All Forum Posts by: Mike O.

What are your experiences renting to people who are retired? 

I have a potential tenant interested in renting a townhouse from me ($1800/month) and will be living alone. Curious on the best way to verify income, she mentioned she would pay the whole year up front and I have read in the past that could be a bad thing because she could possible stop paying rent after a year and I will have a hard time getting her out. This whole situation is new to me so I appreciate any advice.  Thanks 

Thank you all for the advice 

the flapper was bad too. whatever he did it fixed the problem. 12/22 water usage was 1,033 gallons and water usage on 12/23 was 96.6 gallons/ 12/24 was 76 gallons. 

got an email from my tenant on dec 22 saying they got a letter from the city saying there water bill was higher than normal and there is probably a water leak somewhere(they just got back from a week vacation). Dec 23 i get my plumber out there and it ends up being the wax ring and a missing bolt on the toilet on the main level toilet(floor was really wet) fast forward to yesterday i get a $341 water bill (3 months) from the city. I contact the tenant to confirm that they also got the bill and they did. The city sends me a day by day break down of water usage for the last 3 months. City tells me they also sent a letter on November 2 about a possible leak but tenant doesn't recall getting it. Tenant is responsible for the water bill and says she will figure something out and make sure it gets paid on time. These are new tenants(moved in sept 1) but are great tenants. I am curious if any of you would help pay the water bill or just make the tenant pay all of it? 

I bought my first townhouse roughly 7-8 years ago and was needing to get something bigger for my wife and kids. Without even asking my mom told me she would just rent my townhouse from me after i moved out and i agreed. The next day she already started bringing somethings over before I moved out. She started off paying $700/month with HOA being roughly $180 and taxes around 2k. The property was paid off so i was making like 3-4k a year. I ended up raising the rent to $800 about a year ago and she was fine with it and she has also done upgrades to the house without asking me for money. There are a few townhouses for rent $1600 and $1800 a month in the neighborhood so I feel I am giving her a good deal to live there. I have also rented to my in laws for the past 18 months and everything has been perfect. Given the right situation I think you should rent to your parents because you know they will be takin care of.

Thanks for the advice. what are some questions I should or shouldn't ask when showing a house. I feel bad making someone pay for a background/credit check when they have 3 or 4 people ahead of them that would need to fail something for them to even have a chance at the property. 

I have been browsing the forums for a few years now and will be closing on a rental property in a few weeks and have a few questions. How do you deal with having 5 people interested in the property? I have received minimal information from each of them and will be showing the property on Monday. Is it normal to have an open house for potential tenants or should you make appointments every 15 or so minutes? I currently have 2 other rentals but currently have family renting from me so this will be the first time I actually need to show a property.  Any advice would be great.  Thanks

I am looking to purchase a townhouse with a HOA and was wondering if I still need to purchase landlord insurance? I will be renting it out

I know a guy who has like 27 units in north Minneapolis and and from what he says it's a pain.  I believe some are section 8 but I know there are times where it's a pain to collect rent. To have rentals in an area like that I think it takes the right guy to be able to do it and be successful. He always looks and the newspaper to see if the cops are ever called to his properties and there were a few times the cops were called because of gun shots in one of his properties. Obviously if you get a good property and a good tenant you could do very well but is it worth the risk? I would stay away 

Thanks again for the responses.

Niki Lee i will answer your questions first.

1. When i was looking at single family homes in my area in the $150k price range there really wasn't anything worth getting. most of the homes were 25+ years old and if my opinion were not nice places. I was actually looking for a place for my brother in law but just couldn't find a decent place for him. I would love to not have HOA fees, especially when the companies around here are below average. It is nice to have all the lawn and snow taking care of but i feel the prices are a little high.

2. I do plan on putting a chunk of money into my business account incase of any repairs. I am fortunate enough that my mom pays for pretty much all the repairs and takes good care of the house. She actually put granite counter tops, wood floors and paid for some minor fixes. The house I just purchased should be ok for awhile before needing any repairs and would also expect my father in law who is pretty hand to be able to do any minor fixes that will be needed. 

3. I guess there were multiple people interested in this property so my realtor thought we would have a better chance to get it if we offered cash. The original plan was to get a loan but after we talked about offering cash we decided to just pay cash, get the property and then refinance.  

4. Im not really sure what OPM stands for but i assume it means just a standard mortgage. Maybe i am putting to much money down on these properties but in the end i just want to pay the least amount of interest i can. After reading your guys responses I am rethinking the amount I want to put down on the house I just bought. Maybe only put down like $40k, put $40k down on another place and then maybe end up getting 3 places this year. I guess it doesn't really matter as long as the rent covers the mortgage each month because I had no intention of pocketing any money this year from the properties. 

I know i need to keep a good amount of money in my brokerage account just incase something does come up with one of my properties or in my personal life. I need to do some more research and see how it is possible to own 10 properties free and clear in 10 years. Just seemed easier if i put more money down the faster they get paid off but if I end up doing that i will just empty my brokerage account and that is not an option.

thanks again for the responses