All Forum Posts by: Paul Sandhu

I just rent to travelling workers here for 1-3 month jobs. Not to people on vacation.

But my rules are this:

1. Don't park on the grass in the front yard.  You can get a ticket.

2. No indoor furniture on the front porch. I can get a ticket.

3. Take trash to the dumpster. Take the dumpster to the curb on the appropriate day.

4. Feel free to move anything around in the house except the washer/dryer/fridge/stove.

5. No fighting in the house. If you want to fight, fight outside. Knock yourselves out.

That's mainly it.

24 hours to 60 days.  Smaller houses are rented out more frequently but bring in less money.  Bigger houses aren't rented out that often, but when they are they bring in more money.  At the end of the year I add up how much each house made.  They all make about the same, whether it's a 2 bedroom little place or a 3 story house with 9 beds and 4 baths.

I furnish all 22 of my houses from estate auctions.  Appliances, beds, furniture etc.  I usually buy a grill if the price is right.  It doesn't matter if it's gas or charcoal, as long as I get it for $30 or less.  Big houses (4 bedroom) have both types of grills. 

When things don't go right with my rentals, I usually ask the customer what would make it right.  Then I go with that.  Or I suggest something to them and ask them if it seems fair.  

You need to get the customers input on what it takes to make things right.

Do it yourself.  It is easy peasy.  First you will need a $10 pressure gauge that will screw right on to your gas pipe.  It also will have a nipple on it exactly like an automobile tire, to put pressure in the system.  Any hardware store will have it.  

1. Shut off gas supply.  Disconnect the gas outlet line from the meter and plug it.  When there is excess pressure from the house side of the gas meter, the meter will vent off the gas.

2. Attach your gauge that you bought from the first paragraph.  I usually disconnect my water heater or stove, then attach the gauge to the gas line.  

3. Shut the supply valve off to every gas appliance you have.  Each appliance should have its own valve.  90 degree turn should be all it needs.

4. Use an air compressor and bring it up to 10 psi.  Normal pressure is 3 or 4 ounces per square inch.  In this state, a house has to hold 10 psi for 10 minutes to pass the inspection.  A business is 15 psi for 15 minutes.

5. Windex or soapy water in a spray bottle.  Spray every joint, fitting, valve, connection, etc in the system.  I have also seen old pipes that had pinhole cracks in them from rust.  You will see bubbles where it is leaking.

6. If there is no leak, open up a supply valve to an appliance and check the line that just got pressure.  Repeat.

I do a verbal agreement followed by a handshake. 

Rent is paid by cash or some sort of card. 

If there are any problems or issues we decide it by arm wrestling or fighting it out man to man in the back yard.

None.  My renters usually don't have much control over when they arrive and when someone tells them it's time to leave.  If they sleep there, I consider it a day they have to pay for.  If they leave at 6:00 in the morning or 6:00 in the evening, it doesn't make any difference.

Map of the town on the fridge, with a personal list of the "Good" and the "Bad".

Cable tv channel guide.

Little sample bottles of cologne in the bathroom.

Charcoal and lighter fluid if there is a charcoal grill.

Propane for a gas grill.

A rick of firewood for the fire ring outside.

Tony Chachere's Louisianna Seasoning (I rent to a lot of Cajuns and Texans).

Pictures, paintings, calendars or other forms of artwork with naked women.  99% of my renters are refinery contractors.  They tell me that this sort of stuff is mandatory.

Ballpoint pens with my advertising on it.

Calendars with scantily clad women doing construction work with my advertising on it.

I don't charge any deposit or cleaning fee.  But my short term rentals are for people working at a refinery, not people vacationing.

My logic is this: most of the people I'm renting to are accustomed to getting screwed out of their money one way or the other.  They have told me that they have lost their deposits over really minor things like cig butts in an ashtray or empty beer cans on a table.  So I don't charge a deposit.  They usually leave it pretty clean.  I figure if I charged any sort of deposit, they will leave the place dirty enough to justify the extra work to clean it back up with the deposit money.

22 houses total.  At any one time there are usually 14-20 of them rented out.  Half are to repeat customers or to people staying 6+ months and paying every week.

Try the rock quarries.  I buy gravel for driveways, ag lime for my dove field, and river rock for decoration.  The rock goes for 8-10 dollars a ton.