All Forum Posts by: Michell P.

Prospect 1: 

"I'm earth friendly, professional, employed, positive, no pets, no smoke but I cannot provide my SS# do the the nature of my job (government) etc.  But I have excellent references." 

I really wanted to ask him if he was a secret agent.  

Prospect 2: 

Called and rambled about his 5 kids, and how they want to change the world and they throw all these charity events and they're on government assistance and smoke and have support animals but their voucher will cover rent etc 

While he's rambling I try multiple times to tell him the property is pending but he doesn't seem to hear.  

He ends the call saying he's going to apply and I say "You can apply if you want but the home is pending." 

He submits the application an hour later and pays the $50 to get credit checks done.  I spend the rest of the day stunned that they would throw away $50 when they hadn't even seen the home - then I send out an email explaining we went with another applicant (you know... the one I said was already pending??)

He responds: "I thought that I had a chance, but I must if that is the case then there is no use in running the background check I would like to know how I can receive the money I paid for the background checks if it was way to late to even apply." 

I just... can't.

Prospect 3: 

A single guy pulls up  to the house in a really nice car and is dressed really nice.  

Him: "What's your pet policy?" 

Me: "What kind of pets do you have?"

Him:  ".... well... it's... a uh... dog." 

Me: "Ok, what is the specific breed?" 

Him: "uh... well.... ... ... it's a mix." 

Me: "Uh huh, what kind of mix?" 

Him: "It's a pit bull. But he's really friendly."  

Me: "We can't accept pit bulls.  It's an insurance requirement, there's nothing I can do about it." (This was in the rental criteria he'd already been sent) 

I thanked him for coming and moved on to another prospect while he just stared at me.  A few minutes later he walked back over while I was talking to someone else.  

Him: "Ok, so what is your credit policy?" 

Me: *thinking WTH I already said no* "Well, it should show a history of responsibility paying your obligations."

Him: "My score is really low... like 400 or so." 

Me: "Well why's it so low?" (Now I'm just wondering where he's going with this) 

Him: "Well, I had a few bankruptcies and evictions."  

Me: "Evictions?  Did you say evictions?" (Not sure how we jumped from credit score to evictions but ok, he's just volunteering everything)

Him: "Yeah but like just 1." 

Me: "Ok we can't accept evictions within the last 7 years." 

Him: "Ok but all my evictions were more than 7 years ago." 

Me: "Ok if you have more than 1 eviction that's a hard no, no matter when it happened.  All our rental criteria is in the email I sent you." 

He then stared at me intently for a few minutes before running to his car.   

Is this real life?

If you start knocking on people's doors without financing lined up, that just seems like harassment to me.  1st step is to talk to a mortgage agent and understand your financial position to see what you can afford.  And if you talk to realtors, make sure you can actually close the deal - depends on how big your area is but you can get a bad rep pretty quickly if you don't follow through with your offers.  

1st step is to talk to a mortgage agent - depending on your area & situation you may qualify for low money down programs.  

Then talk to friends & family see if anyone wants to go in on it with you.  

Then consider if a SFH may be a better choice since 0% down loans are easier to get with those properties - and they allow you to trade up faster. And if you get into the right one, you can get a HELOC to help with future purchases.

I'd sell, but its a personal preference.  Keep in mind that if you turn it into a rental and decide to sell years down the road, you may be liable for capital gains taxes.  So keep an eye on that deadline.  Currently you can make either 6k a year or get the next 10 years profit upfront.  You could kick yourself either way.  

I'd use the money to buy a personal residence in FL to get a better rate and keep all the properties close together.  Then turn it into a rental later.  

Depends on the age of the property and what your local vacancy rate is.  How old is your water heater, ac, etc?  [Cost to replace everything / years of service + expected yearly turnover costs) ] / 12 = monthly set aside into a high apr savings (capex).  

I'd go to your local landlord authority and use whatever lease they're using.  Usually it's just a few dollars to download their leases, and they're reviewed by local lawyers so you're in compliance.  

For people with few rentals, I like Cozy.  It's more expensive than other options, but haven't had any push back on it.  

@Chris Gibbs - If I think I've underpriced a home, I'll quit marketing it and go through my current list of applicants.  Sometimes there will be a couple great ones and sometimes you have to throw them all out.  If none of the applicants are good, then I'll send them all rejection letters, raise the price, and start marketing again. Generally you'll get fewer applicants but a higher quality pool.  If a couple of the applicants are great, and I don't want to deal with turnover for a long while, then I'll go ahead and put them in at the price I advertised.  While you may miss out on a few extra dollars a month, you'll have a tenant who knows they're getting a great deal and will stay for years.  It works itself out.  

And it sounds like you have a great start - good luck! 

@Aaron Holloway

Hey Aaron, welcome to the site! (and to investing!)

Portland is a great market but it can be pretty tough to turn a profit - it really depends on what your needs & wants are as an investor (do you want cash flow or equity?).  I'd suggest hooking up with a broker and touring everything that is in your price range.  Get a feel for the neighborhoods - narrow down which neighborhoods you can afford / like, and see if the numbers work for you.  Any investment - condo, single family, multifamily, commercial - can work as long as you have a plan of action.  

Trulia has crime maps you can look at 

Rentometer has rent averages 

Air b&b has occupancy rates 

Did you make a lease? Is she paying weekly vs monthly?  Make sure the forms you find fit your situation because the rules regarding monthly vs weekly tenancy may differ.  If you think it's going to be ugly, it's not too expensive to talk to a lawyer for an hour and get a clear picture of which steps you should take.  And document everything.  You can also find forms here: http://www.multifamilynw.org/online-store---rental-forms-center.html