All Forum Posts by: Tim Porsche

Hi All,

I've recently had someone apply for a 1 bed 1 bath apartment I have for rent. I'm having a hard time deciding if I should accept the application or not and would greatly appreciate any feedback one way or the other. Here are the pros and cons below.

Pros:

Has a part time job and seems clean and responsible. Nonsmoker, no pets.

Has kids in the area and plans to stay longer term...several years or more.

Has $60,000+ in savings. Am awaiting bank statements to confirm this.

No criminal history or prior evictions. Owned home prior to this. 

Willing to pay a years rent in advance and do month to month for the lease. Instead I'm considering just asking for a double security deposit though. 

Cons:

Has a chapter 7 Joint bankruptcy with her (former) husband on file from 03/2017. 

Has a joint credit card with a $13,000 limit that has $13,600 on it currently and is 30 days past due.

Has several other joint credit cards that were cancelled. 

The rent is $715\month but she only brings in $1,700\month currently. She said her lawyer told her she should get at least $1,000\month in alimony starting in January though which would bring her monthly income to $2,700. 

When asked about the bankruptcy and past due\cancelled cards, here is what she wrote in response.

"Earlier this year I had found out that my husband of 31 years was having online and in person affairs and after some marital counseling I decided to get a divorce as he was continuing his behavior. This resulted in the Joint Bankruptcy as finances were a problem. The Chase line of credit is a joint account for his car which he is supposed to be paying on and has been sporadic in his payments. My attorney is currently dealing with him on this. The accounts that were cancelled by the creditor were due to the bankruptcy.

Just to add: the divorce situation is non-contested and there are no problems with violence or anything else. We have both decided to go our separate ways. I am looking to move to the Reading area to be closer to my son and his family who live in Sinking Springs. I am very interested in the W Walnut Street apartment as it is in a safe neighborhood and I think it would be good fit for me. I hope you will be able to make a positive decision in choosing me as the tenant."

Taking everything into consideration, including large amount of savings, would you rent to this person? If so what precautions would you take...is getting a double security enough and doing month to month for the lease? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

Hi All, for those of you who own storage units, what venues\sites have you found to be the best for marketing your storage units? I currently only have one storage unit right now which is part of a duplex property I bought. The only places I have been advertising are on Craigslist and a few local RE Facebook groups. Results have been OK so far but not great. With my normal rentals I have various sites I upload the listing to such as Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, etc. I'm having trouble finding similar sites for advertising storage units though. Any feedback\suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

It looks like they're keeping the mortgage interest deduction now from what I've heard, but they want to eliminate the state and local property tax deductions.

Any idea if this would just be for primary residences, or rental properties as well?

I would consider putting it into a good, well established REIT fund. Vanguard has a good REIT index fund I've seen highly recommended by people who know a lot more about REITs than I do. Putting it in an index fund like that will help you diversify and add stability\safety. Average returns seem to be in the 8 - 12% range. REITs are fairly liquid from what I understand.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, lots of good advice! I've found a licensed roofer recommended by my realtor that will do everything for about $1,700 so I'm thinking of going with him. The more I think about it I agree with @Anthony Conway's point...the savings will likely be minimal using a handyman instead. 

This contractor I received the $1,700 quote from itemized it, and included a $480 dumpster charge which I though was a little high. Everything else looks good though. I'm seeing if we can eliminate that and I'll just take care of getting a dumpster there and removed myself. I'm thinking I should be able to get a 10 yard dumpster in the $250 - $400 range and save a few bucks that way at least. 

@Brian Pulaski thanks for the reply. These are all sloped roofs. I'd look into doing it myself but just don't have the time right now unfortunately. 

Are there any specific questions you would recommend asking the handyman to make sure he knows how to do it properly if I would go that route?

So, I have about 400 - 500 sq. feet of roofing that needs replaced at a rental. Some of it is asphalt and some is shingle. There are about four different sections...three of them are porch roofs and one is just a very small patch where part of the living room protrudes out from the rest of the structure. The main roof has already been replaced by a licensed and bonded roofer.

So my question is, for just this small area and because they are just porch roofs and not protecting the main structure, would it be a bad idea to have a skilled handyman who has done roofing before replace these sections of roof? What's the worst that could happen in this situation if it's not done 100% properly? I'd like to save some money, but not at the cost of causing bigger issues down the road. Thoughts? 

Hi @Account Closed, please see my original post. I have the contract that I signed in the post. In the contract the roof was not broken down into sections. It just says that "the roof" would be replaced. The question is does "the roof" mean all sections of the roof on the house (there's nothing detached here), or only the main top section? I assumed, I think reasonably, that "the roof" means the whole roof...all sections. The contractor apparently thought it only meant the main section.

Yes that's just what I need to find out. I'm having a few contractors come out next week to bid on the main section and also the remaining sections that weren't done. If their quotes are in the same ballpark for just the main section as what I paid, for the same materials, I'll pay the contractor in full. If every other roofer is quoting me around $2,000 for the main roof, then I'll most likely not be paying the full $3,300 + $540 extra for removing extra layers. 

@Alex S. Thanks for the feedback Alex I appreciate it. That makes me feel better knowing someone who does this kind of work and is licensed would have assumed the same thing I did...that replacing the roof means the whole roof not just one section. I have other roofers set to come out next week to give quotes on the main section and the rest of the sections. I'm going to wait to see what they come back with, and then decide how to proceed based on that.