All Forum Posts by: Brendan O'Brien

"I got paid in cash and left my money on the counter at a store, then when I returned it had been stolen."

I didn't believe it until I saw the video from the store surveillance camera - and the tenant got a short-term loan from a friend, so he could pay.

Please don't carry a gun to confront this tenant unless you have experience carrying and using a gun in dangerous situations. That is, unless you have combat military, or police experience.

I don't know what city you live in, but in very many, the police are happy to get and act on a tip. If they are remotely competent, which they will be, they will be able to bust him without revealing the name of the tipster.

However, I do not know of any sort of emergency eviction power which would let you then get him out of the unit in a hurry (like 24-48 hours). If your jurisdiction allows this, great, but don't count on it.

Mike, that's a wonderful idea, and since we are only a short drive away, let's plan for a dinner after the holidays. I'm not joking!

Now as for the competitive aspects, quite clearly we must be very careful to not reveal any secrets. But I will tell you my secrets to making a success in business in general.

1) Spend as little as possible on things that are not absolutely vital.
2) Don't hire anyone on a permanent basis until you are making money.
3) Don't release any software until you are absolutely sure it works. A 50% solution that works 100% of the time is better than a 100% solution that works 90% of the time.

Mike, my friend, we are competitors. No tips from me!

Good thinking. I wrote a couple blog posts on this a ways back. The danger is that if you have all the roomies on the lease - and one of them moves out - where are the others? Are they all separately responsible for the rent? Is their lease still valid?

I've also been part of a sailing forum, a rotorcraft one, a bunch of tech forums, and one for new dads. Here is one thing I've noticed about BP.

You almost never see what I call an "orphan post" - where somebody posts a question and nobody else even tries to answer it. I'm sure this is in part because of the number of users. But it's also because BP users are basically nice people, We wouldn't let some newbie with a question sit out there feeling stupid and friendless.

While I'm on the subject, you also never see the "you're a nazi/you should die" style of response here. I'm sure occasionally those do get in and have to be booted by Josh or others. But they must be quite rare. In the sailing forum, people were always flaming each other - and we were talking about boats - hardly something that should cause high high tempers.

Go Bigger Pockets!

References are vital. Start from the other tenants, then work backwards to companies. It's not wise to ask the company for references because they'll find the two or three happiest customers they have - they might even make up names if they have no happy customers.

I also have a quick checklist of questions to ask your property management prospects. I'll make that my next blog post. (I was here trolling for ideas anyway.)

I can't imagine you would be allowed to cut off water. Would any city allow that?

One reason to stay anonymous to the extent possible is personal security. Just like lawyers and cops, we occasionally run into very bad people - we really do not want them to know about us.

I had an experience with a tenant a few years back that scared the heck out of me. It made me rethink my whole approach to landlording.

Welcome Marjorie and Dean. I read a book about your hometown once. How are the deals looking in your areas?