All Forum Posts by: Kyle J.

@Christina Verretta Anywhere non-Section 8 tenants look for rentals (i.e. Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, etc), Section 8 tenants will be looking there also.  I don't even advertise for them and I always get a TON of them inquiring when I advertise in those places.  

I bet you'd really get a lot of inquiries if you put something like "Section 8 welcome" in your ad.

Just saw this news story: https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video/5423455-citrus-heights-home-sells-in-1-weekend-with-122-offers/

If that isn't a sign of a hot (frothy?) market, I don't know what is.  Now, a 122 offers (with the highest being over a $100k over asking!) certainly isn't typical.  However, multiple offers and selling quick sure seems to be. 

I recently attended a REIA meeting and the local real estate appraiser/expert (the same one interviewed for this news story) said the average days on market for homes in Sacramento and surrounding counties (Placer, Yolo, and El Dorado) is just SIX days (from listing to going pending). Crazy.

I'm a little outside of Sacramento, but my neighbor's house was just recently listed and it went in 3 days, also had numerous offers, and they ended up accepting one for $50k over asking. 

Makes you wonder how long this can last.

@Marilyn Rogers Welcome to BP.  If you'll be moving out soon, just try to avoid/ignore her until you do.  And when you do have to interact (i.e. paying rent), just keep it professional and don't engage in any of the "madness".  You can't be evicted for not taking out the bathroom trash, especially if there's no requirement for you to do so in your lease.  

Good luck.

@Chris Brillante  Doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me.  I assume you put in your offer at a price that works for you.  That's what I do.  

I've bought properties before without even getting an appraisal.  Didn't need one, because I knew the price I'd offered worked for me.  

At the end of the day, an appraisal is just somebody else's opinion of the value of a property.  

Sounds like this is a home your sister would be living in. If so, you wouldn’t be “investing” this money from the way I read your post. You’d be parking it in a property that would provide you zero return for as long as she lives there. 

You’re also not guaranteed any certain amount of equity. What if housing prices go down? (Wouldn’t be the first time.)

If you want to help out your sister, that’s one thing. But you really shouldn’t look at this as any sort of investment.

Just my two cents. 

@Mitchell Bell  Get rid of the swing set.  It's just added an liability, and you're not going to get $1 more in rent for having it.

@Dhiren Ahir  Those are great interest rates.  I wouldn't pay them off.  Surely you can find better ways to invest your money that would earn you more than 2.75-3.5%.  

@Mark Ham If you’re asking if the landlord would be responsible for the tenant’s belongings if the home were to be damaged by flood, generally no. However, you really should have something in the lease that addresses this. For example, in my lease, I have a clause that reads (in part):

“INSURANCE: Tenant’s or guest’s personal property and vehicles are not insured by Landlord, manager or, if applicable, HOA, against loss or damage due to fire, theft, vandalism, rain, water, criminal or negligent acts of others, or any other cause. Tenant is advised to carry Tenant’s own insurance (renter’s insurance) to protect Tenant from any such loss or damage.”

I have them in all my rentals. Who wants to get out of their car and manually open a garage door anymore? 

If a tenant were to ever lose a remote or keep one after moving out, I just charge them the replacement cost.

You can also easily reset/change the codes so any lost or kept remotes no longer work. Super simple to do and takes about 10 seconds.

I actually do it anyway whenever I have a tenant turnover (even if they turn in all the remotes I gave them) as part of my house re-key process because you have no way of knowing if they actually bought/programmed an extra remote that you didn’t know about. 

It’s just like if you gave your tenants 2 keys and they turned 2 keys back in. You don’t know that they didn’t make a third. You’re better off just re-keying the house, and re-programming the garage door opener, as a safety precaution for your next tenants. 

@William Coet Nobody can predict the future. However, you can look at the historical Prime Rate to get an idea of what it’s done over the PAST 10 years, and you’ll see that the rate during that time has fluctuated from a low of 3.25% to a high of 5.5%.