All Forum Posts by: Tom Lipps

Hi BP Community,

I've been looking for a rental property for about a year now in Cincinnati, Ohio and am about to close on my first property (Duplex, 2bdr, 1bdr)!

I'm inheriting two tenants on the first floor (the 2-bedroom). Their lease expires in Sept 2018 (ouch) and they're paying well below the market price rents. I found out today that their 30 year old son is going through a divorce and has been living with them for a few months with his dog. The 2 tenants already had 1 dog, their son has brought in another.

To account for this 3rd adult and 2nd dog (not on the lease) I believe I should do the following:

 1. Have son complete an application (including background check). Do you agree?

 2. Raise rent, but by how much? They currently pay $600/mo (market rate is about $696).  Maybe I use the son and dog as a reason to at least get them in line with the market? Thoughts?

 3. Lease doesn't specify anything about pets... Do I have the right to increase rents to account for the additional dog?

 Thanks for any advice!

- Tom

PS: The lease does stateonly the two people listed on the lease may live on the premises.

No luck, the email address they had on the site is no longer valid.

Hi Everyone,

I've heard the best way to put together your real estate team is through referrals..

Any recommendations for a soon-to-be first time landlord? Looking for professionals with investment experience :

- CPA 
- Lawyer
- Property Manager (even tho I plan to self manage)

I live on the West side an agenda plan to invest (starting out) on the West Side. Not that that matters per se.

Thanks for any advice!

Tom

@Ben W. Thanks Ben! I checked out the Police Dept. class. Looks like they haven't offered one since 2015. I'm going to reach out any way and see if they plan to hold another in 2016/2017.

Thanks everyone for the quick feedback! Interesting to hear your take and will definitely help me out!

Hi BP Community!

This is my first post, so please bear with me!

I've been listening to the BP podcast, reading the guides, and their recommended books for the past 6 months or so. I have a 10 year goal of purchasing 10 properties using the BRRRR strategy. I'm currently looking to purchase my first rental on the West Side of Cincinnati (where I currently live and grew up).

In preparation to my first purchase, I have a few questions I'm hoping the community can help me out with, specifically for the Cincinnati area:

- Do you find that Rentometer.com gives good estimates on Rents? I've found it's rents to be higher than actual rents (making my ROI's appear greater than they really are when doing my initial analysis).

- If you allow pets, what kind of fee do you charge? Assuming you bump up your deposit AND rents?

- Are you aware of any "weird" landlording laws in Ohio that I should watch out for? For example, I understand if I shovel snow for my tenants, and they slip and hurt themselves, that I'm liable. BUT, if I leave the snow, and they injure themselves on it, I'm not liable. 

- What about HVAC filters? Does the tenant have the responsibility to buy and replace these each month? I could see them conveniently forgetting this. 

Thanks for your support!

- Tom