All Forum Posts by: Paul Kubin

I own a small house in Arkansas that I rent out primarily to nurses (intermediate-term rental) and have a construction company that is doing a local project and wants to house one of their crews in the house for 3 months.  The lease is in the foreman's/VP's name (solid guy, good credit check, etc.).  Based on the terms of the lease, the company took out a commercial rental insurance policy for their time while there.  The insurance company wants the lease in the businesses name.  How exactly do I do that?  Should I put the company name in the lease as "Lessee" and the president of the company as a cosigner (after running his credit/background)?  I've never rented to a business.  

I have researched the company and are legit.  I'm using Avail, so this would be an amendment to the existing lease (once signed, you can't edit the lease, only amend it).

Thanks, everyone!

Dear Sam - you seem like a standup guy, so I have some critique for you.  I attended one of your webinars (and enjoyed it) and was invited to book a call to learn about your mentorship program.  Okay, cool, I thought.

There were multiple attempts to collect information about me before the calls, and when I asked the person on the call to tell me about the program from the start (Hey, that's why you said to book it), I was told "That's not how this works -- you tell us about yourself for the first 1/2 hour, and then we talk about the program."  He (Daniel) interrupted me several times in an effort to control the call.  It was disappointing and it didn't help me trust your brand. 

Had he been transparent and believed in what he was selling, he would have responded with "Sure, no problem," and we would have been off to the races.  I assume you hired a corporate sale team when you decided to scale.  But this need to collect intelligence on your customer and control the narrative isn't, I think, here you want to be. In the end, your sales team needs to represent who you are. If this guy represents you, I'd say you're in some trouble.

Ryan is correct.  I'm talking about refinancing with better terms after putting a significant sum toward the principal.  

I was just daydreaming about refinancing (aren't we all?) and I wondered if there was a "buy equity" instead of "cash out" option during a refinance.  If not, I suppose you could cash out and then use the cash to pay down your principal by that amount. 

But when might it make sense to do that?  

Assume: 

- long term, single-family rental 

- market rate for rent with modest cash flow

- Refinancing makes $ sense (such as rates have dropped 2% or more since you mortgaged the property with 20% down)

Thanks, Danielle!  I have had some luck with a company called Serene Clean.  They have needed guidance about my priorities related to short term rentals, but they've been attentive and seem to do a good job.  

Asking for a friend.  His wife is interested in notary work.  They are wondering if she could be considered a real estate professional for tax purposes if she worked as a self-employed mobile notary.  

In case anyone was interested, we went through the eviction process.  We assumed that my deadbeat sister probably didn't have the money or composure to hire an attorney to fight it, and she didn't.  She moved out on the night of the 60th day.  Changed the locks, eh voila, it's taken care of.

Thanks all for your help!

Hi, all - 

I have a 3BR/1BA short term rental property on the west side of town and need a cleaning service that will do a good job for a fair price and can cope with turnarounds.  I'd appreciate any recommendations you might have.  Thanks!

Short version of the story:  

-My mom has dementia, is out of money, and has been moved to an independent facility.  The house is owned outright, but she is otherwise broke.  We are loaning her estate 5K/mo to pay for her stay a the facility.

-We served my deadbeat sister who has mooched off mom for years, rent-free, with eviction papers.  Except for the deadbeat sister, the house is empty. No furniture, utensils, food, carpet, etc.  Utilities are on, but otherwise, it's a bare house. 

-We notified the deadbeat sister, in writing as required, (72 and) 24 hours in advance that the carpet installers were coming today.

-When the installers arrived (they had the door code), she fled to her bedroom and screamed at them until they left (without carpeting any of the house).

Is this grounds to terminate her tenancy immediately?  It's going to cost us a minimum of $500 more to have the installers come back another day.  I'd make her pay for it, but she has no money.

What else can we do?

***Before you criticize me/us for evicting my sister, it's not something my other sisters and I ever wanted.  We gave her plenty over a year of warning about the situation, and have tried to work with her, but she will not communicate with us in any way.  We offered cash for keys, which she didn't respond to.  At this rate, we'll be selling the house in winter, and that's gonna hurt my mom's finances huge.

Any community thoughts / advice would be greatly appreciated.  

I have two properties in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  I purchased them with the help of a good friend who lives there and has managed them for me for the last year.  He has taken a job out of state and won't be able to manage them anymore.  I'd like to avoid hiring a property manager (I've heard uniformly bad things about them, not to mention the cost), and things are pretty stable (solid properties with great tennants).  I can do most of it remotely, but there are times where I really need someone on the ground to run an errand for me, like meet the utility company and show them where the trees need trimming near the power lines, to drain the water heater, etc.  I have a handyman I like, but I can't call on him for management errands.

1) Does anyone know anyone who might do this kind of stuff in Fort Smith?

2) Anyone have ideas on how to find someone?  I considered reaching out to the community college and asking for an enterprising business student who might need a little extra money and a letter of reference while he/she is learning real estate.  I am willing to pay a decent hourly when something needs to be done.  I'd rather avoid paying someone monthly, there is only work to be done intermittently.

Any ideas you all have would be much appreciated.