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All Forum Posts by: Claudia Schmidt

Claudia Schmidt has started 22 posts and replied 30 times.

I just bought a house, and I know when you make bi-monthly payments to your mortgage you end up making an extra month of payment at the end of the year.

If I choose to pay weekly, is this better? Would I end up making more than an extra month payment at the end of the year?

Thanks for any advice!

Post: Tenant "Promises" to Pay...Help!

Claudia SchmidtPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Posts 30
  • Votes 0

My agent let a tenant into my property without paying the remaining balance owing. She was supposed to pay a full year up front. She has only paid 6 months, until Feb 28, 2011, but says she has no more money until March. I prefer not to take this to court, as the property is in Mexico and the process is very lengthy, and expensive.

Yes I am already looking for a new agent... :0)

Of course come March I am fearing she will still have 'no money' or disappear without paying. What are some of the things I could do to try and secure myself?

I was thinking of having her sign a 'promissory note', although I don't know how much that will enforce her.

And sign a post-dated cheque, although, again that would probably bounce.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Post: Do you use escrow?

Claudia SchmidtPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Posts 30
  • Votes 0

Do you as a landlord use escrow to make tenants feel more confident?

If so which company do you recommend?

In which case would you use it?..If the tenant is coming from overseas? Or even in the same city?

And who pays the services fees?

Thanks!

I have my rental property in Mexico. I offered a new tenant in the States a discount on the rent if she pays 1 year up front. She was supposed to come down Sept 1st, but got delayed until now, Dec 1 because she has a handicapped child and needed doctor approvals.

So I gave her the opportunity to pay month-to-month, and the remaining balance when she arrives.

Anyways she arrived by car, signed the rental agreement (it's for 12 months Sept 1 2010-Aug 31 2011) with my agent, they did the move-in inspection, but when it came time to pay the balance, she only paid 3 months because she said they had car repairs on the way down and can only pay the rest in March.

The agent let them go in the property because it was late and with a handicapped child, couldn't leave them on the street.

So this tenant paid 6 months so far plus 1 month security deposit.

Can anyone recommend me what you think I should do in this situation? Should I wait until March and hope she has the remaining balance?

Thanks for any advice/suggestions!

Can anybody recommend any other online document signing services that you like? Any free services out there? Thanks

echosign.com
DocuSign.com
rightsignature.com

I'm currently travelling overseas, my rental property is in Mexico and my new tenant is in the States. I want to get the rental contract signed before he arrives to Mexico. What's the best way to do this?..without resorting to snail mail if possible.

Could I sign the contract, scan it, email it to him, ask him to print, sign, scan it and email it back? Or are scans not good enough in case of any legal issues and has to be both original signatures?

Or do any of you use a 'carta poder' in Spanish for Mexico or 'power of attorney' to have your agent sign on your behalf? If so, then I guess as another solution I could email the contract to him, he prints, signs and snail mails it to my agent in Mexico, who with the power of attorney signs on my behalf?

The reason I cannot have snail mail come to me is I am currently travelling and not in a fixed location for the next few months.

Thank you for any advice!

Post: Free Rental Management Software?

Claudia SchmidtPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Posts 30
  • Votes 0

Can anyone recommend a good rental management software that might also be free? Thank you

Post: How do you rent out a timeshare?

Claudia SchmidtPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Posts 30
  • Votes 0

A family member wants to pass onto me one of her 'week' timeshares. I don't think I would use this for personal use, but prefer to rent it out. Can anybody with timeshare experience help me understand how it would work to rent it out? Thanks!

How much do you charge in late fees when a tenant is late with their rent? I currently charge 4% and was thinking of raising this.

And what's your cut off date? Do you give a grace period of 5 days? 10 days?

Thank you in advance!

Can anybody recommend me a good rental management software please?

And does anybody use an online interface where for example both rental owners and tenants can login to archive and review rental agreements, ids of the tenants, repairs done, signed rental contract, etc.?

If not, I was thinking of creating a 'private' Google Group between myself, the tenant and my agent. So even emails/discussions are archived.

Thanks in advance for your advice!