All Forum Posts by: Krista Dodson

I did check the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act, which states that an application fee "shall not exceed $50, exclusive of any actual out-of-pocket expenses paid by the landlord to a third party performing background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks"

I use Cozy.co and have loved it so far. It takes a few days to process into my bank account, but it's a free service, and it has auto-withdrawal from the tenants on whatever day their rent is due. I've loved it. It also has application, background check, credit check and lease management sections.

Our rental unit (5/3 SFH) has typically been a group home with 4 unrelated adults. I have never run background checks or credit checks on tenants, and the only screening I've done in the past was verifying employment and calling previous landlords (unless it's their parents). This summer, our entire house is turning over, and we've decided to start running background and credit checks. We started using Cozy to manage leases and applications, and it has a built in credit check and background check that will charge the applicants $40 to run. I love the idea, and have used it on a sublease tenant before. But I'm getting lots of questions about it, because the potential tenants assume that it's $40 per group, not $40 per individual. Once they realize that it's $40 per individual, they're not completing the application process.

I love having the security of the process, but is it worth it? What do most people charge for application fees??

@Brandon Hall - The FASB that you referenced relates to the Lending and loan purchasing. Do we assume that the treatment by the borrower mirrors that of the lendor? And if the "life" of the loan is contractually 1 year, to be renewed annually for a processing fee after financial review, is the "life of the loan" one year?

I have the same situation, where I've got a HELOC on a Rental Property that will eventually be used to either purchase property or as a down payment on rental property. We have no "statement of accounting policy", and because we haven't drawn on the revolving line, we have no interest expense yet. But I'm assuming that we can write the origination costs off as a "rental business expense" as it will be used to engage in rental real estate practices.

I am an ex-CPA living in Richmond. Would love to take on some bookkeeping clients. I'll PM you my number and experience.

@Waverley Mosley It's definitely a sellers market. In order to find good deals, you have to go outside the MLS, and you still, sometimes, end up competing with other investors.

I currently am a buy and hold investor in the Richmond area, but don't have any Section 8 experience, so sorry I can't help in that arena. Just out of curiosity, if you're new to investing, why start with Section 8? No judgement, was just curious. Section 8 is something that I would like to eventually get into, because we've written into our business mission statement to provide "affordable housing". But definitely not somewhere I'm comfortable starting. 

I'm in. I've got one rental here and one in Arlington, VA. Looking to purchase 3-4 new BRRRR properties this year here in the Richmond, VA area.

WOW!!  Congratulations!!  I love your thought process, and I pray that you remember to return to this post when things start to get tough. To remember the priorities, and what you're getting out of being more present in your real estate business and with your family. And Kudos to your wife as well. I've been waiting for my husband to make the same AHA! Someday... Someday...

Welcome to BP, @Joe Dowdell. I live down in Midlothian, just south of Henrico, and am also starting my investing journey down here. I've been told there are still deals to be had in this market, but haven't found many myself. I am finding that Spring isn't really the time to be finding deals, as people are just getting their houses on the market, etc. I think I'm looking toward late spring early summer, after things have been sitting on the market for 60-90 days. I've been SOL in looking for Multi-s. Again, I've been told that they are out there pre-listing if you know the right people and get your offer in quick, but we're waiting for our financing to get squared away before we start waving cash around.

@Stacy E., I've been to both the Richmond REIA and the Richmond RING, and they're both great. At the REIA I met more realtors and wholesalers, while at the RING I met more investors. So which one is better really depends on what you're looking for. Both have pretty extensive dealmaking sessions and great information sessions. The RING Meeting I went to was at a bar, so that was a bonus there. Admission came with a drink ticket. :-) Hope to meet you out there one of these days.