All Forum Posts by: Ronnie Woolbright

Hi Victor,

The property tax service I use charges 40% of the tax savings they get for me each year. I have them handle the protest each year because they know the ropes when it comes to what works.

I wouldn't consider using any tax services that charge upfront. I always pay after I get the final tax appraisal and am able to calculate the savings in certainty.

Hey Vincent, I recently was faced with the same dillema. I bought a duplex and both sides had wood looking cabinets with some doors missing and needing an update. I ended up replacing the cabinets that were beat up the most and transferred the doors to the other side of the duplex that were missing. I ended up painting both side's cabinets the same color and to my surprise the older cabinets actually looked just as good. The trick for making them look good is the prep. Just to let you know I paid someone to do these and spent $600 on a small kitchen, but they said 90% of the work/labor cost is in the prep work. 

After they painted them I added new hardware myself and they look good as new. 

Like many have already mentioned here I think this HOA is out of line with a 30 day approval process. I know you didn't ask for this advice but I would seriously considering selling the condo and move on to another non HOA property. There is a pretty good chance you will have to deal with this same issue over and over again unless you can make a good friend with someone on the HOA board.

Rick S. and Mindy- both good ideas. I tried to extend the due date  to the 8th at one point because they said that is when they got paid the first paycheck of the month. It worked for a few months but then they gradually started paying a week or two beyond that.

I do think that splitting rent by two might help them budget a little better and is worth considering. My thought process was to raise the late fee and "encourage" them to save up enough to get ahead. I could see things getting complicated with a due date of the 1st and 15th. Has anyone tried that and what happens to late fees if they are late on both days?? :) 

Thanks Deanna,

From my research Texas law says late fees are allowed within reason which leaves it up to individual interpretation. I just wanted to get an idea of what seems excessive based on our market and what we are charging in rent. 

Thanks Jim, I think the best way would be to just sign a short term lease to keep everything well documented. 

Nancy, I don't feel that $75 is gouging but maybe I need to reconsider. I should have clarified that I have received my rent late each month for the past two years (anywhere from the 10th -15th of each month) and am tired of dealing with it. They are good tenants in the fact that they are clean and keep the property as such, but always pay late. I am trying to find a way to train them to pay on time. A $35 fee does not seem to do that right now because they continue to pay that month after month and $5 a day is not much motivation to get rent in quickly after the initial fee is charged. You are right that I aim to keep tenants long term and I am usually good about keeping rents at least $100 under market, but right now we are $300 under market.  With the recent property value run ups we have seen in texas, my property taxes go up each year and I have never raised rent in the past 3 years.

Thanks for the thoughts. I have been thinking through how to approach the renewal in a fair way and this gives me more to think about. However I do it, the new fee will be implemented across the board with all the properties I manage, but this is the only consistent late payer I have right now.

HI all,

I have a tenant (Texas) with an upcoming lease expiring and wondered if I can raise the late fee while going month to month? Does this require a new written lease or just a written notice regarding a late fee increase? 

They are good 3 yr tenants who faithfully pay a late fee each month. When talking with a mentor of mine he mentioned my fee was too low and should raise it. Its at $35 now plus $5/per day additional. I usually get rent on the 10th-15th of each month and want to reign that habit back in by going to a $75 initial fee with $10/day additional. Also would be raising the rent for the first time on them in three years since it is well under market (from 995 to 1150). The market rate on this home is about 1300. I wanted to stay month to month so that I can test their ability to pay the higher rent and see if they will be able to get on schedule again. If they cant get with the program I plan to terminate the lease in the summer and relist it at the market rent of 1300.

Thoughts?

Thanks, 

I think real estate is one of the few industries that has a perpetual moat around it- in the words of Buffet. As long as the government does not meddle with the tax advantages of the real estate investor I feel very good about long term RE investing. With Trump in office we are pretty much guaranteed a RE investing friendly administration. I was getting a little worried when they started to "expose" Trump's tax carry forward losses as if they were criminal. Something to look out for in future elections...

I would hire a different exterminator. For $500 they should be sealing off entry points and that is where the value is. My exterminator has a trained eye to find these and that experience is worth it. You can set bait stations yourself for a lot less money, but in my opinion that won't be a complete repair and you will probably have another phone call from your tenant in the future. Best regards

Hi, Welcome to BP! I have done both and either way can work. When I think of turnkey I'm not limited to properties from turnkey companies- I'm thinking of homes that are able to go Fha and need no work. The plus here is you can immediately cash flow with low financing costs. Brrrr works great too. The difference is the home is under Reno for 1-2 months and if you don't use cash then the financing costs are generally higher. I'm thinking of hard money lenders. I have done a couple "turnkey" deals on Mls where the price was discounted enough that the returns would be close to a brrrr deal and it was a lot less work. My main point is financing costs are a big difference. If you do a brrrr deal your numbers have to be really good to cover the financing cost or you need to use cash.