All Forum Posts by: Kiana Kelly

Contingencies for when bad things happen! Yes! When is rent considered late, on the 3rd or the 5th? Can they pay their rent in 2 payment or 1 lump sum. Is the late fee $250 or 10% of the rent. How many times can they be late on the rent? What are the lease terms; 3 month, 6 month, 12 month. What is the penalty fee for breaking the lease? It could be 1 months rent. Up to you, you're the landlord. What is the max # of total occupants, meaning can 3 people move into the rental or just 1 individual. If they cause a sewage back up because they are flushing wet wipes and the cost of repair is $760, who is paying for it? If they bring in bed bugs? Do you have insurance for your appliances, if the tenant says the washer stopped draining the water and now their clothes smell like mildew, do you know how to schedule service with warranty or call an appliance tech? - THIS IS NOT MEANT TO SCARE you I promise, but this is the mindset of experienced real estate investors, which one day you will be too. - Good luck friend! ✨

As a property manager, have you spoken to any of us? Have you reached out and shown them your rental and gotten a couple of quotes? Are you knowledgeable about the rental laws in your area or do you have an agent that can help you with that? Better yet, do you have a lease agreement prepared for your future tenants? Welcome to the world of managing rentals, if you can sit and chat with some Property Managers I am sure you will understand the preparations you need to take. How are you going to list and market your rental? What is going to be the security deposit? Who is going to process the applications? Who is going to show the unit to potential tenants? Do you require renters insurance? Can they bring a pet? What utilities will they be responsible for and is it included in the rent? 

Food for thought, I can go on forever but this is the mindset I would have if I was in your shoes. Hope this helps get the wheels turning. 

I recently got done with the book Who Not How and I think it's great for your question. Based on the book it's less about what you know, you're new so assuming you know little but are hungry try and ask someone to mentor you through your first rental. I think it's best that you learn to build relationship skills fast if you're serious about being a real estate investor. Attend events, online or in your area and be a sponge. You might make a few mistakes a long the way but that's okay! Keep going and good luck! 

I never responded to this, but thank you for your input. I ended up declining both offers and created a small Youtube channel for our property. It only has 4 videos. One of the property and three of our model units. I have found this to be very, very cheap and a nice touch when emailing prospects. Thank you for reminding me to skip the flashy stuff and focus on the return.

What's up rockstars! Millennial leasing agent here and I’ve been managing my properties social media for 3 years now. No one else in my office wants to do the marketing, but it's my job as the Business Manager to drive leads to our community! I have been presented with a couple of marketing offers and I need help deciding which one to go with. There is a gal who came by she said she can do social media marketing on a monthly retainer for 5k/mo. The radio station said they can do ads and list us on their socials starting at $450 per spot but it's for 1 ad. . then there is are listing platforms but thats like $399/mo. I've never spent company dollar on something like this, I can tell the team likes my marketing so far I don't want to let them down, and I want to sell the last of our units. I could use all the advise

You can tell declined applicants the reason for their denial, but I would recommend not going into too much detail. I've been doing property management for 5 years now, and I have a denial letter I've created. Something like: Hello, thank you for your application. . . unfortunately the application was denied to due x,y,z "does't meet income requirement." "unable to provide proof of income documents" ect. the application fee is non refundable . . if you have further questions, email here.

Overall, I think you should develop a screening process. Because you have to be able to protect the integrity of the property or unit by screening applications properly. It's a great start that you're asking for help.