All Forum Posts by: Todd Witt

I grew up a few hours away from Centerville and spent a few summers in college in nearby Ironton/Lesterville. That area is a big summer camping spot and is most known for canoe/tube float trips down the Black or Huzzah river. Centerville would be near the southern part of the float areas (that I am aware of) and could be a good landing spot. Do you know if the property touches either of those rivers?

Does anyone know of a good WordPress plugin that can be used to collect rent online? I am looking for something with a membership style layout where the tenant will create a user name and password, then I can assign a monthly bill amount to the account. I would also like the option to count the bill as paid as the administrator if they decide to pay offline in a given month.

I am pretty new to WordPress so I may be looking at them wrong, but it looks like all the shopping cart plugins I can find would require the tenant to choose a rent amount to pay. In that case a tenant could "accidentally" choose an amount less than they owe and then argue that I accepted the lessor amount as full rent for that month. I have learned the hard way to never accept partial rent payment.

Welcome to BP and congrats on your first two deals! If you are interested in learning more about vacation rentals you should check out podcast 57 with Matt Landau

I would just knock on her door and try to introduce myself. During the coarse of conversation I would probably ask of there are any security concerns with the unit she is worried about, eluding to the sign on her door. If the sign is for people she knows (ex roommates, boyfriends, etc.) then I wouldn't want to get too invloved. However if the sign is there because there were break ins before you bought the place or other neighborhood issues, I would want to know. 

I use Dewalt tools and don't have any complaints. I have to say though I have not tried many other brands other than helping other people out and using their tools for a quick job. My Dewalts have lasted long enough now that if they crappie out I will probably go back with them again.

Congrats on your first property Kyle!

it is best to get a copy of the current one if it is available because it will document the condition of the unit when they first moved in. That way if they damaged the property between when they moved in and when you purchased the property, you will have documentation to make the proper deduction from their security deposit. 

I have purchased properties with inherited tenants where the previous owner did not do move in inspections (discounted properties don't usually come from the best landlords).  In that situation, doing a new move in inspection when you take ownership is the best you can do to protect yourself from any additional damage prior to them moving on. 

This isn't to say all tenants do a ton of damage that requires security deposit deductions. It is not completely uncommon for us to return 100% of the security deposit if the unit is left in the same condition it was recieved. Having the move in inspection is just insurance against a tenant claiming every hole in the wall was "like that when the last landlord rented it to me"

I agree with Curt. I would expect to see pro rated rent and security deposits at closing. Don't forget to get the move-in inspections for the current tenants from the seller, otherwise you may end up returning the whole deposit when they move out.

@Jennifer Slaughter we were able to get our first duplex using a similar strategy. We had been looking on the MLS for months with nothing coming on the market. Finally we just drove around town and wrote down addresses we were interested in. Once we got home we hand wrote a generic letter telling the property owner we were interested in buying "your" property. Scanned it, printed out copies, went on the county website to find the owner's address for each of the properties we were interested in, and dropped them in the mail.

We sent out 26 letters, received 5 responses, negotiated with 2 owners, and reached a deal with 1. At closing he told us he never considered selling until he received our letter.

Good Luck!

If you plan to manage the property yourself then it is mostly there to keep your cash flow positive in case you decide to hire a property manager in the future. Although I would say that managing yourself is not free. There will be increase costs in office supplies, advertising, your time spent working with tenants, etc. Granted these expenses will be much less out-of-pocket than hiring a third party, but having a percentage for property management in your budget will make sure they are covered.