All Forum Posts by: Mike McCarthy

I have been happy with a UPS Store mailbox. BUT know that these locations are franchised and can close with 15-30 days notice, which then returns all mail to sender. A business I worked with had this issue and it was a MESS!

I would absolutely switch to electronic rent collection wherever possible. Most of the platforms allow only full payments, or have an option to manually disable payments if you start eviction proceedings.

Most of my tenants love it because they don’t have to remember to do anything each month. One tenant was supposedly always late because she never remembered it was the 1st of the month. She’s never been late since we started automated rent collection.

@Cory Benhardt I account for my turnovers in two different ways. If it’s just a normal turnover with a bit of repair and maybe a few small upgrades, I just account for it as repairs & maintenance. It comes out of my yearly profit similarly in both taxes and P&L.

For significant rehabs, I track them slightly differently. They still come out as repairs or larger deprecation expenses out of taxes, but I track them separately for my knowledge. At the end of the year, I know that the major reno was $10K (or whatever) out of my profit… but I handle it as a separate line item, so there’s no confusion to myself or potential investors down the line that I ‘lost’ that much money this year. Because I see it as an investment in both the value of the property as well as for future rents.

Definitely agree with the ‘happy clause’.

This property is obviously not working out for you, if you agree to be fully moved out by Aug 15, with the house clean and damage free, I will refund the remainder of August’s rent ($$) plus your full security deposit. Let me know if you’re interested in this and I’ll send over a mutual termination letter for you to sign.

Plus, you should be able to get the ducts cleaned and sanitized for around $500.

I was a long-time user and proponent of Cozy and was migrated to Apartments. My migration went well and haven’t run into any issues.

I got a bit frustrated with building out an application, but admittedly, I waited until the lat minute and might have been doing something wrong on my end. The main part I don’t like about the application process is that it requires all applicants to get credit/background checks. I would much rather narrow down to one or two prospective tenants before making them pay for the checks… but Zillow and others do the same thing.

It does concern me what I’ve heard about support.

@Justin Reader use a service like Apartments.com or Zillow.

Potential renters fill out an online application, pay $30-40, and pull their own credit and background checks which you have access to. Nice and secure and easy.

Be sure to read up on your state’s laws. Most are pretty consistent, but a few have weird laws about who can pay for those checks (MA) and some have oddities about what factors you can or can not take into account when accepting/declining tenants (WA, CA (I think))

@Joey Gong typically you will not have to pay the towing company. They tow it and either charge the owner to get it out of their lot, or they’ll end up selling it after however much time passes.

They know your local laws and (typically) have to follow them, so it will keep you ‘clean’.

I personally like a higher deductible. Most people won’t contact their insurance for small claims, to prevent their rates from rising. So if you’re not going to submit a claim for a $1500 event, why pay for the lower deductible.

I at least see insurance for those big events.

Also, I’d suggest looking at a $1M umbrella policy. It provides much more liability for your properties, including your home and auto. It also allows you to have a $250 or $300K liability on the primary policy, saving a few bucks there. Umbrella policies are quite inexpensive and allow me to sleep better at night.

You can get a cellular router, basically a router that will connect to an AT&T or Verizon cell phone plan. You can probably add it to your existing cell phone plan for $40/mo or so. The routers are in the $250-$350 range.

But they are capped, so you have to be careful with what camera system you buy. You’ll probably want one that has an on-premise NVR (box that all the cameras record to), so you’re really only using the bandwidth for when you need to log in and view something.

I agree with the others about ‘borrowing’ an tenant’s connection.

Unless you have a specific interest in renovating them, it’s probably better to just plan on selling as-is.

While it’s possible you’ll make more money renovating or rebuilding and selling, it’s also going to cost you time and effort, and unless it’s a career/investment direction you want to go, I doubt it will end up being cost-effective for you to partner with someone to do it. Or even if you had extra money lying around, basically you’re planning a flip, which is rarely worthwhile for the first house (or few) anyone does.

I agree with @Guy Gimenez. I think it’s weird that they force you to waive the right, but at the same time, if the house was built before or around 1978, it most likely has lead paint.

A few states are very strict with lead paint (MA), but most states follow federal guidelines which basically state that you need to inform tenants or buyers that there may be lead paint, and use lead safe practices if you renovate.

As long as the house doesn’t have old wood windows, and a recent coat of paint, you’ll be fine. But definitely understand what lead paint laws are and if there are any additions in your city/state.