All Forum Posts by: Molly Morlino

Okay so when we first became landlords back in 2017 we used Cozy for collecting rent.  We LOVED COZY!  Then they sold to Apartments.com and we don't love Apartments.com

I've tried Azibo, Turbo Tenant and now and looking at Innago.

Azibo doesn't market and Turbo Tenant doesn't do automatic drafts on the 1st of the month.  

And I cannot find anywhere in Innago's literature that states they do automatic draft.

That is REALLY important to me, as it's such a nice feature for our tenants.

So, I need a service that is good for 14 rentals (we have a 12plex and 2 SFR)
Needs to automatically draft
Needs to market for me

I don't mind a small cost!

What would y'all recommend?

I'd like to talk a scenario out and get some advice on next steps.

We have a great rising market in the Texas hill country - specifically Johnson City. There's hardly anything available and when there is it is very highly priced and in poor/old condition. I'm talking about a 900 sq ft 2/1 built on 1950s selling for $280k

We have lived here for 7 years and have watched this happen.

There are several new city lots that have come available - some investors created a small neighborhood (paved roads, city water and sewer) and are selling 7500 sq st lots for $32k. There's 11 available.  They are on the east side of town so in a lower-income area.  

I would like to buy these lots - all of them, hopefully get them for $29k or so - and build basic 3/2 stick homes. Slightly above builder grade (level 1 granite counters, laminate wood floors, tiled showers, etc), but the idea being that they are universally easy to sell. They would sell for about $250k. I think, with the volume of work (building all at the same time) we could build for an average of $120k each (1600 sq ft). This is "starter home" price in this town. Also with building so many we kind of create our own comps and market.

I have enough cash to put down 20% down payment on the lots and construction.

Thoughts? Next steps?

So here's the story...

My parents own 10 acres in Kyle, TX. On it they have built 5 rental homes, a 10 unit storage building (it accompanies the rental homes) and a 2 car garage for personal use. My husband and I have build 2 rental homes on the same property.

They are in their 70s now and would like to deed the property to us. We would take care of the property, pay for all repairs, utilities, etc. - It would in every way be OUR property and our responsibility. Currently the 5 homes are renting for $6400/mo. Our two houses are renting for $2465/mo.

We would pay them a $5,000 per month stipend. I realize that the rental income - after property taxes, income taxes, expenses, etc would barely cover this $5,000 per month. But, the real financial gain, in our opinion, would be that we would now own - with no debt or mortgage - a property that would appraise at around $1 million.

We would like to take out a Home Equity Loan on this property for $175,000. This would be enough to build five more of our rental homes. They would be identical to our first two homes. We can build them for $35k and rent them for $1195 base. We know this because we've already built two of them.

Basically I'm wondering this: Would a Home Equity Loan on this property be possible?  Has anyone had any success pulling equity from their rentals?  If so, what banks were you happy with and what were the terms?  We could pay it back in 48 months or less.

With the exception of the mortgage on our primary home, we have zero credit card debit (lots of available credit, but no debt) and no car loans.  Our credit scores are both in the 800s.

We've owned our rentals (built from the ground up) for almost 2 years now and the time as come to eviction someone.  Not happy... I really like this tenant and have no other issues whatsoever.  They are pleasant, pay their rent on time, good neighbors, etc.

But they - or their partner (not on the lease, visiting) are smoking.

The lease very specifically states:

NON-SMOKING PROPERTY: Lessee understands that the entire property, including inside and outside premises, is a non-smoking zone and will strictly adhere to this policy. This restriction includes the use of e-cigarettes and vaping. Any violation will result in eviction with no warnings or exceptions. No tenants or visitors may smoke on this property. It is the obligation of the Lessee to inform visitors of this policy. Lessee will be held responsible for violations by their visitors.

On June 22nd we were mowing the lawn and power washing the porch and I saw that there were cigarette butts in a chiminea on her front porch.  I took a picture, texted her and told her that this was grounds for eviction and to please read section 26 of her lease (and included a photo this section of the lease).  She immediately texted back and said "Those are left over from my old house when I brought it over. I do not smoke and haven't at this new property. I will clean them out."  I was hesitant but thought that they did look old.  

Well we went to mow today (7/4/19) and I saw that she had cleaned it out but there were 2 more cigarette butts in it.

So, it's clear we have to go ahead and follow eviction.  But, here's what I'm wondering...

How many days do we give her after we serve her with a notice to vacate?   Then, what do we do with the security deposit and the rent for July 2019 (paid in full)?

Any experience or advice out there?

I'm fairly familiar with SA so here are my thoughts...

My favorite part has to be the west side... Bandera Rd, inside 1604, outside 410.  There are several older neighborhoods... built in the 80s or so... that have houses that are still in good shape, not too expensive and we were well cared for by their owners.  You're liking looking in the $160k range with a monthly rent of $1400 or so.

In 2017 we built two rental homes on land that my parents own (they have 5 other rentals on this property).  It's 12.8 acres outside the city limits of Kyle, TX (if that matters).  We lease the land at 5% of the rental amount (so $120/mo for both houses) plus $20/mo *per house* for water and trash.  We do have a 99 year lease with my parents.  All of this is really just for the legalities of their will.

Anyway... we built these with cash and do not owe anything.  We are hoping to use them as collateral OR cash equity when we go on to our next investment (RV and boat storage).  Does anyone have any ideas or tips or experience on how we can do this with leased land?

We would like to build more in the near future it's not the best ROI (33% per year vs 45% per year for RV and boat storage) - but to build these is considerable less money (about $35k per house) vs RV and boat storage ($1.5m for the land, development, etc)

So IF we can get equity or use them as collateral towards the storage investment then super... but if not, then is there any point in building them right now?

Thank you both!

Originally posted by @Khanesia Washington:

You would only be discrimitaing if it was a dog for a disability.  Emotion support dogs do not count with discrimination laws. you are not required to accept the pet.

Does this apply to ESA dogs for those with a mental disability?  (all with the correct paperwork, of course)   Or *any* ESA dog?  I'm hearing different things.  I just want to hear objective facts.

We built our rentals on land in Kyle, TX that belongs to my parents - they have other rental homes on it as well - and my parents do not allow pit bulls or pit bull mixes on the property.  It's just such a risk.   I love pitties personally but can understand the restriction.  If they bite, they do damage.  It's just the way it is.

See the homes we built here

That being said, I had a prospective tenant claiming their dogs are not pit mixes (they look pit mix) and that they are ESA dogs (I have not seen the paperwork, we didn't get that far).  I sincerely apologized but clarified that we cannot accept pitties due to insurance limitations.

So now she's throwing all these rules and laws (copying and pasting) and is spitting mad.  I get it, I really do - these dogs are her babies and she's probably having a hard time.

I just told her, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we'll look into it".

What ARE my rights as a private landlord?  We have two small rentals on the same property.  We do have landlord insurance through USAA with $1 million in liability.  I spoke to them, and they said that they will deny covered to any dog that has bitten in the past.  I assume that it's our responsibility to clarify that with the tenants and write it in the lease so we have legal documentation showing that the tenant said they did not bite.  Is there any responsibility beyond that on our part?

Anyone want to share their experienced advice?

We are under contract (whew!) for just under 8 acres in Kyle, TX.  We  plan to turn it into RV and Boat storage.

We are looking for bids for:
House demolition and removal - Current home is 3 bedroom/2 bath with a garage
Land clearing (mostly scrub brush, a few trees), grading and spreading/compacting 6" of road base. Doesn't need to be level, just flat.

Does anyone have any trusted local recommendations?