long as she is out. 

The other side is a different story. This tenant has avoided making contact with us. I have posted information on her door and asked her to call. I have mailed her forms and information and no response.  My business partner was able to get her name and phone number from the previous owner and when he called her she said she didn't receive any of the information I had sent. She also claims to have made a rent payment in July, not true, and that we wants her security deposit back, which was not transferred to us. I am going to ask her to pay rent for August and if she doesn't pay I will post a 7 day notice to pay or vacate. If she doesn't pay, I will begin the eviction process which in Kentucky, in Franklin County, as of now, you do not need an attorney. If she pushes the security deposit issue then I will request she show me proof she made a rent payment in July, which she didn't, and then I will say she has already had a free month's rent on us that is equivalent to her security deposit. 

This is my plan so far. I hope it works. This is our first property purchased this way and I'm learning as I go.

I have used Quickbooks to manage my rentals for 15 years. I find it is the best at the accounting side and I feel I take advantage of all the features it has to offer.  As our business has grown, I find I need help with all the tasks surrounding leasing a unit including the leases, rental applications, marketing, tenant screening, online payments, prospective tenant lead tracking, etc. I have different apps/services I use for all of these, but it would sure be nice to have one software product that would integrate these tasks. I am leaning towards Appfolio, but I still cringe at the price. We have 36 units right now and growing and my time is getting limited. I don't want to get into a situation where I have to do double entry in two software products, one for property management tasks and then re-enter in QB to maintain my good financial tracking. I'm on the fence on what to do.