All Forum Posts by: Scott Ficek

Thanks so much for posting that. I want to send it to my customers. I have heard of this, but never seen it.

Because I had heard of it previously, I have never evicted someone if they typically pay late, it was usually because they then were very late or I just don't renew their lease to make the problem go away (if they are current).

Scary!!

I started with www.rentalresearch.com and now use www.mccgrp.com. Both are local to Minnesota.

I have had mixed results. Thankfully, I have had several that have been totally honest and told me how bad the tenant was. Most I can never get to call me back or catch live on the phone.

When I get those calls (and I say I get them for 10% of my outgoing tenants), I am honest and truthful, but not overly negative.

Most tenants don't have their previous landlord's (the one before their current one) info available, so I almost never get to make that call.

I have had my share of bad experiences with public assistance, but I am still willing to work with it, but I am just much smarter about it. I will say, though, that I don't actively seek it out and some of my properties are too expensive to fit in the guidelines.

Your point on the credit score is true. I didn't mention it, but I do look at how many and what is in collections. Seems like most of my tenants have a cell phone and a satellite TV bill in collections. :roll:

Great!

Are they rented now? Maybe throw out a an ad on Craig's list at the proposed rent amount and see if you get any takers. Otherwise, see what the rentals in the area are going for.

Good ideas all.

I forgot to give you my process:

[list]1. I also listen to them on the phone. Is it "busy" in the background with yelling and screaming going on?

2. Do they arrive on time (I also notice their car, which does tell you a lot).

3. Who comes with them to the appointment? I get women calling and saying the apartment is just for them and their 2 kids and then 1 man and another woman also show up.

4. They must fill out an rental application and I charge them $25 to process the application (the service charges me $17).

5. The service gives a listing of credit, criminal, and rental history via the web in about 30 seconds.

6. Just like TC, I am not as concerned about the credit as I am about their income.

7. I then call their existing landlord and employment.

8. Also, I want to know and really understand why are they leaving their current apartment. When someone says that they need to move in immediately, I get very suspicious (think eviction or just laziness).

9. If they are on public assistance, I want to personally speak to their case worker to confirm this apartment will work for the tenant.

10. If they ask for any financial payment plans or other, I am very skeptical and will probably not rent to them.
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Scott

That is usually done with a commercial mortgage. Can be done, but it is a higher interest rate and requires typically 75% LTV (which in this down market, I probably don't have in total).

Have you done anything yet?

I can't imagine the $200 HOA is included in the $650 rent. Be wary of townhouses as you can find some associations that are over-run with rentals and competition is impossible. Alternatively, I have seen HOAs starting to outlaw rentals which would put you in a bad situation.

How's the neighborhood?

Just my $.02.

I have found that listing REOs is very difficult to break into. At least in Minneapolis, 80% of them are done by the same 5 agents (teams). Plus all REO vendors (hired by banks) and banks want experience listing REOs. Well, you can see that it is a chicken and egg problem.

Because you have already listed an REO, you have passed a significant hurdle. I have never found a list anywhere that anyone was willing to sell. Best bet is to Google REO or REO Asset managers and see what you get. You will get many companies that do this for banks which you will need to register with. Then, make a list of every bank and lender that you can find and look on their website or call them and find out where they send their REOs.

Unfortunately, it is just a lot of busy detective work, but it could be profitable. Lastly, consider moving your license to another company that has REO business already and working for them for a couple years to learn the ropes.

Good luck