All Forum Posts by: Marcia Maynard

Check in with those who viewed your property and ask them for honest feedback.  Make sure the property is ready to view, as many prospective renters can't see past work being done on a property.  Also, check out the competition in your market area.  See what they are offering and at what price point. There are slow times in the industry, like around graduation time. Things are likely to pick up in June and July.  Good luck!

What about his female visitors?

Look for good infrastructure (roads, parks, access to transportation, parking) and proximity to jobs, shopping, medical services, churches (or other houses of worship), and schools. Walk the neighborhoods. In whatever area you invest, make sure you have great "feet on the ground".... yours or that of someone you can trust. Be wary of flood zones, heavy industrial areas, and places with high crime rates.

Credit score scales can differ, but the 300 - 850 scale is the most commonly used one.

• Excellent 800-850
• Very Good 740-799
• Good 670-739
• Fair 580-669
• Poor 300-579

Learn what it takes to build and maintain very good credit, 740+.  Not only will it open doors for you, it will also help you get the best interest rates. 800+ will put you in the excellent range, so that should be your ultimate goal, but that will take longer and require super keen attention to how you do things.  

Experian has a good article entitled "How to improve your credit score". Be wary of outfits that offer to help you improve your credit for a fee. Everything they do, you can do better without paying a dime.

Expect it to take 7 - 10 years to wipe your slate clean of any really bad financial mistakes you made in the past. In the meantime, start making good financial decisions to counteract the negative. 

Find out from lenders what is important to them and what credit score will get you the best interest rates. Some banks offer good advice too, such as Wells Fargo's article "How to get a loan".

Good Luck!

Tenants prefer doing laundry in their own home and not sharing machines. If the apartments don't have washer/dryer hookups, or it's not feasible to add such, then a shared laundry is not a bad option. We have an 8-plex with a shared laundry room. It came with one coin-op washer and one coin-op dryer. Surprisingly that has been enough to service our tenants, as each household has only one or two occupants, mostly retired.

When buying appliances, I always have a conversation with a trusted appliance repair person to gather ideas.  They know the machines. You can purchase the machines and take care of them yourself. Or you can hire a third party to place their machines and take care of them, but the latter option can bring other problems. Go for mechanical machines, if you can find them, that are easy to repair. The less electronics the better.  Speed Queen is a great brand. 

Our laundry room is not a money maker, we just break-even.  But we offer it as an amenity so our tenants have the convenience of not needing to take their laundry elsewhere.  Also, someone needs to keep the laundry room clean and tidy, as well as empty the coins and take them to the bank. Consider your utility costs too. The laundry room needs to be separately metered.

Occasionally there is laundry room drama.... two people needing to do laundry at the same time, someone using the machines outside of the posted hours and disturbing the sleep of others, someone leaving their clothing in the machine too long, and mishaps, like the ball-point pen that went through the wash and melted in the dryer leaving blue ink everywhere. :-)

@Jesse Lane  Welcome to Bigger Pockets!

This topic has been discussed many times in the forums.  Use the search feature and look for those threads. In addition to flooring, there are some threads that discuss other ways to "tenant proof" your place. Share your experiences and woes too, as we all can learn from one another.

Also, if you complete your profile and include a photo, it will help you network better. :-)

We travel and stay in Airbnbs, but I always seek out traditional listings that are hosted by the owner. Unfortunately, Airbnb has allowed large companies to join in with multiple listings and properties managed by third parties. These "managed" properties lack the heart and soul of traditional listings. When seeking accommodation, be wary of hosts who have multiple listings and always read the information in the listing. Also read the reviews left by previous guests and leave an honest review yourself. Accurate reviews help hosts to do their best and helps future guests plan for their trip.

We're also Superhosts with Airbnb, with one of our rental houses offered as an "entire place" rental. I participate in the host forum and it's clear from what we're seeing that Airbnb is moving further away from their roots. We're also seeing investors who are motivated by money only, not for the joy of hospitality, and those who turn over management to third parties. Sad.

Sorry you're in this position.  How many companies ran your credit worthiness and why? Seems you must have given them permission to do so. Be careful who you're doing business with and don't be quick to ask for a loan or credit card if you don't need it.

In any case, be sure to include the right information in any letter you send to the credit bureaus. Google "how to remove hard credit inquiries" and you'll find additional information and even sample letters. Good luck!

Rest easy. Even if the lease was not intentionally renewed, the original terms would likely still apply. In most jurisdictions a lease will revert to month-to-month if the lease expires and the tenant continues to live in the property with the owner's permission. This should not be an issue.

Nine years of tenancy is a good long time.  If your friend didn't do periodic inspections and regular maintenance and repair, then he will likely see quite a few items that will need attention.  Ordinary wear and tear will be significant after nine years and some items would have come to the end of their normal useful life.

Your friend should not be too quick to assume he can keep the entire security deposit for the items you mentioned. Start with what is allowed by landlord-tenant law (state/local) and the terms of the original rental agreement.

1. Fireplace Door - Was it new when the tenant moved in? What is it's useful life? Does it need to be replaced or can it be repaired? Did the tenant damage the fireplace door or did it just fail?
2. Door Trim - Should not take much to repair or replace. Repaint or replace. Simple and not too costly.
3. Addition of New Flooring - This could be significant, depending on how the work was done and if it enhanced or damaged the home. Obviously if it went this far the landlord had his eye off the ball. Find out what it would cost to correct the flooring problem in a sensible way.
4. Carpet - Useful life used up in nine years. Ordinary wear and tear. Don't try to charge tenant for that.

I respect that your business practices are different than ours.  

We own and manage our own properties, all within two miles of our home.  We have 17 rentals (houses and small plexes); This is not my full time occupation, nor my husband's.   We sign an average two leases a year; we use month-to-month leases that renew automatically. Rarely do we have a tenant that stays less than 5 years. The majority of our tenants are long-term... past 10 years, 15 years, 20 years and even one tenant who has rented the same apartment for over 30 years.

If I spend two hours with a new tenant up front, it saves me a lot of time down the road. During this time we review the lease together and we orient them to the home and our management style.  We do a walk-through together, demonstrate appliances, locate emergency shut-offs for utilities, and discuss other aspects specific to the property. When we hand over the keys I want to make sure we're understanding each other clearly and are establishing the relationship on a good foundation. I consider it worth my time. Our tenant's seem to appreciate it as well. The transaction of renting out one of our homes is more than just business. It's an investment in our community and humanity.

I'm not following what you're referring to in your second paragraph. We rent to a variety of people, from all aspects of the socio-economic spectrum. Rarely is there someone who can't read, understand, and abide by our contract as written. I don't give legal advice. We even rent to attorneys!  We also rent to people who are Limited-English-Proficient who may not be able to read our written contract but can get the aid they need to understand the terms.