All Forum Posts by: Keaton Labby

@Colleen F. Thank you for your insight! That is how I plan to treat it, just "paying myself" in the same cadence that the renter would if they paid month-to-month. 

@Lucia Rushton I am self-managing this property, yes! Thank you for your comment

@Richard F.

Thank you! Luckily they have already met all the requirements for credit check, criminal, eviction, etc. They are offering full prepayment simply because they don't have a current income since they are quitting their job to move into my property. She was a nurse (she provided former income proof) and plans to find a job as a nurse in the area once moving in. 

Hi Everyone, 

I have a few tenant applications and one of them is offering to pay the full 12-month lease's rent up front with the security deposit. After the screening process the background check, eviction report, and credit report all came back clean with no issues. She just currently doesn't have a job due to moving from out of state. 

My questions/concerns:

1) What are the legal implications/obligations with a full year of prepaid rent in Texas? I can't seem to find any Texas statutes regarding the proper treatment. 

2) What are some proven methods of handling this situation, assuming it is legally sound? Holding the prepaid rent in an escrow account? Keeping it in a checking account? I am ignorant on this topic as a landlord.

3) Are there other concerns that I am missing/unaware of? 

I appreciate any and all comments. 

@Nancy Truong @Kobe Xin I am now in the same shoes you guys were in a couple years ago. I would love to hear your experiences over the past years. Feel free to PM, thank you in advance! Hope you guys have been successful and enjoying the journey!

 Thanks for the response! This is super helpful. I had only looked at my neighborhood previously. 

 Thank you for the response! I have definitely considered the extra workload that a short term rental will bring. I have done all the calculations and simply didn't want to flood the forum with too many details for a general question. After tallying all expenses I will presumably have a worthwhile cash flow in the traditional long-term rental. I just know that there is much more variability and unpredictability regarding short term rentals like Airbnb/VRBO. 

Based on your response it sounds like a "get out what you put in" scenario. The cursory research I've done shows that there is a decent demand in my market, but I need to dig further. 

Hi everyone, 

I own a property in North Houston that I will soon be vacating and renting out.

Out of curiosity I looked into Airbnb/VRBO and found that there is one other house in my neighborhood listed on those sites, charging 267 per night. The house has the same setup (4 bed 2 bath, within 50 sqft) as mine and is in the same neighborhood. Looking through her availability calendar it seems that she has at least 15 days booked up each month all the way through December of this year (averaging $4000/month before expenses). 

Based on my market research and advice from my realtor I could charge 2400/month to rent out the house with a traditional rental agreement. 

Some location details:

- 20 minutes from Houston Intercontinental Airport

- 10 minutes from The Woodlands

- Near 2 major highways (99 and I-45)

Mortgage ~$1600/mo

Utilities (power/water) ~ $250/mo

I would really appreciate some opinions on which is the better approach for an inexperienced landlord. 

Thanks in advance!