All Forum Posts by: Marina Shlomov

there is a company out there called  Paylease, they are really good and reasonable. Cozy.co and several others are great for someone having a handful of properties.  Builduim, Appfolio and Propertyware are great for people with 25+ properties. The latter are full property management systems incorpoting accounting,  marketing,  tenant portals, maintenance,  online payment systems and websites. 

Hope that helps.

Marina

We don't accept HUD tenants as they cause more problems than they are worth. Many of them don't care about the property they live in and create much damage, others are very respectful, but the rents are so much lower that it still doesn't make sense to have the headache in dealing with all paperwork requirements.

Just my two cents worth.

Marina

As a property manager, we don't allow tenants to make any modifications to any rental properties. We do explain to them that it's a "rental property" and as managers for the landlord, cosmetic issues will not be addressed as they are not relevant to proper operation of the property. As a matter of fact, we have a tenant who wants something done to the property every single month, until I finally explained to her that we will be more than happy to address functional issues related to the property, but cosmetic issues are off limits. Also, we have set up maintenance policies which make it a lot easier to say "No" as most of the items will be addressed through our maintenance and plumbing policies.

As a landlord, your goal is to make money on your rental property, and there will always be tenants who cross the line. They didn't buy your property, they are just renting it, and yes, you want them to maintain it in good order, it's not their responsibility to improve on the property. If you allow them to make improvements, whether justified or not, it will never stop and you'll end up loosing money on your property over time as your profits will be eaten up by the repair bills.

You are welcome to look on my website under the resident section for more detail information.

I hope that helped to clarify a few points.

Good luck,

Marina Shlomov

ALH|Podland Realty LLC
Rental Homes & Property Management

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Interesting discussion.

@J Beard

We've tried that, bu the property just sits and doesn't rent out, which costs us more lost profits in the long run. The area where this particular property is located is mostly section 8 renters. We do have a few other properties that aren't rented out to section 8, but its 50/50. Literally, 3 units - section 8 and 3 units regular. I don't know what we were thinking when we bought in that area. We certainly won't buy and haven't bought the area again. Too much headache.

@Gail Kaitschuck, you are right, you don't know. I think when we were all buying up those properties, we weren't quite aware of what we had in store for us. Even though, we've had success in other similar neighborhoods. Know now, what I should have known when we bought, I never would have bought in those areas, as a matter of fact, we only have a few properties (due to not-so-good advice from our realtors), but we figured out quickly where not to go. I've had non-section 8 tenants in that particular property before as the neighborhood is pretty decent, so I hope I can do it again. My other thought is to sell it, but sense I'm renovating this property twice (same idea, flooring, cabinets, vanities, paint, garage door, windows, etc.) I need to recoup my investment into the project. So, we'll be keeping this one for a bit longer. It actually rents for around $1200 per month, so two years to recoup the costs, then hopefully, it'll appreciate some more and sell it. There are landlords who are better equipped at dealing with these types of tenants and neighborhoods, I am just not one of them.

Thanks for sharing your story. It helps to know that my feelings on this topic are justified.

Marina

Thank you everyone for your input. I've been debating the issue for a while. As a person, I want to help. As a business person, I don't want to have anything to do with Section 8. This is actually the second house that got destroyed by Section 8 tenants. A few years ago, we had about 10 section 8 tenants, now, we are down to 2 and seriously considering not renewing their leases. My only caveat with that, the properties are in a predominantly section 8 area. I am not sure if I find non-section 8 tenants, We'll see how it goes. None of my other properties accept Section 8 now and won't in the future. 

Marina

I think someone asked a question if there is Tenant Screening for under $20? There are companies that charge under $20, however, you'd have to be approved by them to perform screenings. It's a small process to get set up and costs about $250. Would not make sense for a landlord who only has a few properties. One company is called Rapid Reports, but again, not worth the investment unless you have over 15 properties. Also, many of the property management software solutions offer reporting for under $20, but again, you'd have to be signed up for the software such as Appfolio, Propertyware or Builduim which is still not worth for a smaller investor.

Hope that helped.

Marina

@Mike R. is right, that is the fastest and usually the cheapest solution. We put that in all of our newer properties. Great suggestion @Mike R..

Tenant screening costs anywhere from $35 to $55 per person should include a credit report, criminal background check, eviction check,  and in some cases prospects are run through a terrorist and a child abuser data bases. Therefore giving you enough information to make an education decision regarding the prospective tenant. We additionally call the previous landlords and current jobs to make sure that the prospect pays rent on time, is not disruptive and will follow your rules.

Tenant placement fees, which is what your realtor is seems to be asking for would not be appropriate in your case as they would not be the ones finding a tenant for you. The price your realtor is asking for is exorbitant for tenant screening and inappropriate for placement.

It seems your realtor is trying to grossly overcharge you. 

You are not obligated to use the same realtor as before and it seems you should be careful with this one.

Hope I helped. Good luck.

Marina