All Forum Posts by: Shalanna L. Pirtle

@Shannon K., As someone who fits that bill, I'd probably be annoyed to get it at work (at least initially). But you have to do what you need to do to advance the ball, sometimes regardless of what the outcome COULD be. Cons - you don't know who opens their mail, and they may be desperately trying to keep a separation between church and state (work and non-work life). They could be so annoyed they choose not to deal with you ever. Pros - they may appreciate your resourcefulness and be intrigued by your willingness to think outside the box, or they MAY not realize how hard to find they are with respect to those properties, or you just might catch them at right time - they've been thinking about unloading the properties for a while and you've given them a viable exit no matter how annoyed they are about where you reached out to them  

I'm not aware of any rules/laws prohibiting you from doing so, maybe somebody else can speak to that if there are some restrictions you should be aware of. But If you DON't send to them wherever you are able to find them, what's the alternative, do nothing? I think you've just got to make a gut call and be comfortable with the prospect of losing with either option - either because you went all in, sent it to their only findable addresses and risked pissing somebody off, or because you chose to avoid that possibility and missed an opportunity. Most successful people I know didn't become that without taking chances along the way. Good luck!

@Crystal Minor, congrats on making the first step towards what could be a life-changing decision. Welcome to BP. Connect with some folks, check out the site. There is a wealth of information and best of all, you aren't alone. Good luck!

@Zachary Betters - Congrats!

@Robert P. One quick tip - be sure to keep clear records on why you disqualified a particular applicant. Also pretty sure there is a period of time for which you need to retain applications and properly/securely maintain background/credit checks as they contain sensitive and personal identifying information. Be sure you comply with all record retention requirements, whatever they are. You'll want to do some quick studying up on this area of tenant screening/placement so you have personal knowledge of your obligations rather than relying on others' advice. Ignorance of the law is not a defense. 

@Robert P. - wow! You are having quite the experience for your first deal. Enjoy every overwhelming, exhilarating minute of it. The only thing I would add is a little clarification on the topic of discrimination that was first raised by @Timothy Daniels and was somewhat glazed over throughout this thread. I want to make sure you thoroughly understand this piece since you are going it alone.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against prospective tenants and current tenants on the basis of the following characteristics or "protected classes": race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status. All but one of these is usually visible and apparent on your first meeting, i.e. a landlord could assume an applicant wearing a hijab is of the Muslim faith, or someone of darker skin tone is of ethnic descent, or a person who walks with a cane or is wheelchair-bound has a disability, or a person who speaks Spanish fluently (or conversely doesn't speak English well) is of Hispanic or Latin or non-American descent, or a woman is, well, a woman. These are very superficial but common assumptions and many a landlord has found herself in hot water for disqualifying renters based on impermissible reasons. 

I suspect the reason Timothy Daniels told you you would have more exposure AFTER meeting someone face to face is because once you have met them, you can no longer deny knowledge of some of those more obvious physical traits that you would never learn about if you did a thorough pre-screen and weeded them out early without meeting. If ever charged with a claim of discrimination, which is bound to happen if you are in the landlord business long enough (cynical, I know) you lose that critical defense of lack of knowledge once you have met face to face. Obviously, you'll likely meet at least one to two applicants that you won't end up renting to with each new lease, but the better you get at the pre-screen, the more you can protect yourself. Just beware of the interplay of FHA going forward. Good luck and have fun!!!!

Hi Ty and welcome! I encourage you to participate in the forums - ask and answer questions, everybody has something to offer. Be sure to search for various topics that are of interest to you. Inevitably, your question will most likely question have been asked before and you can find oodles of resources on BP at your fingertips. Keep coming to the meetings too - you will always learn something you did not know before and it pays to stay engaged and continue developing relationships. See you around the QC!

@Matthew Kreitzer, I would agree that a land trust doesn't prevent an opposing party from identifying all assets a (potential) defendant owns - even a less than stellar attorney can figure these things out by asking the right questions, reviewing the right records, once the parties get into discovery (or even prior to if counsel is particularly on point). But I would think the most important benefit is the separation of assets/asset protection assuming the owning entity's corporate structure has been properly set up. What are your thoughts on whether a land trust is better or worse than holding property in separate LLC's/S-Corps, etc.?

@Curtis Waters?

Aha, @Patrick Liska! Thanks for that clarification. I thought something might have been a bit off but I couldn't tell by just looking time at the numbers as they were given, and I didn't ask the next question for more clarification. Thanks for weighing in and giving even more info than was requested. @Rafael Rodriguez Hope this was all helpful!

Welcome @David Saleeba and congrats on your first step toward financial freedom!  @Alex Franks is in your immediate area. Reach out to him.