All Forum Posts by: Mike M.

I've got a 2/1 that could benefit from a cheap storage solution. I've looked at the Rubbermaids but they give me the feeling they'll last a couple years with the Texas sun and they aren't significantly cheaper than the stick and tin cousins. I looked at a 4x8 Tuffshed but they'd only come off $100 and a $900 price tag is too rich for my blood. Let me know what you find!

If you do a M2M lease and you don't like what you see, you can be free of the problem in as little as 30 days. I do agree it's a useful tool to catch little problems before they turn into big ones - maintenance, reliability, safety, etc.

I'm on my second set of tenants in my first two properties.  I have the prior tenants' application, lease, DL's, paystubs, etc...  What is everyone's experience with needing to hold on to this information?  I can see holding onto the Release of RIghts of Possession and perhaps the SD accounting form, but is there value and/or need in holding onto other documents associated with prior tenants?  What do other landlords do with prior documentation? 

I do have the capability to scan and dump to my Google Drive or store somewhere else.  Obviously some of this information is personally identifying (SS#, name, etc.) and I'd love to shred it unless there's a compelling reason not to.

Thanks for your responses.

I'd be interested in hearing what the specific clause related to cleanliness is. Especially since she received good references from prior landlords. It may be too late, but I would use the next one as an opportunity to distinguish yourself from the competition. I disagree with the folks who say don't change your lease for anyone, especially when you admit that there's plenty you'd compromise on. Market feedback is a valuable tool. How you act on that feedback is at your discretion.

Agree with Fred Heller . I've asked for one month's rent as SD but got feedback I lost potential renters to another property that had a security deposit 40% of mine. Most properties around here have deposits in the 75% of rent range, which is where I'll have to go to in order to drive more folks to my rentals.

@Ralph Pena It worked fine for me.  Tenants were well qualified, the credit and criminal just helped confirm it.  Unfortunately they left after one month die to significant change in plans, so I won't know how'd they hold up long term.

I hope SmartMove adds the eviction for free.  $30 feels pretty hefty for what you get in credit and criminal.

Timely thread. I've got two in trying to rent now and definitely agree that the serious ones provide additional detail via email or will call. I don't chase missed calls with no messages either.

Agree with Ron's approach. The hardest part of getting my LLC up and running was finding a name not already in use.

To my lay man's eye, they look fairly significant. I doubt that age house has any steel, so there's nothing to combat any tensile or shear stresses on the slab. I bought a property with no steel in the foundation that had a whole-length crack between the slab and front beam. Foundation outfit is going to "crack-stitch" to make slab and beam a monolith as wel as drive some pilings under beam. $15K on a house that ARVs at $120K. If the house was half that it'd be a much tougher decision.

I had one lady call and tell me that I needed to lose her number. I was tempted to tell her I didn't have her number until she called, but just let it slide :) RE: original question. I haven't refreshed my original yellow letter list, but when I do, will probably do that process manually. Out of my 1000 I probably have 40 on the DNS list, so hopefully it won't be real time consuming.