All Forum Posts by: Renee Potoczny

@Tony DeDionisio  Welcome to the area!  I currently house hack a 4 plex in Western Pinellas County.  I'm in Largo, 3 miles from Indian Rocks Beach.  I'm happy to help in any way!

Thank you!  Cats and raccoons are the reason behind item 2.  Food dishes were left out and the cats would go to the doors meowing whenever they wanted food, lol!  I used to be a manager with a staff of 300, so I've learned setting up super strict rules leaves less room for interpretation.  Seems to be the same with managing tenants. 

It's a 4-plex and I live in one of the units, so it's easy for me to see if there are extra guests staying.  It happened recently, I saw the same car for about a month, so I asked the tenant about it.  The plan was to add the additional occupant to the lease if they were going to stay.  They moved on after the conversation.

1. No open flames/candles of any kind

2. No feeding wild animals (including stray cats)

3. Take trash cans to the curb on the 2 trash pick up days

4. No smoking on the property.  We don't rent to smokers

5.  Landlord will change air filters for the unit

6. Specify number of vehicles per unit.  Specify if you allow motorcycles/boats

7.  Guests can not stay for more than 7 consecutive days

In my market, a $900 tenant is much different than a $1,250 tenant.  That might be something to keep in mind as well.

@Brandon Moffitt I house hack a quad in Pinellas County. I'm in the western part of the county about 3 miles from the beach. The demand for rentals in the area is pretty strong, some areas even allow STR. There are a lot of multi-family units (mostly duplexes) in the area where I live. My realtor found my unit on the MLS for me. We ran the numbers and it made sense, especially after the value add.

@Dan Maciejewski helped me with my last 3 home purchases in Western Pinellas County from Dunedin to Largo.  He's from Clearwater, so knows the area very well.

 No we don't add the SSN in Cozy.  We do credit and background checks where the tenant adds the SSN at that time.

I like Cozy.  It automatically adds late fees if the tenant is late, so it is reflected in their balance due.  I used Venmo when I first started but I wanted to use something more official so I switched to Cozy.

Try to schedule your showings in one 30 minute window.  I'll have 5 people confirm, then only 1-2 show up.  

When you are speaking to potential tenants, treat it like a job interview.  Keep in mind the tenant should be on their best behavior.  Just like a job, usually people present themselves the best on day 1.  I ask myself during the interview how is this tenant going to behave if they are late on rent and I have to ask them for it.

When I explain the background/credit check, I ask them if there are going to be any issues that they'd like to explain up front. 

Don't fill the apartment out of desperation.  Much better to keep it empty for an additional week or 2, than placing a questionable tenant due to vacancy concerns.