All Forum Posts by: Sarah Brown

Depends on the lender and how well you negotiate. :)  I have seen it as low as 8% and as high as 15% with points. 

Hi Pita!  I am in the Treasure Valley so can't really offer a ton of services, but just wanted to say welcome to Idaho!  

An LLC is not used as a tax advantage. It is used for liability protection. I suggest talking with your CPA about tax strategy.

Find a good agent in your area.  I agree it's annoying when someone doesn't get back to you.  I will not do business with someone like that.  However having a good agent who already has these contacts and will use their relationship to help you meet and build your own will help significantly.  

I would call a lender.  I asked a lender about this in the past because I wanted to put my portion of the commission into the house.  If I recall correctly I believe she said Freddie Mac loans would allow that.  It was a couple of years ago.   Talk to your broker about your commission.  That is between you and the seller.

VA usually requires a property be up to a certain standard. What repairs are needed? I would verify that the property itself will qualify for VA. If it does, and yo are still nervous, find someone to partner with it. Perhaps a coach, or a good PM, or some other local investor.

I am evicting a tenant right now that I don't even technically know her name (inherited).  Here we don't even need the information on the application (maybe state dependent?).  Only time that would come into play is if I were to file a judgement for non-payment to get reimbursed for eviction costs.  I believe the PM is probably trying to look out for the tenant and their private information (giving her the benefit of the doubt here).  If it's a good PM she probably already has an attorney she is consulting with.  Sounds like ya'll are butting heads already which isn't going to make her want to work with you.  Maybe try a different approach, or tackle this task at another time.  What is a bigger priority? Getting your property back, or getting an application? 

I would request it in advance.  That way you aren't wasting their time or yours with their bid.  Or let them know in advance that you will at least be requiring it.  I would be suspect of someone not willing to share insurance and bond information (note it's bond not bound).  You can look it up, but this is a business relationship; a partnership.  If they are digging in their heels already, what's it going to be like down the road? 

How many properties do you have?  I started with Cozy.co and now use Rentec Direct.  Cozy.co is free to you and great if you only have a few properties.  Rentec Direct is much more robust and gives the tenant a portal to be able to login.  It does however have a monthly cost.

You are awfully involved for a guy with a PM :) I'm going to give the PM the benefit of the doubt that they are just keeping you in the loop.  I do similar things with owners when I know I am going to have a problem tenant.  It's just a "here's a heads up of what might come."  And then I let them know if I was able to rectify, or if I have to do something different.  

Some of these issues sound legit.  I am little surprised the PM didn't catch some of them prior to move in. Because I am not always there for walk throughs when the tenant moves in, I always take time stamped photos before handing over the keys.  You can NEVER over document.  She sounds more like a professional tenant or a professional complainer (PITA).  I would probably have a conversation with her or write a letter and discuss the timeline and policies of the company, and where she went wrong.  I would then give her options for proceeding forward.  One of those options would be to cancel the lease.  If she is that unhappy, I would rather find a new tenant than try to manage it. 

Lastly you stated she "sort of" passed a background check.  What does that mean?  None of my tenants kind of pass anything.  My application process has certain requirements and its pass/fail.  Maybe when if the market shifts I might loosen up on the requirements, but I have those requirements in place for a reason.