All Forum Posts by: Kyle Baron

Greetings fellow investors!

Entertain a thought and tell me what you think about a situation if you could please..... (Asking for a friend)

A friend of mine has the most destructive, irresponsible, and non-paying tenant that you could imagine. All of the bad stuff - Not abiding by any rules, smoking in the house, not paying rent, leaving totaled vehicles in the driveway for weeks on end, allowing pets to damage the property, incurring excessive utility bills without compensating for them, all of that good stuff. This person needs to be EVICTED,

But here’s the fun part,

This person is not legally a tenant, but just a sibling of my friend..... There was never any kind of lease signed.

What can be done? I’m trying to get creative - This would be a stretch (but an example of how far we’d be willing to go), but what if the owner of the house sold the house to me - Does changing ownership of a property allow for the new owner (Me) to require all residents (Person) to sign a new lease? Would I then have the option to sign them, or kick them out?

P.S.: The house is owned by Mom, and Friend is ‘running’ the household while Mom is away, and Person is Friend’s sibling - The horrendous ‘Tenant’

Thanks so much in advance! Helping other people is a huge part of why I decided to study & invest in Real Estate, if I can help my Friend it would mean a lot!

Greetings, Fellow Investors! My name is Kyle and I am in a situation where I will soon be moving out of my first-bought property, an Owner-Occupied Duplex, and moving in to my next property, a Single-Family Home! I wish to hold on to the first property as a rental property, but there are things that are new to me that I need to accomplish in order to be able to do that, and I am on here posting to wonder and see if anyone has any knowledge or advice that they might be willing to share on the topic!

Some things that keep wracking my brain are:

1.) If the Duplex will be available for rent starting on September 1st., then when should I post listings for rent? How soon is too soon?
2.) Although I am working out of town from where both of these properties are, I plan to return sometime in July - If I start showings in August (one month before the space is available), is that too late? Should I find a way to start showing the property before August? I, and my roommate-tenants currently occupy said space, and will until August 31st...
3.) The property is in good condition and most things are kept in check very easily - I have a great handle on the property as I moved in and did all of the work to it myself, and got a lot done in a very short period of time. Having said this, would it be worth it to hire property management? The Duplex will be about one hour away from, what will be my new, residence, so pressing matters aren't hundreds of miles away or anything, but it WILL be completely in the tenants hands and I will not see the property every day like I have had the luxury of doing so for as long as I have lived there.....
4.) What can I do to go about finding the right tenants to entrust the care of the property? Tenants will need to do things like replace furnace filters and keep the water softener filled with salt, etc. Even things like snow / ice removal, or reporting minor problems before they comes big ones, are things that scare me - How can I help this situation?
5.) Should I consider putting either, or both, of my properties in L.L.C.s or into Land Trusts? Why? Why not? I want to protect myself, but is it necessary? I have an Umbrella policy, but is that enough? If I SHOULD use an L.L.C. or Land Trusts, how could I go about doing this?

Thank you for reading, and even more for replying - Your guys' experience and knowledge is so well valued above and beyond as much as I can make you aware of it.

I look forward to using your guys' advice in my future of renting my first full-on-Landlord-hands-off Property!

Hello fellow investors! My name is Kyle and I am stuck in a predicament I might like to get people's thoughts on - If there's any previous experience out there, I am asking for your story and advice. Thank you!

I live in an owner-occupied Duplex in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I rent out Unit #1 (1 Bedroom, 560 square feet, to a single person), and live in Unit #2 (3 Bedroom, 1200 square feet). In Unit #2, I occupy one bedroom and rent out the other two. Unit #1 has one lease. Unit #2 has 2 leases. All 3 leases are up on September 1st.

A work opportunity has pulled me from the Twin Cities to North Dakota where I will be until July, which means that when I come back to the Twin Cities in August, I have only August to fill the vacancies that open up on September 1st.

What are your guys' experiences and advice on finding tenants for just one-bedroom in a unit that you also occupy another bedroom in? It is worth it? Should I avoid it? If I avoid it, should I move out and rent out all 3 bedrooms or Unit #2? If I move out, what is my best option to find another place for me to live - I won't be able to afford a down payment for a second duplex at that time, nor should I purchase a permanent residence in a Single Family Home, because that will be adding another mortgage without addition rental income, and I can't afford that.

There is so much creativity and gray area in Real Estate investing and I am here to draw on everyone's past. Your help is appreciated, thank you all!

Fellow Landlords and Investors, I have an inquiry on your thoughts and experiences. Perhaps you might be willing to lend me your advice from past experiences?

Here is a short story / background: I own an owner-occupied Duplex Rental Property. One day I was taking the garbage out and so was my neighbor, and I struck a conversation. "Hey, did you guys get some new furniture? I saw some couches being moved in a little while ago..." "No! Actually the landlord is renovating and we're moving out!" From this I realized that my neighbors were NOT the owners of the property next to me, and so I asked for the Landlord's number from the neighbor. Once I got the number, I called and left a message asking about his property, renovations, tenants, and whether or not he'd be selling.

It turns out that the renovations are to get the property ready to sell! This is good news for me - I want more properties, especially ones close to mine, where I live, my first investment property..... I have done what I can in the last couple of months to be as friendly helpful and outgoing to the landlord as possible, such as to get on to his good side.

Now, when he goes to sell the property, I would very much like to acquire it and have adjacent neighboring duplex rental properties. However, I am broke and can not afford another house right now. Also, I am not sure if this is a good idea - Would I be buying too soon, only being a year into real estate investing, and still working on projects for renovations at the first house / my home? How soon is too soon? How can I tell? What if I figure a contract for deed for the property? What if I 'rent to own'?

There are things that I know I don't know, and there are even more things that I DON'T know I don't know - So I am here for help and I humbly request assistance and any information / advice on the topic of my situation, and what I might do about it. Do you guys have any experiences with the above-listed scenarios? What would you do it you were me? What WOULDN'T you do?

Your time is appreciated, and I thank you all in advance for the conversations to come!

Thank you so much, Jenifer! I posted the property on Zillow and Rent.Com because of this post. :]

I am now getting swarmed with e-mails saying "So and So" is 'requesting' more information about your property "123 Main St."

Are you familiar with these e-mails? Do they just mean that my property popped up on a particular site and someone hit 'Like'? Do I response to those e-mails to reach those people?

Greetings, fellow landlords and investors. My name is Kyle and I own a rental property from which I recently evicted my tenants, took them to conciliation court for the rent that they never paid and the damages to property that they caused, and now I need to find out how to collect the judgement on what they owe me? Does anyone know how this is done? Has anyone done this before? Does anyone know of anyone who specializes in assistance with this specific topic?

My graces for your responses - Appreciation abound. 

Hey guys! I live in a Duplex, I owner-occupy the larger side of the Duplex, which is three bedrooms and one bathroom. I have tenants in each bedroom, but one tenant is moving out so I need to fill the vacancy of one bedroom! Does anyone have any methods or ideas as to how to find Roommates / Tenants for this sort of thing? My vacancy opens up November 1st., but I need to find someone before July 1st.!

Any help is, as usual, appreciated - I look forward to coming discussions and advice. Thanks everyone!

Hey guys! I am taking some evicted tenants to conciliation court on May 21st., and I am wondering if I should or don't need to take a professional with me? A lawyer, an attorney, etc. What exactly happens within that court room during a conciliation hearing? Your advice is heeded, thank you!

Hey guys - I will be signing new tenants for my newly-renovated property and I am wondering if anyone has any AWESOME rent receipts, or methods for proof of payment for a Ledger that I can document? The one I currently use sucks! If Bigger Pockets has one, I am ignorant to it and a link to it would be extremely helpful. Thanks so much!

Hello Cozy Experts and Bigger Pockets Enthusiasts. My name is Kyle and I will soon be showing my first property to get my first new tenants and I have ultimately decided to go with Cozy.Co to do my Background & Credit Checks for my screening. I have the property listed, but I am wondering..... What's next? What's the full process of how this works with Cozy?
1.) Show Property to Tenants, and tell them "If you're interested, follow this link (my Cozy listing link) and go through the Application process."
2.) Let the applications flow in, and mark a cut-off of when I will no longer accept applications (so that no one pays for the application and applies unnecessarily).
3.) Filter through my applications, call my favorite most qualified tenant, and give them a call - Sit down and sign the lease.
4.) Now what?! They're signed to the lease, they can move in, they are screened and I've decided that they are qualified, but how do I set up their payments online with Cozy? Does Cozy need a copy of the signed lease? Cozy has the potential tenants pay 39.98$ for the Background & Credit Check as part of their application, but does Cozy charge anything anywhere else? Is the process in steps 1-3 accurate / correct? Am I missing anything? Should I change or add anything? I am new to this and I can not afford to make and costly mistakes. Please help me to find the best way to be thorough and professional in finding my own brand new tenants for the first time. Thank you to everyone for responding in advance!