All Forum Posts by: Sharon B.

@Patrick M. Thanks so much for your solid advice. I will reach out to friend of mine who is an agent. 

@Larry Turowski Thanks for your tips Larry, it's good to see different perspectives. I was in line with your thinking to make the tenant happy and keep them as they don't give me any trouble and they manage the property like their own. But recently I've been debating to sell or to hold for the long run. it's in a developing area in the best location of the worst town so it's been hard to make this decision. 

@Patrick M. Thank you so much for the valuable information about using CPI to calculate rent increase. I will use this formula from now on. You mentioned capital improvements, would this be similar to an upgrade rather than fixing AC or replacing water heater etc? Done both this year... if you had capital improvements how would that be calculated? Just replaced new facet to what tenant liked (old one was leaking), fixed bathroom wall with brand new tile walls and shower. My first rental property has been a money pit but thankfully I was able to support it. Because I bought it wrong, not knowing what I was getting into, I'm paying the price for valuable education. Perhaps, I'll make different mistakes moving forward :-D

@Thomas S. Since I'm so new to real estate, I had no idea what I need to do as a landlord. I do have a day job that helps support any sudden expense I come across with the property. I'm actually torn between keeping and selling this property now that property price has came up a bit. I feel that I have to start raising the rent at some point or else I'd be way below market and as @Patrick M. puts it, doing lot more charity work. Worse case, if tenant do decides to move out, I may just move in and rent out the rooms. I'm learning a whole lot from just this discussion alone. Thanks so much for your post! 

Thank you so much for the valuable information. This is my first home and first rental. I'm doing everything in the book wrong and learning the expensive way. I'm hoping to turn this around. Thank you :-)

Hello, I have a rental in CA with current rent of $2,350 which I have not increased for 3yrs. I have good tenants, they are very helpful and takes good care of my house. For this reason, I decided not to raise my rent but since I have not raised the rent for 3yrs I feel that it's time to raise a little especially with many recent fixes. There is no cash flow in this property so anything additional is coming out of my pocket. There isn't a whole lot of rentals in this area but rents go from $2,300 to $2600 for comparable properties. Every year my tenants tells me they would leave due to kids school situation but staying put. I was thinking of raising $100 but hesitant to do so. Would $75 be more appropriate? Thank you,