All Forum Posts by: Mauricio Quintana

@CJ M. 

Thanks for the response and insight.  This follow up may be a bit more specific, but hopefully you can shed some light.  Have you been in a situation where you rehabbed one unit better than the other?  If so, what rehabs did you do on the less expensive side to get the most bang for your buck?  Example:  i did new paint but cleaned carpet instead of replacing.  I rehabbed kitchen but skipped bathroom and so on.  I think you get my point. 

Thanks in advance

Duplex landlords,

I'm in a situation where I bought a duplex and one side has been rehabbed.  This is a class C property and the interest has been great on the rehabbed side.  However, I am realizing I may have over rehabbed for the area.  I'd like to scale down the rehab for the second unit and charge roughly $90 less in rent.  The totals would be $650 currently rehabbed side and $560 for the other that still needs work.  

My specific question for your duplex+ landlords is have you come across any instances where you have a 2 different charges for rents for leases signed at relatively the same time?  Issues meaning have you had to deal with one tenant complaining and causing issues that their rent is $90 higher? How have you dealt with this?  

@Craig Sloan thank you, this is extremely helpful.  Question, the preliminary background check you do, how do you do it?  Are you using some sort of property management software or where do you pull this report from?  If preliminary is just a fact check, what do you use to run the full background check?

@Melinda Miller, @Michael Noto, @John Underwood @Yoni Benimetzky-  thanks for all the insight.  Same question to you.  What is your process from phone call to leasing and what software/property management app do you use to pull credit reports and background checks?

Thanks again!

Landlords of section 8,

Do you have any tenants who pay you the difference between the local housing authority's voucher limit and your market rent?  If so, any pros/cons you can share?  Does your local housing authority allow this type of arrangement?  If so, do they technically sign 2 different leases?

I've gotten some conflicting information and i've had zero luck reaching the housing authority.  Would appreciate the feedback from those who have the experience.

Thanks in advance,

BP Community,

I am in the process of renting out a property that is 4 states over.  As you can imagine, scheduling people to see the property, answering the same questions over and over via email and trying to create a process has been quite a task.

Here's the areas I'm struggling with:

Applications:  sending out word or PDF documents has been tough as most potential tenants don't have a home computer or printer access.

Showings:  I'm in Houston and property is in Atlanta.... and we are in the midst of CV-19.  I have local contacts that can help me with showings.  I'm thinking an open house would be the best way to go.  Any thoughts?

Interested parties:  How do I weed out the interested parties with those who are just looking around?

Collecting rent:  Class C tenants, however most are technologically savvy.  What do you use to collect rent electronically?  How much do you pay for it

If anyone has thoughts on the above or a specific software/app that alleviates many of these headaches, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks!

Thanks all.  Different question about the application process.  I just put my rental on Zillow and have gotten bombarded with calls.  What is your/your team's process to go from initial call to showing?  I am sending out a rental application but I wasn't sure if I should only show the apartment to those who send back an application?  When do you do the background check/credit history?  Is this after you have read the application and checked out references?  I wasn't sure what kind of pushback you get from people having to pay for you to run a credit check without even seeing the place.

Thoughts?

Landlords of class C properties,

This is my first venture into rentals.  I'm just curious as to what parameters you use to determine a good renter?  Do you do any sort of ratio where you look for 3x (or whatever that multiplier is) in income versus the rent amount?   

Any other particular "red flags" you look for in their rental application that have come back to haunt you?  Outside of the specific rent multiplier question, any other insight/advice would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

Try a different lender.  Other lenders will have different guidelines around the seasoning period.

I ran across this too. Try a different lender and the first question you want to ask is about their "seasoning" period.  Some have none, 3 months and 6 months.  While I haven't done a cash our refi, I went through this process and just found out those parameters differ from lender to lender.  

Best of luck!

@Steven Epps, @John Warren, @Account Closed 

It looks like I am going to have to get the electric panel replaced.  I also have to buy window AC units.  The price difference between an AC/heat combo unit versus just one with AC is about $400 per unit.  Do you all still recommend the baseboard  heaters versus this combination?  Thanks in advance for all the help