All Forum Posts by: Tim Miller

Quote from @Selwyn Da Costa:

Thanks for your response. I will run it by my Legal plan I have from work as well (Hyatt Legal plan). Yes TurboTenant allows you to upload and e-sign your own lease as well. 

Don't count on that "Legal Plan" for the most part they are worthless. They can handle simple legal manner, like setting up a will or something simple.
You need a lease agreement that takes into account all the local laws. TurboTenant (none of the others) will not do this, RocketLawyer will be better as will LegalZoom. Plus what about your rules for the property? Who's going to pay for bug problems? Example, Bed Bugs! That expense alone can cost thousands of dollars to resolve. Are you going to pay for it or the tenant? You will not find these in online lease agreements. There's an old saying, pay now or pay later. I would pay now for a better lease that will protect you better and have less expense and headaches later.

Just remember that these "all in one" services are not always the best options. Why? because they are trying to be as broad as possible for the whole country. Good Luck.

A broad overview of the 2.

Conventional: Usually requires 20% down and the banks set their fees as low or high as they want. No mortgage insurance required for the most part. You can find 15% or even 10% down loans but you'll be required to get mortgage insurance. But you can get rid of it once you reach 20%+ in equity.

FHA: Requires 3.5% or 5% down and FHA sets most of the cost for getting the loan. You will have mortgage insurance for the life of the loan. This is the higher cost of FHA but you can refi later when you have 20% or more equity in the property to get rid of the mortgage insurance. FHA home inspections are more strict, what a bank may allow to pass, FHA may say, fix or no loan. In our area, FHA inspections cost a $100 or more than a regular inspection.

It all comes down to you goals, your plans and your current financial situation. Personally, just starting out I would suggest FHA. You will put out less money up front that you can save for unexpected repairs or other expenses.

ESA = You need to learn more about being a landlord or get a Property Manger.

ESA stands for - Emotional Support Animal and this falls under Fair Housing.

You're in Montgomery, the biggest tenant friendly county in MD. You need to read up on all of their crazy regulations before you are brought into court by your tenant.

https://www.montgomerycountymd...

Good Luck.

As others have stated, there's no way in H E L L!! Pomeranians are loud and always barking. One starts and they all start!

We have a 2 pet only rule and we do not allow these type of dogs at all in our units. In fact we do not allow any dogs under 25 lbs in our units.

If you are not looking for headaches, find someone else to rent your place.

First things first. Did you give proper notice (legally) of non-renewal of lease?

2nd. Get rid of Zelle. It's not meant for rental payments. Your issue is just 1 reason.

You stated you have about 20 tenants? You need to start using a service like Apartment.com, RentRedi, Innago or some other service like these. Most of these services allow you to turn off payments from tenant. 

No one ever gets into any of our units without 1st months and security deposit. There's no exception! Our tenants rent is market rate when they first move in. We allow the rent to be no more than $150 below market rate. It doesn't matter what the mortgage is or isn't, you still have property taxes increasing, building insurance going up and cost of maintenance. If market rate is $2,200 no tenant is going to be paying $2,000 or less with us.

As others have suggested, you might want to change your business model to a Non-profit. Good luck with your adenture.

Sorry Mary but it sounds like you're running by the seat of your pants or a wing and a prayer. Either way, you have to get on your game or get a property manager. Collections issues, making $200k ????? others are begging him???? I'd already have blocked his number, delete any continuing in coming emails.

You need to get better system in place to vet future tenants and never take them at their word. Good luck!

Quote from @Huong T Nguyen:

Then my next question is, can I collect back rents and pet fees once I take over management?

 No. That boat has already sailed. The tenants were never notified about any rent increase or about the pet fees. You're SOL on this one.

The only thing you can do now is move forward. If your tenants are now on M2M, you can send them notice of a rent increase going forward. Everything now is going forward, so forget about the past issues. Chalk it up to a hard lesson learned.

Like others have said, this time of the year is very hard to find a good tenant. Something to check out, is it normal in this area to request First, Last and Security Deposit upfront? If not, you might want to reconsider this. W/D hook ups, check other property around this one and see what other's are offering. If other "similar" units are offering W/D hook ups only and around your asking price, you are good to go. If they are offering W/D in their units and around your asking price, you may want to re-evaluate, either the price or adding W/D.

Otherwise, great photos and the place looks great! Good luck!

Looks great compared to what it was! It's not the best neighborhood but not the worst. Good luck with your investment.