All Forum Posts by: Rob Chang

Hello BiggerPockets members! I have a rental property in Halfmoon, NY that is ready to rent. It's a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse with a 1/4 acre yard. I'm in need of an agent who can help me fill this rental. If you are, or know someone who is, please send me a message through BP.

I already have pictures up and have it listed on Zillow and Apartments.com.  All I need is a qualified, screened quality tenant!

Thank you in advance,

Rob

I'm about to try to screen a tenant myself for the first time instead of going through a realtor - apartments.com (which my Cozy account migrated to) seems to be a decent option and includes criminal check along with credit and eviction history.  I like that it's free for me and $29 for applicants, which will screen out non-serious ones.  I'm going to give that a shot and also see how listing on Zillow goes.  

Did either of those options not appeal to you?

Hello BiggerPockets members!  I have a rental property in Halfmoon, NY that will be vacant on Dec 1, 2020.  It's a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse with a 1/4 acre yard.  I'm in need of an agent who can help me fill this rental.  If you are, or know someone who is, please send me a message through BP.

If you are interested, please include in your message the process and steps you take to fill a rental, and what your expected fee is.

Thank you in advance,

Rob

Does anyone know of a good real estate agent who's very familiar with single family homes in the BHBL school district? We're looking to buy a home there within the next year.  Thanks!

Hi everyone, it's been about a year and I just wanted to update this thread with a follow up.  My tenant has continued to be a model tenant, and I started using Cozy to set up monthly automatic deposits. I followed advice on this thread and made her lease month to month.

Based on a podcast I heard, I decided not to increase her rent since I'm in a low appreciation area, and some competitors don't increase rents yearly either.  

I'm glad I decided that because her ex-husband comes from a weathy family and from what I understand, he's diverted funds to a trust fund and now does not show any W-2 wages.  

She's now working with her own wages so she's in a much different financial situation.  She just asked for a copy of the lease to show her monthly cost for rent because she's applying for social services.  I feel like she's dropping hints like that the last couple months and I'm getting worried that the shoe's going to drop sometime in the near future.

Any advice on preparing for the worst would be appreciated!  I will continue to keep everyone posted!

Hey Calvin are you getting any feedback from the realtor why no one is even applying? Do you charge an app fee? 

What was the original rents when fully occupied? I'm guessing pricing went up significantly when you rehabbed and now attract a different class tenant that may not be as interested? 

I'm just getting started myself with REI so I don't have a ton of insight for you but I'm looking to expand into Albany with multifamily. Who's your PM and realtor for the other areas? If you are happy with them maybe switch the TBT ones to them?

ResidentResearch.com sounds great, but it seems like you have to enter credit card info before it gives you pricing?  Can I just get a credit/criminal/eviction report without signing up for something long term?

Wow this forum is awesome!  Thanks to all who responded - it all sounds like great advice.  Sounds like my gut was right, a good tenant is invaluable and I don't want to go through vacancy again.  She keeps the place cleaner than I did and doesn't have a lot of issues.

Seems like consensus is to go month to month and do an inspection before giving new lease.

@Jason Lee I definitely would not discriminate against child support.  I don't know how it works so I was fearful as I saw on another post that it shouldn't be counted as "verifiable income" as it may be dependent on reliability of the provider.  I searched the process in NYS online and it seems pretty solid that it would really hold the provider accountable even via direct deposit or tax returns, so I feel much better about that.  It's good to know that it's not taxable too - thanks for that info.  

I didn't vet her initially, I hired a realtor and she had one too - sadly I don't think they were very thorough.  When I asked for credit, criminal report, neither was done.  And the application wasn't even filled out past name, address, phone.

Does anyone know the best resource to determine what is legal for the deposit and how it can be used in NYS?  I have some articles on nolo.com bookmarked and plan to do more googling tonight...

Hi I am a new, accidental landlord learning to buy and hold. I live in the Albany, NY area and have a 3 bd/2.5ba townhouse that is currently renting for 1800/mo. 

It took 2 months to find a tenant so I took the best one available at the time -  a single mom with three girls who is moving due to a divorce. 

She paid the first year in advance, in full due to her circumstances (bad credit from the divorce), per suggestion of the real estate agents I was working with (not something I would do again) 

Her lease is coming up at the end of May and I've talked to her about her financial situation. She gets 3600/mo I think child support and 2000/mo plus tips from her job. 

I don't know how she is with money since I havent had to receive rent monthly, but she has been a great tenant. Low maintenance, respectful, lets me know when there are problems. 

What would be the smart thing to do in this situation? Some options I thought of are:

1. Do a 6 month lease, paid up front (she did not like this option) 

2. Do a 1 year lease with 2 more months deposit. If any month she doesn't pay I can use that deposit to cover and have her move out

3. Give notice and find a new tenant 

4. Give her a month or two lease to move out and find a new tenant 

Thanks in advance, 

Rob 

Hi, I am new to the Bigger Pockets forum and to REI. I am an "accidental landlord" and am renting out a townhouse that was my personal residence. I decided to become a landlord because my townhouse development is still building, so I would be taking at least a $15k loss if I sold it vs. renting. I decided at the very least I would gain the equity on the property by renting as my numbers do not support profit/cashflow right now.

It was difficult to find a tenant (hired a realtor) and we finally found one after 2 months vacancy.  She had self-reported bad credit due to a situation out of her control, and offered to pay a full year in advance.  I know on principle this was a big no-no based on what I've learned from bigger pockets, but because of the specific circumstance I do not regret renting to her and she has been a great tenant so far (keeps the place cleaner than I have, accommodating and communicative).

Anyway, all this to ask for advice on what to expect and avoid for tax purposes because she paid a full year in advance.  It was my personal residence from January - end of March, vacant for April and most of May, and the lease is 5/23/17-5/23/18.  

Thanks in advance!