All Forum Posts by: Michelle Hardy

@Michael Smythe..thank you so much.  I'm definitely going to do this.  I appreciate the your input.

I have been doing rent by the room for a little over a year.  I use Avail software and it will list your property on 10+ websites.  The rules for evictions are the same in the city I rent in.  I start off with a 3 month lease and do a room inspection during month 2.  If the tenant isn't following the house rules and fails the room inspection then his/her lease isnt' renewed.  I have found that the profit margins are very low in this model if the house is in a C/D neighborhood because you are limited to the amount of rent you can charge for each room.

@Aristotle Kumpis..I love your analogy because it really does feel like I'm running a hotel from a distance.  I'm definitely going to rethink my strategy because currently the expenses are almost equal to revenue.

@Kevin Sobilo  thank you so much for your insight.  I will definitely be rethinking my current strategy.  Based on your response, I probably need to hire someone just for the Open Houses who is available multiple days per month.

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing the rent by the room model for over a year and I haven't quite gotten the knack for maximizing my time and reducing the amount of time that the rooms are vacant.  Currently, since I'm an out of town investor, I pay someone once a month to host an Open House for me.  However, I feel like I need to offer Open Houses more than one day a month.  Because people can be a bit fickle at times, I'm worried that I will schedule an Open House and no shows up even after confirming that they were coming.  Then I have still have to pay the person who was acting as a host even though no one came.  I'm not comfortable letting people just come by and tour it on their own primarily for the safety of the current tenants.  Has anyone perfected this process? If so, please share a few tips.  Thanks in advanced your input.

Thanks, Kevin.  I love this approach.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone,

I have a rent by the room property and unfortunately, one of the tenants is being combative and aggressive with the other tenants.  Due to this behavior, she has broken the lease under the "other good cause" that was included.  The tenant has also ignored several of my attempts to contact her via phone and text and will only respond to my emails.  She is currently on a one year lease and I have read the requirements for my state.  I plan on mailing the letter certified and I wanted to know do landlords also call the tenant as a courtesy to let them know about the letter.  Thank you in advance for your insight.

@Julie Huffman..I'm in the process of gathering estimates from contractors.  If you have someone you recommend, I would love to contact them.

@Julie Huffman and @Elise Bickel Tauber... You both were right.  I just closed on my first duplex thanks to Austin.  Thank you so much for your recommending him.