All Forum Posts by: Susan Beard

Which platform do you prefer, for screening tenants, between Avail, Apartments.com, and TransUnions Smart Move? Could you give reasons why?

@Nathan G. We lived next door to a rental home, rented to a really nice Grandmother. She was raising children and grandchildren, who, it turns out, we’re dealing drugs out of the home. I see why screening all adults would be good.

@Marissa Eskridge Looking at the car of the prospective tenant could work, but my Dad was a hoarder, and my Mom kept her car immaculate.

Sue,

Thank you. I will save this for the future.

Bruce,

I am not aware if they had the tenant signed that form or not. We have been talking to her since about June of 2020. (A house fire delayed the purchase) She has no intention of moving and pays her rent early every month. We did get the deposit at closing.

Nathan G, I agree with your advice. I live in West Texas, so it goes against our grain a bit to live next door and not be friendly. I get there needs to be boundaries, though. I don’t want the know on the door after hours.

Adam Azam  Yes, I have a copy of the lease.

Hello, everyone!

We just purchased our first duplex, to live in one side and rent the other. We have a long-term, month-to-month tenant in the other side who is an on-time payer and good renter. She last signed a lease with the previous owner in 2018. Now that we own the property, do we need to have her sign a new lease, in our names, or what is done with a month-to-month tenant? I live in Texas.

Hello, all of you experienced REI guys!
We’re trying to get in the game, but have hit a snag. Our plan was to sell our primary residence, after having made extensive upgrades, and use the equity to purchase a duplex. We plan to house hack. We went under contract on our home, and on a duplex we found to buy. Two mornings ago, and 10 days from the closing on our primary, lightning struck and burned out the entire garage on our home. Early estimates are @$100,000 damage. Now, the buyer of our home may back out, leaving the purchase of our duplex in question. Have any of you had any experience with something like this? What advice would you offer? 

Thanks for your feedback!

Hi, Jake. We have a conventional loan in the works and planned on living with a relative for a week or two, after the sale of our house, in order to complete the necessary repairs to the duplex, before moving in. We will have just enough money left, after closing costs, etc., for those repairs. 
We plan on purchasing another duplex (I would love a quad, but those are not common in my area) in another year, after building up capital from having almost no living expenses. 

However, we have had a set back. We were due to close on the sale of our house on July 3rd, and about to move up the closing date on the duplex, when an unforeseen obstacle happened. Lightning struck our house and burned the entire garage, causing possibly $100,000 worth of damage. It was extenguished before making it into the house. We are now waiting on a repair timeline, to find out if our buyer will stay in contract or will back out. We’re not really sure what to do yet, as this could affect the duplex purchase. Any advise from anyone who has experienced something like this would be great.