All Forum Posts by: Shawnda Beckstedt

I just reread my post as I realized from the replies that how it was worded is not what I intended it to state. I meant to say that ultimately I would like to word it as " no UNLAWFUL firearms or deadly weapons are to be stored/used on the premise", what a difference one word makes! My apologies.  To clarify I am revising a lease from another source and it currently states 'no firearms are permitted' which I am changing, I was just curious on what others experience has been to be mindful about regarding it. 

We have been investing in buy/hold properties for about a year now, currently we are the owners, managers and maintenance crew while both working full time jobs, time is precious and I am trying to stream line our polices/procedures for maintenance issues. I'm looking for suggestions/examples from others on how you structure your maintenance fees, some calls are legit...others, we get called to come out and literally plunge a toilet that was stopped up with disposable wipes.  How do you state your fees up front and what are those fees? My initial thought is to charge a $35 service call plus repair costs IF the damage was a direct result from the tenant. I don't want to create service fees that are too high and discourage a tenant from calling us regarding a legit issue but I want to weed out the unnecessary things that tenants need to try and resolve on their own first before just calling in like we are an all expense paid hotel service. Thank you for any insight! 

Seeking advice on how others structure wording within their lease on the possession of firearms or other deadly weapons of a tenant in your rental property.  Ultimately I would like to say that no firearms or deadly weapons are to be stored or used on the premise however it's a basic right to bear arms and I respect that as well.  I want to ensure that I'm being fair and within the law on this- thoughts? Advice? Thank you. 

Thank you everyone, it's helpful to hear what's worked and what hasn't, we have some tweaks to make to hopefully streamline things a bit more! @Jennifer T. I completely agree, the disregard for others time is a huge pet peeve of mine as well, I'm always amazed at how many people can't make the showing because they are in the ER...no requests to reschedule tells me all I need to know and I am counting it as a blessing that we dodged a potential bad renter. The adventure continues!

Thank you for all the suggestions and giving a glance into how you operate. @Marcia Maynard thank you for the links, I will be sure to take a look, I forgot to mention that we also do an initial phone screening as well and then showings are only scheduled for those qualified, this is why I'm a bit baffled as to the no shows.  My only other thought is that the rental market is so hot right now in this area that I think part of the issue is that they are moving forward with other lease offers but not canceling any other showings on the other properties they were interested in.  We are just a year into the journey so there's lots to learn! Thanks again to everyone for your input!

Hello! Seeking advice on  how you structure showings with potential tenants. This week I have had 2 properties to show and instead of zipping over there multiple times to show it we made 2 group showing times for each property.  I also stated that we require a confirmation text 30 min. prior to verify that they still plan to come.  Well over half have neither cancelled ahead of time, texted or showed up.  When contacted after the fact they have had all sorts of reasons why- interestingly enough mostly all were emergencies where they all were at the ER...I don't buy it and it's incredibly frustrating and very wasteful of my time and resources. How do YOU set up and verify your showings? What have you found that has worked well? TIA! 

It's encouraging to hear from fellow homeschooling families! We are just starting on this investment adventure so my husband works a full time M-F job and then we are doing this on top of homeschooling and life! It's such an adjustment but the long term rewards will be worth it...just have to keep my sanity along the way! I think babysitting will be a must and I really liked the other suggestion of using the early mornings for work before the kids get out of bed...Thanks for the input everyone!

I homeschool as well Natalia and this is exactly what I'm battling- total burnout. One of my goals with this is to make enough passive income to add in house cleaning services to help with the day to day because the struggle to do it all and stay on top of everything is real and well, just not realistic. Thank you for the suggestion for the podcast as well I will be looking that one up! It's encouraging to know that it can be done...as for the 4am...whew, that's going to take some getting used to ;) Thank you for reaching out! 

Thank you!

New investor looking to close on several of our first buy and hold deals in the next few weeks. I'm also a stay at home mom and I'm finding the adjustment to this 'work load' a tad overwhelming. Young kids do not understand that mom needs to work or trying to sound professional on any sort of phone call is a joke but I want to feel that I am pulling my weight, doing my due diligence if you will, and able to be effective alongside my spouse as we start this journey. How do you handle the challenge of being efficient/effective in this business and balance family life? Do you hire in home help to watch the kids and have 'office hours'. I'm looking for inspiration in how to juggle it all! I'm just finding that this sort of work spans all hours, all days and holidays. TIA!