All Forum Posts by: Ryan M.

Know the market is the biggest 'money saver' IMO. Call on for rent signs constantly, call on old ads to determine vacancy time.

Not to change the subject on this thread but,

Wait.....kids get paid to work. My family never mentioned that to me growing up. Once they felt OK with me mowing I had a non stop job mowing and everything else under the sun in their mobile home parks. My vocabulary also grew thanks to some intresting tenants back then.

How much rehab money did you budget to get it rentable?

It's suprising so many people spin their wheels trying to collect on these people. If we in inherit tenants I increase the vacancy to 10% on pro-forma. It never works, for me anyway. I take it into account on the offer price. Our biggest battle is getting the people out, once that happens turning it as fast as possible to get revune coming in is the only goal not tracking down someone to collect. "You can't beat a dead horse"

I prefer to treat my tenants as if I lived there, being transparent as possible. When increasing rent we tell them why and disclose the increases we are seeing in operations. We are not in the business of subsidizing the rent.

It would be nice to hear from someone that divided the bill with one meter. If the tenant pushed it to court I would be surprised if it held. Section 8 wont allow it.

Ps. I find it interesting that you are ready to close and find a 'poison pill' this late. This isn't some crazy special assessment or hidden termites.

Wow that is 14% of gross. We are running 3.2% of gross for water/sewer and that still concerns me. All toilets have been replaced, all aerators/shower heads replaced. Here we can check usage online for any property and we are running about 70% less than neighboring buildings.

I completed a rehab of a rental prior to close 4 months ago. The owners weren't crazy about it but we put 50% down, refundable, with the title company. They owned it free & clear and I had a preliminary title search done. I had zero carry cost and the tenants moved in both sides within days of closing. I pushed the close mainly to keep the homestead in place for 2012, we closed on the 3rd.

I once had a law student 3 years ago. I swear she was using me as a study in her class to see how much rent she could swindle out of. In the end it cost 1500+ and 30+ hours of my time in court. It was a expensive lesson to learn. I would cut your ties and move on.

Our local rental association holds classes on collecting judgements. I haven't needed to use it yet but there has been success with placing a lien against their tax return.