All Forum Posts by: Marian Smith

@Dennis Meints College campuses have them, might talk to one of their leasing agents for advice. They rent quads...4 bedrooms one kitchen, living. Some quads are coed...but that may only work with private bathrooms. But maybe not. Females rent spare rooms to males through airbnb. My neighbor did but she only rented to tenants/guests with existing positive reviews. I would start out with separated genders.

@Nathan G. Thats the property I want to look up on google maps...just curious.

@Jacob Beg She has just gotten too far behind to catch up. But if she is borrowing from her 401k, she probably understands it is not sustainable to keep paying 3 weeks late. When she gets caught up, remind her that rent is always paid in advance before it is consumed, and that is fair; and thank her for getting caught up. I don't like turnovers and I don't like the current covid environment but it is up to you which is riskier, renewing or not renewing once the lease comes up.

@Kajal Aggarwal Would your tenants use the dryer if you lowered the washer to 50-75 cents?

@Marian Smith Also, what about hiring someone to pump holding tanks...not sure how frequent that would need to be.

@Joseph Weisenbloom Sounds interesting. If they stop paying rent will the county haul off their rv/van/tiny home? Who collects trash?

I read recently that one reason for the homeless problem is that boarding houses and the like have been torn down in cities and zoned out elsewhere. My inlaws rented a place with a shared bathroom down the hall while he finished his phd. I think they even had a baby, unheard of today.

@Lori Hunter Can your parents cash out refinance? Then tell your brother to make the payments, tax and everything or you will let it go to foreclosure. Just an idea.

@Rashid Ghafoor If he started getting leaks a year after purchase and the purchase was 3 years ago, could his delay in attending to the problem cause a small section of overlooked rot become the huge problem he now wants you to pay for?

@Joe Splitrock I only know of airbnb and vrbo for str renting. I only know of zillow/trulia/hotpads, realtor.com, craiglist and apartments.com for listing my rentals; and only use zillow because that is how I get responses. They seem to be the market in Austin even for people moving in. I will pay $10-$20 whatever they ask and consider it a relative bargain. Based on that, I'd buy stock on the dip but I have no idea how to read company financials so it would have to be for entertainment purposes and for entertainment I'd rather eat out.

@Jim K. People seem to measure your success/value/achievement with your house, and neighbor quality, to an extent, improves with house value. So yes, most people invest more in homes, where they can enjoy the proceeds of the investment here and now, than stocks or other re. Makes perfect sense. As they age their stock portfolio will usually eclipse their house equity unless they add on or constantly remodel, etc or fail to save due to overbuying in the first place or bad luck. Freakonomics guy says you can sacrifice life quality by over saving and depriving your family more than needed to provide for retirement or security. (Says he did but who anticipates a best seller.) The financial snowball effect is too enticing for some. Fear or greed too, I guess. Life is a balancing act.