All Forum Posts by: Kirk H.

@Kaz M.

As for screening questions it depends on the type of property you are renting. It is much easier to find good tenants for A and B class properties. On C class properties the focus needs to be on prior rent history and job history/stability. Obviously you want to check all the usual - 3 times the rent in income,  no felonies for X amount of years , no evictions and credit rating is important especially regarding how much and what kind of collections they have had . I wouldn't over weight credit rating as a lot of people carry debt these days but make sure their income will allow them to pay their bills and keep the lights on.  You often have to be more patient when finding good tenants for C class properties.  Some properties are harder to rent than others- no driveway, small bedrooms, bad floor plans, all make a property harder to rent. Keep that in mind when buying a property. It's best to pick a set of leasing parameters and not vary from them no matter how much someone begs you.

@Kaz M. Ask them, meet with them and look them in the eye if possible. Or at least Skype. Visit their office/shop if possible to get a feel for the general attitude and demeanor of staff and principals. Interview their lead maintenance staff. Ask specific questions regarding screening and maintenance.

Ask for references.

@Lisa Hoover

Good advice on the room mate screening. It seems a lot of room mate situations end in disaster. They cause evictions. Good on the mediation clause as well. 

@Kyle Scholnick  @Jerome Daughtrey

The 2 hardest things to discern from any property management agreement are the dilligence of their screening process and what they actually charge you to maintain/rehab property. Forget the percent of rents number (management fee) it can be destroyed by maintenance costs. We really focus on things like prior rent history. In the inner city as mentioned, cash flow is good but there are also a lot of skilled liars when it comes to filling out an application. If we can't verify that the rent was actually paid to the owner on the tax records we deny the app. If something is janky like a faked pay stub or suspect story of why they left their last residence we deny.

 DISTRUST and verify is the best course in screening tenants. You don't want to be thinking you are talking to their former landlord when your really talking to their  uncle/buddy. 

I am a 37 year resident of Kansas City working for a property management company, in business since 2003.  The 2 details mentioned above make the difference between cash flow and cash-no!

Finding an inexpensive way to associate a property owner with a CURRENT phone number seems to be pretty expensive these days. Even the AT&T website now wants to charge to get a single current phone number. I know knowledge is power and information is valuable (money) but it just seems that it is part of the trend not having good faith to help out your fellow man that you have to charge for a phone number. I guess I'm old school.

What I lament is that the days of the yellow pages book are gone. Now everyone wants to charge for a single current phone number. Intellius, mentioned above provides lots of out of date numbers for $10 per month but if you want to get the current phone # it's an extra $1.98 per number. Someone please correct me on this if i'm wrong. If you have intellius look up yourself and you'll see how much out dated info is on there. I guess there is no cheap or free skip tracing tool available like the old days. If anyone knows different, please enlighten me.

@Ranny BBloch

What I lament is that the days of the yellow pages book are gone. Now everyone wants to charge for a single current phone number. Intellius, mentioned above provides lots of out of date numbers for $10 per month but if you want to get the current phone # it's an extra $1.98 per number. someone please correct me on this if i'm wrong. If you have intellius look up yourself and you'll see how much out dated info is on there. I guess there is no cheap or free skip tracing tool available like the old days. If anyone knows different, please enlighten me. 

Just asking. 

Hi Jennifer,

 At King Realty we can help you with any of the issues you have raised. In business  in Kansas City since 2003. We can prepare the sales contract and close the sale through a title company. It is best to keep the length of the contract less than 10 years if you want a timely sale. You would be responsible for any foreclosure costs but we minimize that by thoroughly screening the buyer up front. 

Someone who has been paying rent consistently for 20 years is unlikely to default. We've never seen it happen. Message me back as this site seems to block phone numbers and other info.

Kirk Hemmens, King Realty 

@Marc Edwards 

Monica King and I manage properties across the Metro area in Kansas City. Our office is off 51st and Prospect in Kansas city. I'd be glad to help in anyway.

Thanks and Blessings, 

Kirk Hemmens, King realty

Cute Bungalow near VA Hospital in Kansas City. Month to month lease. Room for some upside to rent amount

Tenant occupied so do not disturb tenant. This goes on MLS this week so get in any bids now.