All Forum Posts by: Sam Schlacter

Thank you for sharing this. I always knew about the Census Data Map but never went to the NYTimes website before. Loved comparing different data points on it today.

I do not have experience in renting my property on any of these sites (hack, I just bought my FIRST ever investment property less than couple of weeks ago :-) ). But I have used airbnb in the past to consume vacation rental and I can tell you it is EXTREMELY popular with people. AirBnB is one of the faster growing startups and its iPhone app (not sure about android) used to be one of the top and most active apps.

If you live in a tourist destination where demand for tourist rental is high, then I would highly recommend you to try it out. As for VRBO, I have heard about it and "browsed" through it in the past but have no experience. With AirBnB you will find that there is a dedicated and loyal community that only rents from AirBnB.

I recently bought a townhouse as a rental property and closed it just before the New Year. Since the start of the new year I have been putting in some expenses on it - Replaced Carpet, House Cleaning, bought windows laptop to utilize MS Office etc and keep track of accounting etc. Do I benefit from tax perspective on any of these expenses I have to put behind the investment property? If yes, how? Could anyone explain?

I just found that Smart Move does not perform rental history check or Employment verification check. I was hoping to not have tenant fill any additional application form but looks like I will need to collect employment information somewhere. To those who uses Smart Move - how do you collect employment (and rental, if applicable) information? To those that don't use it but knows how people that use the service do it, please let me know. :-)

Prashant Patel - Thank you for your suggestion! To document it, do you think it makes sense to treat SmartMove as actual application form and not giving any other paper to the tenant and have her sign one page document that pretty much states about the holding deposit? Is there any standard form for that or should I just type up few lines myself?

So after buying my first rental property just before the new year, I have people showing interest in the property. I am just about done cleaning the town house I purchased and the first "would be tenant" is coming to take a look. I am planning on using SmartMove website from Trans Union for the tenant screening. However, I am a little confused if I should also give the person paper form or not. This person is interested but is one month from renting and while I am not sure if I should rent out to her that far out, one option I have been thinking is asking her to put some deposit that would roll into the lease if she ends up renting but she would lose it if she decides not to rent it after committing to rent it.

With my plan on using SmartMove (and once she is approved and want to rent), should I just create a separate document that states that I am holding her initial deposit or should I ask her to sign the lease one month in advance? I don't want to put her off by asking to sign entire lease so early if that would make her think to keep waiting till the end as I would like to at least lock-in something. At the same time, I would want to make sure that I put something in place that discourages her from further shopping around if she is interested in renting my property, and hence thought the initial holding deposit of some money would be good where I can mention that it non refundable if she walks away or would roll into the monthly rent if she ends up renting.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Sam

David,

Thanks for posting on my query. Yes, I did *some* research but I like to listen to experts opinion and sometimes it helps to validate my own theory. Thank you for suggestions on the liability insurance as well. I did take the liability coverage in the insurance but not upto $1mm, I will certainly do more research on that. Also agree with your suggestion on not renting to anyone with eviction. I don't mind holding my property vacant to find the right tenant. On your question about the mortgage, 55k is what I bought property for and not what I got mortgage on. I paid 20% down.

Thanks,
Sam

Thank you for your suggestions! Do I have right as a landlord to refuse someone from renting if I am not happy with the background check result or their credit history/score or their salary? Is there any specific guideline on it that state mandates or is it upto my comfort level? Of course, I would not be declining anyone based on age/sex/race/religion.

Hi All,

This is my first post as I just bought my first rental property and came across this fantastic site. Hope to stay engaged with others on this forum.

Some background - I just closed on a town house property and have taken a mortgage on it. I'm still in early 30s and while I have decent job didn't have all cash down available so took the mortgage. Mortgage is on 15 yrs term and including expected property taxes, HOA (~$200), P & I etc, its coming about 650/mnth. The going rate for rent is 980/month (this is a 2 bed/2 bth property). I have already few people interested and looking at other properties around it looks like average time to rent out this property is about 15 days. It's in the up and coming area with good number of businesses, malls and overall professional crowd around.

Now the questions :-) -

1.) I would have net cash flow of 300/mnth if I rent out at 980..Do you think that's considered good? Is it better to keep the mortgage and gain 300/month, which eqates to about 22% in yearly return based what I have paid at closing - or, should I pay off the mortgage asap (~55k) to maximize gain by avoiding interest? Which strategy is better?
2.) Pets - Many contacting me has pets. This property is in FL. I am planning to collect one month rent and one month security deposit on signing of lease. Can I ask for additional pet deposit of $500? One prospective tenant said its too steep. How much can I collect as a pet deposit to be fair?
3.) Background Check - I came across website smartmove that seem to be pretty good on tenant screening though I haven't used it yet. Could anyone suggest if that's a good site for screening? Also, in terms of salary, what should I screen for in a salary for a prospective tenant? I read articles where it is suggested to check on salary. But what exactly I should check on salary?
4.) Once I have the tenant in the property, is it advisable to give home address to mail the rent check? Or is there any website/service for rent collection? (not the property management).
5.) This town house and others around were built at 80-90k around 2001 and then in 2006 at the peak were sold at around 180k. I picked it on short sell at 55k. Is there any way to calculate whether what I bought is a good price to pay? I am just wondering if there is any standard calculation method?
6.) What type of items people claim in tax deduction on a rental property?

All right, enough of questions and I apologize if some of these questions appear silly. I am trying to take correct steps to make my investment successful and be fair as a landlord.

Thanks,
Sam Schlacter