All Forum Posts by: Tim Wilkinson

@Joe Baker I got a good laugh from that one. I live on Boston's North shore. A 2 BR shack can run you $400,000. Granted the property cards show the house worth less than half of total value in many cases. The land is where the money is. I have a potential vacation property client I'm working with in Gloucester, whose home is worth $1.5 Million. The property card shows the land as $1.3MM of that. The 2,500 sf structure is worth $200K.

When the place started being settled in the 1600s, they ran out of space close to the city. If someone is lucky enough to have a house on or near the ocean, they can rent it out as weekly rentals during summer for $3,000-$6,000 + per week for four months per year. Right now, you can find "Winter rentals" from mid-Sep through Mid-April for less per month than they charge per week in-season. 

@Mike Cumbie That is great advice. They were actually my first showing of the property of six potentials that day. They saw others pulling up while they were there, and the agent had been looking for a place for them for awhile, I guess. I had my Massachusetts Association of Realtors standard rental app in a stack with the property info. 

My intention was to give the apps to all adults in a household if they are interested in the property. While I was showing to another party, the agent pulled me aside and handed me the appfolio report from another unit they attempted to rent, told me that her clients wanted the property and handed e a deposit check. I took it all and said I would be in touch. No promises. 

In fact, Massachusetts is super tenant-friendly and Fair Housing is a huge deal here. The process cannot be any different for them than any of the other interested parties or I can be accused of violating fair housing standards. If they want the house, not only will I have to run my own credit report (I can't because they didn't fill out my app, which includes an approval for credit and background check), but I have to use the same system for everyone. 

Your advice is good. In the future, I should assume there will be people ready to pull the trigger that day. Inventory is low here for rentals. The closer to Boston, the more rentals there are due to purchase costs. In the future, I will have my supplies with a printed copy for W-2 tenants and a separate one for self-employed on what they will need to provide for me to verify income. 

This property is worth $500k. 

@Tom V. I hear you. I haven't Called anyone a liar not have I suggested it. I only said these are easy documents to fake. I asked for bank statements OR a direct copy from a CPA. CPAs are not likely to lie for a client or falsify anything as they will likely lose their license if it was proven. 

To me it just feels like due diligence. 

Thank you all for the great advice and for the validation that I am not only being reasonable, but prudent.

@Michael Key Yeah, in the future, maybe I will advertise that they will need two years of tax filings from a CPA or 6 months of bank statements. 

I know someone said bank statements don't really prove anything, but they show regular deposits and they also show bad habits. If an applicant has a bunch of NSF fees crazy cash withdrawals, that would be a red flag. 

@Chris Mason This looks like something they would have to do. i'm open to sending them the link so they can do it themselves. I will save this for future reference. Good advice. 

Hi all,

I have a prospective tenant (a couple) that are both self-employed. Both parties (unmarried) gave me a copy of their experian report: 738 and 698, which is a good enough score, but I didn't pull the reports. However, I asked for income verification from their agent. I said schedule C would work, but I didn't say it needed to be from a CPA. I did receive a copy of Schedule C, which showed about $150,000 net profit for 2015. It was not from a CPA. In fact, I could create the same document for my company in about 10 minutes. I know their schedule C can be verified from IRS, but it takes too long to get them approved in time. 

They seem like good tenants. When I asked for the last three bank statements before I approve, the agent emailed me and said they wouldn't be providing any more personal info. They also informed me that they have been doing rentals for 15 years and they would approve this client in a minute. 

Am I wrong in wanting more validation of income?

In states that require a judicial foreclosure, a lender must sue a borrower in court before conducting an auction to sell the property. (p. 2)

Massachusetts does not require a lender to sue a borrower in court. Mortgage deeds in Massachusetts grant lenders "power of sale," which allows them to sell the property after providing due notice to the borrower. Also according to the authors:

Therefore, nonjudicial, but it's not always black and white from state to state.

I had no idea that trash was mandated to be a landlord responsibility. Or is it only because your lease says so?