All Forum Posts by: Merry Briotta

Becky Farnsworth You have received some great feedback! We too are struggling with the MLS. We finally connected with a great realtor which makes the process smoother. We are writing plenty of offers and getting plenty of rejections. Someone just mentioned increasing EMD. I completely agree. In fact, we just submitted an offer today and wrote a $20k EMD check to sweeten the deal. Hoping this strategy works, or at least improves our chances. We also just sent a very small number of direct mail pieces to our target area. The list was free so we just had to cover the cost of the print/mailing. We just received our first call yesterday and had a great starter conversation with a nice older couple that are looking to get out of their property. Not sure it will go anywhere, but it's great to know that our mailing worked! Just keep pressing on and think about doing some direct mailers to find off market deals.

I would say they sound good. Being that they are currently paying more (see if they have receipts maybe to verify this since the apartment won't verify anything) and the parents wouldn't mind co-signing, I'd say it's a go!!

Angela Henderson We always have the best success (traffic and more importantly quality of tenant) from postlets/Zillow. We get a decent amount of traffic from Craigslist, but our experience has been that it always seems to bring a lower quality tenant. Others in different areas may have a different experience. Good luck!

Max James - I do things very similar. I have an agent that I leverage for all transactions. However, I often have a lot of questions on properties that may or may not result in an offer (or even further research for that matter). I frequently reach out to the listing agents with simple, easy to answer questions. I don't typically ever discuss anything that would fall into the realm of negotiation. My agent knows I do this and has never had any concerns. I share with him the info I get from the listing agent. I feel the same way you do, there are some things that I don't need to waste his time with.

Russell Brazil - you won't respond to non-agents? Why? What if the person reaching out is a potential new client without agent representation? Even if they are represented by another agent - wouldn't you want to get as much exposure as possible on your listing? I don't understand this train of thought nor would I ever hire an agent to sell my property that would only interact with other agents. Seems like a great disservice to the sellers.

I'm in Ohio and frequently go to county auctions in the area. Ours are open to anyone, so it's fine to just go and observe. I think it's a great idea to go first and see how it works!

In addition to the above comment about not closing due to age of account...an even better reason not to close accounts is because it will increase your utilization rates. In addition, as someone else mentioned, before you add yourself to someone else's account, make sure you check with the finance company to ensure they report on AUs. Many do not.

Welcome to BP Ryan! I am from the Cincinnati area as well and have multiple rentals. Good luck with your first one, keep us updated on how it works out!

I would, absolutely. Of course, that assumes everything else that you screen for checks outs (background checks, reference checks, prior landlords, employment, income qualifications, etc etc etc. As a landlord my two biggest (not the only) concerns are whether or not they can handle the unit financially and whether or not I feel they will take good care of the unit. Good luck!

From my understanding that's pretty common. The realtors always get paid 3% and if the listing agent is the one that sells it, they take both the 3% listing and the 3% selling commission.