All Forum Posts by: Leo R.

Hey folks,

Craigslist used to be my go-to spot to list long term rentals.  Craigslist wasn't pretty, but it was easy to use, and it worked (I found lots of great tenants via Craigslist) ...unfortunately, over the years, Craigslist produced fewer and fewer tenants, and more and more spam.  :( 

These days, nearly all my new tenants come from Facebook Marketplace.  

Ironically, platforms designed for real estate (Zillow, Apartments.com, Rentler, etc.) produce very few tenants for me, compared to FB Marketplace (and I also find a lot of their functionality to be user un-friendly, from the landlord side). ...you'd think that platforms custom-made for real estate would make the process a snap for landlords, but it takes me a lot longer to post and manage rental listings on Zillow or Rentler than it did on Craigslist. Plus, Zillow, Rentler and the other real estate platforms tend to have all sorts of unnecessary hoops to jump through for landlords, and I find a lot of their design very un-intuitive (I remember spending waaayyy too much time just trying to figure out simple things in Rentler).  ...why can't they make it easier?

Does anyone still list rentals on Craigslist anymore?  ...if so, how is it performing?

Which platform do most of your tenants come from? 

Has anyone seen data/reports on which platforms prospective tenants gravitate to the most?

Am I the only one frustrated with the cumbersome functionality of real estate platforms (Zillow, Rentler, etc.) for listing rentals?

Any suggestions on how to get more tenants from the real estate-focused platforms (Zillow, Rentler, etc.)?

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

@Andrew O. having only A and B grade properties with highly qualified tenants makes a huge difference. 

As you probably know, the amount of effort to manage an A grade property is a small fraction of how much effort is required to manage a C or D grade property.

Also, over the years I've greatly refined my systems for tenant screening/management/turnover, and this has significantly reduced my workload.

...and as others have mentioned, we're lucky to have these types of problems--keeping that in mind is always useful.  

Good luck out there!

@Josh Mac keep in mind that Zillow can be completely unaware of factors that affect value...and some of these factors might not be apparent until you see the property in-person.

For instance, maybe someone added a bathroom to the house, and now it's a 3/3, but Zillow thinks it's a 3/2.  ...or maybe the house is right next to a busy road with tons of traffic noise, but the Zestimate is based on nearby houses that are on quieter residential streets  ...or the main floor beam under the house is rotted out--Zillow would never know that...

In short, there are a ton of factors that can affect a property's value that Zillow might completely miss.

The Zestimate can be reasonably accurate in showing a ballpark value...but, I wouldn't make life and death investing decisions based on a Zestimate...

@Allen Duan for a MTR, is furnished finder your main source for finding new tenants?  ...are there any other platforms that are useful for finding MTR tenants?

 Yeah, it's an interesting model--I can see how it could work really well in some scenarios and not work at all in others. ...for one thing, you have to use furnishings that in-line with the look and grade of the property, and which are appealing to the typical tenant--which I'm sure can be a bit hit and miss...   

...I suppose that one hidden benefit with a furnished unit is that you don't have so much wear and tear from tenants moving furniture in and out, hanging pictures on the walls, etc....I just finished a rehab at a LTR property--the tenants were pretty good and didn't cause any excessive wear/damage, but even then, there's always a lot of patching and re-painting that needs to be done after long term tenants leave....

 I don't know, but I'm guessing perhaps there was a leak/flood and the subfloor rotted, and/or pet urine that soaked into the subfloor, and/or mold issues?  ...or maybe there's nothing wrong with the subfloor, and the PM company is just running a scam...

I was also wondering about the missing doors--did the tenants steal them? 

...and why does every appliance need to be replaced?  ...it sounds like the tenants did a real number on this place (either that, or the damage isn't as bad as the PM is saying--all the more reason to get some boots on the ground to evaluate the place in-person)

 Thanks for the info, that is useful ...I'm beginning to think that, for my purposes, it probably makes more sense to just stay in my lane (LTR), but it's useful to know what the MTR time/effort commitment would be if I ever decide to try it out... 

 @Nimit A. the fact that the tenants caused $60k of damage shows that the PM company didn't screen the tenants properly, and didn't manage the property properly. I've been in REI a long time and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, but $60k of damage from one tenant indicates gross negligence on the part of the property manager.

I'd suggest three things: 1) Study the contract you have with the PM company, and talk with your attorney ASAP to see whether a lawsuit is feasible/advisable, 2) Get at least three bids from other contractors on the repairs (and before you hire any contractors, study up thoroughly on how to properly vet and manage contractors--there's plenty of info about this on BP) 3) Don't do any more business with the PM company (or any contractors they refer), and keep them at arm's length while you discuss your legal options with your attorney. Follow your attorney's advice on any correspondence with the PM company going forward.

Sorry for your problems, good luck!

@Nimit A. if a PM allowed $60k of damage to occur at one of my properties, I'd file a lawsuit on principle alone. 

Any time I'm spending more than about $15k on a project with an un-proven GC, I get at least three bids. You'll want to get at least three bids on this before deciding anything.

Your PM says it will cost $60k, but you didn't tell us what that $60k would cover  --what items are included in that $60k?