All Forum Posts by: Richard G.

Thanks DAN and I will PM you.  I'm right now on the journey to free up some working capital likely through a cash out refinance of one or two properties so I can get ready to jump on the next deal.  I'm finding it clear that trying to find opportunities on the retail market is not going to end up well.

I listened to someone's podcast on BP where they talked about doing direct mail to absentee owners and I might try a bit of that.  Thoughts?

Thanks for the input.  I'm just starting my research into growing my portfolio and what it would take.  My plan when I moved to the area 4 years ago was 1 house per year.  Unfortunately that did not happen but now that I have that first one going and cash flowing a very nice amount the bug to expand is back.

Looking for opinions on where to look next for buying property to BRRRR in the Charlotte area. I am just getting started and have one class B in far north Charlotte now.

I just got done leasing my first property in Charlotte. SFR on the far north end. I basically took pieces from the Realtors association 410-T, the Cozy documents that are $99, and other clauses I found. I pretty good at legal stuff even though I am not a lawyer (defended myself in federal court once... and won).

My lease had specific things about smoking, fireplace usage, lawncare, HOA restrictions, etc. Personally I think it's better than much of the other crap I have seen out there.

My clause for Cozy (which I am using) looks like this.

RENT PAYMENT PROCEDURE:

Tenant agrees to pay their rent to Landlord by way of the Cozy online website link provided by the Landlord. Tenant is required to have a bank account or credit card to pay online. Online payments with credit card require an additional transaction fee. Alternatively, rent may be paid to Landlord with certified funds delivered to XXXXXX. Rent shall not be considered paid until actual receipt thereof. Tenant placing rent monies in the mail is not sufficient for rent to be considered paid.

Basically, I want them to pay with Cozy and expect they will.  But, if they have some situation where they can I let them mail or hand deliver funds to me but it must be certified as I won't take a personal check.

I too just saw this and am ready to start taking applications for my first property. Now I'm trying to decide between Cozy and Zillow.

Here is my comparison from what I see.

• Applications
  • Zillow application fee is $29 vs $39.99 at Cozy
  • Zillow application fee is good for 30 days for tenants to apply to other properties.
  • Both use Experian and Checkr
  • Both allow tenants to add co-applicants.
  • Cozy application has a few extra questions, like Drug conviction.
  • Cozy allows references.
• Payments
  • Both accept ACH and Credit Card (with a fee to tenants).  Deposits in 2-5 days.  No fee for landlords.
  • Cozy allows many other payment features such as fees, automatic late fee, etc.
  • Cozy allows multiple tenants to split payments
• Other Features
  • Zillow really has not added much other than Listing, Applications, and Payments.
  • Cozy has maintenance request tracking and expense tracking

Right now, Cozy has many more features and is probably more refined but Zillow has brand recognition and company size/funding to scale and improve.  Zillow also plans to add more into their mobile apps which would be something not available or even planned by Cozy at this point.

While I'm not quite a landlord yet, I don't think you actually owe the tenant anything technically unless the backup is due to your direct negligence or a failure to repair something in the property.   If this is a normally occurring failure or storm backup or clog then I don't think you MUST do something.

Now, if this is a good tenant and you want to show good faith, maybe you could do something out being a nice landlord to retain a good tenant.

Also, the tenant's renters insurance might cover something as well as your landlord insurance.

See this thread for some past experience on this.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/236...