All Forum Posts by: Matthew Trotter

By the time I'm 40, I see myself managing 10+ rental properties. That's in about 8 years from now, and I think it's an easily attainable goal. The problem is that it's soooo sloooooowwwww. I've got two properties now, and I'm house-hacking my way to 10 total. 

It'll take another year to save up enough for another purchase, so until then, all I can do (real estate wise) is listen to BP Podcasts. What are some things you have done in times like this where there wasn't much to do but wait?

I think most would agree that home prices around the USA are either average or high. I like buying when sellers really need a buyer. Recently, it's been a hot market in Atlanta.

So, where are the pain points right now? Who's desperate? How can I help out folks in dire straights? Is there some note buying, wholesaling, lending, or other strategy that could help out some needy people? The only desperate people I see these days are buyers... So, maybe selling is the only good game in town right now.

So I think I have found a solution (unless I go with residentresearch.com.. thanks @Account Closed!)

I need to automate the process where the tenant fills out an application and a PDF is generated and a $50 fee is paid:

I'll make a low-cost wordpress site (about $50 per year) that has two pages:

Homepage: rental ad for the property. Lists the features, rental cost, pictures, etc. At the bottom of the page, there will be a big blue button that says "APPLY NOW", which takes them to the application page.

Application page: This is where the tenant can enter his/her name, address, SSN, residential history, employment history, etc. They can upload copies of their driver's license and paystubs. At the bottom is a button that says "SUBMIT - $50", which takes them to my Intuit Payment Network checkout screen. The data from the form is sent to GravityPDF, which is a Wordpress plug-in that generates PDFs. The PDF is emailed to me and the tenant.

Intuit Payment Network checkout screen: Simply checkout screen that charges $50, paid by credit, debit, or bank ACH transfer.

Once I get the $50 payment, I send off the PDF to NTNonline.com, and they give me a report within 48 hours.

If you're curious about GravityPDF, you can try their demo here:

https://gravitypdf.com/#GFdemo

@Account Closed, that's a great website! Thanks for the referral. So how much does it cost for them to screen a single application? 

So I decided to use NTNonline as my tenant screener. They check credit, criminal, eviction, employment, and residential history. They also make phone calls to verify the information!! The only problem is that they require me to send PDF applications from tenants to them. They also charge $50 per application, which is fine.

I really don't want to have tenants fill out paper applications and then scan/email or fax it to me. It's soooo 1995. I'd much rather send the tenant a link to a "tenant application webpage". There, the applicant could fill out all the necessary info including:

• Name(s)
• Social Security Number
• Driver's License Number
• Residential History
• Criminal History
• Employment History

And then, at the very bottom of the form, there would be a credit card checkout form to pay the $50 fee. 

And then... the webpage emails me a PDF of all this information, which I would send to NTNonline for screening. 

I have already seen tenant screening sites like cozy.co, ***********, and mysmartmove. They simply won't work for me (various reasons for each website).

So, does anyone know a good way to make a webpage form like this that charges credit cards and creates a PDF?

Thanks Deanna.

@Dale Stevens, I already checked out cozy.co, but thanks for suggesting anyway. They don't make calls.

@Ryan Dossey, I checked out your link, but they don't call the tenant's previous landlords and employers. They only provide criminal/credit/eviction checks.

I haven't been able to find a tenant screener who does BOTH online applications AND calling past references. I can find 20+ screeners who do online applications and credit/criminal/eviction checks. That's nice, but it would be even better if they made phone calls too.

NTN is the only tenant screener I've found that makes calls in addition to criminal/credit/eviction checks. The problem is they require a paper applications... Grrrr.

I would absolutely LOVE an online tenant screener where tenants can apply online, and I get a report within 48 hours.

In doing my research, I have only been able to find just one company that does a complete tenant screening:

• Criminal history
• Credit report
• Eviction history
• Residential history
• Employment history
• Calling and verifying references for residential and employment history for past 2 years

And that company is the National Tenant Network, NTN, at ntnonline.com. That's awesome! NTN charges $50 per application (not bad) for all of this, which I can charge to tenants. All the other companies I've researched (cozy, mysmartmove, myrental, e-renter, etc.) only do some part of the process.

HOWEVER, the applicant has to fill out a paper application, submit it to me, and I have to fax it in (or scan/email it to them).

Does anyone know a way around the paper application? It would save sooo much time and frustration to do it all online.

Wow good luck man. As a 6'3" tall person, I would laugh a bit at seeing such a short bathroom. But if I really had to go... 

@Doug Pretorius that is helpful. I am going direct to get a better deal by bypassing agent fees and possibly finding someone in need. I never thought about targeting a specific need (mortgage too much vs. repairs too costly vs. late on taxes, etc.). Now that I think about it, I only have the time and tools to do minor repairs ($10k max, just to put a number on it). I recently bought my home and did $3k worth of work, and I felt I could do a little more without getting frustrated. I'll have to think about the specific need to target, but I'm leaning towards paying off their financial debts (mortgage, taxes) rather than taking over a fixer-upper. How would you update your list criteria to focus on that? 

@Bill S. I haven't drilled down the list yet. I'm working on that. Yeah 5000 is way too much at once.

@Mike Landry that's a great return rate at about 4.4%, but I want to come across as someone who can help but is also not a fool.