All Forum Posts by: Maureen Healy

I haven't been to any Bigger Pockets Meetups. I am looking forward to it!

Tara-I am in the process of studying for my broker's license right now through Proschools online. I'm curious which education company did you go with, was it all online? How did you like it? And how did you find the exam? I am struggling to get through the content because I currently work full-time and have a toddler and an eight-year-old at home as well. I try to study at night or weekends but I'm usually so tired I don't retain much. Just curious about other people's experiences with it. How long did it take you to complete your study course? And was the exam as easy or difficult as you expected it to be?

I used Rent Manager in the past (33 units) and it was fine. Now I use Appfolio (64 units) and LOVE it. Easy, clean, many features including sending text messages to residents from the program for reminders, online payment & maintenance requests, delinquency reports, vendor set up, etc. definitely worthwhile if you have enough units to justify the cost.

If your state doesn't allow no-cause terminations, do you have a criminal activity addendum & re-screening language in your rental agreement stating that you can re-screen them? Ours does (Oregon). That might work for you if you increase the rent, and then if they say they still want to stay, tell them you have to re-screen them. They would pay the application fee, submit income verification. If they don't meet your screening, you should theoretically be able to get them out On the basis of that denial. Make sure you have excellent credit/criminal screening criteria, and an income requirement in place, and that nothing you do violates fair housing laws. We re-screen if someone leaves (we re-screen the person who stays) and our rental agreement states we can re-screen for any valid business purpose. I highly recommend that!!

Welcome Kory! I'm in Gladstone.

Mark: A couple of other things to consider. I DEFINITELY agree with those who say do not let them know you are the owner. Always best to be friendly, but never friends, with residents. 

Also, interior inspections are crucial!!! We do them at least annually before offering lease renewal, and if it is a unit that we know has had issues in the past, or we discover a serious housekeeping issue, we will issue a housekeeping violation, take pictures, document it and reinspect in a few weeks, then reinspect again 3-4 months later to make sure they are keeping it decently clean and not too cluttered so as to cause ingress/egress hazards or fire hazards. You just have to be careful not to go in tooooo often to where they think you are harassing them.

We often find unreported maintenance issues on inspection as well, and some residents will never tell you just because they'd rather not have anyone in their unit. WE have seen mold, leaks and other issues that needed immediate attention but went unfixed for months because the resident never reported it to us. 

Never underestimate the power of interior inspections.

REALTORS: I am curious about this as well. I have been a p/t investor for a few years, currently work full time in property management, and I am studying for my Oregon RE broker's license. I want to be able to do my own deals, and also help other investors with buying and selling.

I would love to hear some stories of realtors who use their license for their own deals, and also different requirements of different brokerages, such as Keller Williams and others.

Any Weichert Realtors out there? How do you like it? I am considering going that route because I know several realtors with them already, and they are very investor friendly (at the specific office that I know of). Weichert is pretty new over here in OR, but I hear it has a long history and good reputation.

I am not familiar with Georgia law, but as said above, definitely find out what it is and follow it to the letter in case you end up in court on it. Documenting is always a good idea; keep notes somewhere about when resident was last seen/in communication with you, how and when you tried to reach the person, take a couple of pics of personal items left if you can get in there legally. (In Oregon, we can post a 24-hour notice to enter for inspection or maintenance). 

In Oregon, we also have an abandoned property procedure. Check your state laws; I assume every state has something similar to deal with this situation, as it occurs regularly, I'm sure.

$300 deposit, which we call "additional'" not pet, b/c if you call it pet, it can only be used for pet damage. If they trash the place, you can use it for pet or other damages. Pet rent $25/mo for 1, $35/mi for 2. Max of 2 pets. We don't charge an additional deposit or pet rent for small caged animals, we never allow ferrets and we have a breed restriction list and weight limit on dogs.

Hi Stephen. I'm here too! I have a little bit of experience with flips in Portland, and I'm currently studying for my real estate brokers license. Nice to "meet" you.