All Forum Posts by: Robert T.

@Account Closed  Thank you for the advise.  I think I am going to pass on him with a generic reason.  Its a shame  because other then seeing that his application was mostly good.

Hi Everybody,

I've been looking for a tenant to fill a vacant property.  For one applicant, when I looked up his court history, I saw that he once initiated a negligence lawsuit against a pizza place because he slipped on their floor.  He was requesting $15,000 from them in the lawsuit.   For the purpose of this question, lets say everything else about his applicant was perfect.  Do you feel this sole issue is a good reason to deny a person's rental application? 

My thinking is if he did it to this pizza place he could try to slip on my ground and then do the same $15,000 lawsuit on my rental property one day.  

@Tyler Huntington  Thank you. I was thinking the 5.25% is high as well but I was at least ready for that.  Its this $1000 that came as a surprise and is making me regret going with this company.  The last loan I did with this company they only charged me a $96 lock in rate for 5.125%.

Hi,

I am in the process of getting a 30 year mortgage for a rental property(20% down).  The current closing date is 4/21/2017.  Today, I was asked if I want to lock in my interest rate.   I was told it would cost $1644 to lock in a rate of 5.25%, and that the mortgage company would cover $650 of that amount.    I have bought 2 other rental properties in the past from this mortgage company and the cost to lock in a rate was no where near $1000.    I understand that rates can fluctuate and that interest rates are going up, but $1000 seems unusually high to me.   Is $1000 now the standard lock-in rate?

 Paying $1000 is so high I feel like I'm better off paying a little higher of an interest rate.  I asked what I would pay to lock in 5.5% and the person told me that it would be a violation for them to price that high an amount.   Is that really a violation?

Is this company overcharging me with this $1000 lock-in rate? Does anybody have any advice on what I should do?  Should I actually pay the $1000 to lock this rate in for 10 days?

Thank You

@Derreck WellsThanks Derreck.  Unfortunately I already edited and signed the document.    I didn't realize it at the time but now that I'm comparing 6a to 7, I think my edits to 6a(changed full months rent to half) are now going to conflict with #7.

@Daria B.I agree that there shouldn't be a lease renewal fee.   I've read that many don't charge one but I've also seen others that charge 25% to 35% of first months  rent.  So I offered $150 for the renewals, which is about 15%, and she accepted it.  Maybe she would have accepted $0 for the renewals but now I'll never know.

@Patrick LiskaThank you for reviewing it Patrick.    I agree with you that I should be looking  for a new PM.  My reasoning for staying with her is that up until now, I felt she has been good.   I started with her in September when I was first looking for a place.   We found a place in October, it was mine in January(the loan process took awhile), and it was fixed up in February.    I felt  she has been great the entire time up until yesterday when I reviewed the property management contract.

So I'm going to stick with her under the better terms that I was able to get from her(10% monthly, 1/2 of first months rent, $150 renewals) and hope there aren't any more problems from her.  This may seem foolish but I don't want to leave her after things had been going so well.  

Thanks Annette.  

I have seen some examples where the PM would change the full months rent for finding the tenant.  So perhaps that particular fee was in fact somewhat reasonable.  

Thanks.    Is the following she said accurate:  "some realtors may pass up your rental to show one's that give a higher commission.".    

She said this after I got her to lower the first month to 1/2 instead of a full months rent.

@Wendy Gomez I don't think I'd be able to manage them myself being I'd first have to find a renter.   Maybe if I already had a renter I would try to do this myself, but being so far away and being new to this I feel I would need a property manager atleast for finding a renter.

My property manager's/real estate agent's name is Cheryl B.  I don't want to post her full name being this is a public posting.    Have you worked with her?