All Forum Posts by: Ralph Poirier

If you have signed a lease move on. The first person to send me a signed lease and the security deposit wins. She’s playing you!

@Kerry Baird you said you pay it off in two years. Are you refinancing the loan after two years?  Are you hoping on some combination of market appreciation and cash you have accumulated from the property to get you to 80% Ltv?

We just installed a waterproof laminate in one of our rentals. They look awesome!  Renters were so excited. No glue they click together. Look for installation specials from the big box stores. 

I have my students sign a one year lease with a parent guarantee. Each renter signs a lease. Since I have a parent guarantee my security deposit is less than normal.  However, it is part of the collective group so I will take any damage equally unless one of them steps up to claim it. 

That decision should be driven by the market. If you upgrade can you get your money back via a higher rent. Is the market hot enough that you could find a renter at the higher price?  Are you renting to students?

New England is pretty big and diverse.  Need more info than just New England.  In the mean time check out Zillow for rentals in the area.  How expensive are they.  Do they seem to stay on the market?  How many are there?

Try your Real Estate Agent 

I live in Wrentham but would like to attend!

It's brutal!  I work it into what I pay for the property and what I charge for rent.  Stupid rule.  Even if you live in the State and you own a second house at a lake your second house is taxed at the higher rate.  I believe they want to keep investors from buying up the properties.  I think it hurts them more than it helps!

@Jaysen Medhurst Thanks for the info as well.  My other houses are about $100/month for the lawn but this has a tiny lawn I'm hoping I can get him to $25/mow.  As I said above these are student housing.  I actually pay for a cleaner to come in every two weeks to clean the common areas.  This helps me get eyes on the houses as she reports back any damage issues with the house.  This feature also helps me with my 0% vacancy.  I pass on water to the renters and I manage the properties myself.  I used 8% as I think I'm going to need to find an investor to buy the house and I assumed I'd have to pay up.  Once I got this analysis up-to-speed I was going to post it to see if I could find someone to fund the purchase.  Any ideas?  I'm really new at this so I really appreciate the advice.  Thanks again!