All Forum Posts by: Ruel K.

@Kyle Steiner I am almost in the same situation as you. I am barely breaking even on my condo rental. If  I sell it, I could make around $100k too and was thinking of doing a 1031 OOS. I spoke to Swanny over the phone he gave some very good advice.

Congratulations! This is very inspiring and motivating! I am in the same situation. I still am undecided what kind of RE investment to pursue. I have listened to many BP podcasts and the recent ones have really pumped me up like with Arianne Lemire and Joe Fairless. I have attended a local RE meetup in my area.  I made good contacts and one of them is an established investor @Joe Homs and has done many successful flips. I don't want to hijack your post but my situation: I have a CA real estate license but don't belong to any company. I have around 40-45k to invest but have no clue. I don't know if I should get into wholesaling, flipping, or be a silent investor. All I know is, once I am in it, I will be committed, no doubt. 

@Russ I see your point. I did fully explain to the prospective tenant that I was getting tons of inquiries and applicants, so I wanted to get the best offer. They are aware of the fair, going rate in my condo complex and told them another unit rented st at higher price. I did my due diligence for this and not just did it on a whim. I work closely with Fair Housing Authority here and have done their workshops. There is no intent of being shady or bait and switch. You don't know what conversation I had with my tenant and they are very, very receptive to it. 

@Deanna Good idea. The only fee they paid is for Smartmove. I don't mind refunding them, relist it at a new rent, and start all over again. I haven't talked to the other prospective tenants yet about best offer. I am going to see how the discussion goes with the one who is okay with it. If they don't agree, fine. We stick to the original rent and will accept them.  

Awesome answers here. Yes $2k is the starting rent and is too low. It's not about greed but I should have advertised it at $2100 on the first place, which the going rent for the area. I had already mentioned this to one prospective tenant prior to posting here and they do understand and very receptive to it. I will just have to take it back and not ask for a better offer. 

If you have 4 highly motivated prospective tenants who are interested in renting your townhouse, how do you properly ask them what is the best offer they can do for the rent. They all have submitted their rental amd Smartmove applications. I would like to find out who is the most interested and is willing to pay above the $2k rent I am asking. If someone offers  $2100, that would be fine. If no one offers, that's fine too. The going rate for this rental is $2000 - $2200.

@Jeff - Yes in CA, for unfurnished rental units, the deposit cant' more than twice the rent. I think the first month's + security deposit is reasonable.

@Andrew - the one with good credit has a low income though. I follow the criteria that one's income should be at least 2.5x or 3x the rent. That is why they are roommates, helping out each other for rent.

@Lois-I know someone in my area who rents out a house  and has the same move-in costs. It's quite common in my area.

Thanks for the feedback. Since I have this good "vibe" with these prospective tenants, I might just do the minimum security deposit and first month's rent.

I am renting out my unfurnished 2BR / 2 BA townhouse for $2k/month. Security deposit is $3,500 + first and last month's rent are the move-in costs, bringing it to $7,500. Right now I got 2 prospective tenants, both women. One has bad credit, 9 months at her job and gets paid $7,400/month. She is a regional manager and travels a lot. She has good referral letter from her current apartment manager. The other lady is her long-time friend and roommate. She has been 6 years at her job and says is never home. Due to one of  them having bad credit/low credit score, I would double the security deposit. They can only afford the first and last month's rent of $4k. They seem to be nice and really decent people and have promised to take good care of my property. What do you guys think of no security deposit? Kinda risky right? Should they at least make the minimum deposit of $3.500?

The master bedroom and all the walls are painted white and is in very good condition. I had the walls touched up after the last tenant moved out. They just wanted a different color for the master's bedroom. The other prospective tenant wanted to paint all bedroom doors/door jam only, including the closet and laundry sliding door. Currently they are the original dark beige/creme color. They all are in good condition though, just looks old and faded, but that was the natural color. Her husband can do the job since he is a handyman/contractor. 

To all fellow landlords, just wondering if you ever had a prospective tenant who asked if the master's bedroom could be painted to a different color or have the doors re-painted. How do you handle such requests when showing the property? I came across this request when showing my rental townhouse.