All Forum Posts by: Steven Chavers

Hey Yinglu! I’m sorry it has been like 6 months since you asked me about recommendations for vapor barriers. We used Basement And Crawlspace Solutions. https://www.basementandcrawlsp... They were recommended to us did a great job. They were very knowledgeable about and sprayed for subfloor eating fungus. If we had issues at another property, we’d call them again. Have you invested in Chattanooga since your post? 

Hi @Yinglu Wang! My wife and I own a duplex in East Ridge. The tenants have been great! There are some great areas of East Ridge and some not so great. The south side of East Ridge toward the East is up and coming. It is expanding with new restaurants, businesses and soccer complex coming soon. The north end by the ridge/tunnels is nice. That is where our duplex is. In the middle of east ridge there are some flood areas to look out for. There's a lot of water around the area. A sub contractor I spoke with recently told me that some homes have issues with moisture from the ground. Such was the case with our duplex. There was never a vapor barrier put in place under the home or gutters along the roof. We didn't realize it would be a problem. Half of the sub-floor needed to be replaced about two years after we purchased it. When we purchased, the reputable inspector told us that everything was good under the house. So it must have deteriorated quickly. We put about 10,000 in floor replacement and renovations this year. Many of the homes in East Ridge are older so I would recommend making sure that the property has good drainage and a vapor barrier. We love Chattanooga! It is a great area to invest. 

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, we aren’t trying to make money but debating how to structure the application process and fee. After reading some blog topics last night, we see that there are varying views on application fees. Some say you are wrong to charge at all but then some return fees to applicants not chosen. Some say it’s part of the process and it weeds out the possible bad tenants. I’ll try to take your advice by making a decision and moving on. We have a few months before the old tenants are out. 

Hey BP friends! My wife and I are getting ready to put one of our units up for rent for the first time. We are looking into the screening process and realized we could/should charge an application fee. We have reservations because we don't want to charge a bunch of people when only one or a couple are going to be our tenants. But it seems that its expected (my wife and I have never rented). So some questions we have are: At what point do we charge an application fee (charge to fill out the application up front or only when we do credit and background checks)? Cozy allows the tenants to pay for their background and credit checks. Should that be a separate cost from the application fee? I feel like we should be compensated for the amount of time we will spend checking references and processing. How much would be too much in the Chattanooga TN area? Does anyone have any recommendations for companies to use for credit and background checks? Thank you!

My wife and I bought our first duplex three years ago at age 34. We've had a rough start but its paying for its own mortgage payment and next month it will be paying for most of ours too!

@Diana T. You should check out Beni Deron with Realty Executives Southern Living.

https://www.facebook.com/benideron/