All Forum Posts by: Ursula B.

Same as @Elizabeth Colegrove . We make decisions on applications as we receive them, and tell anyone approved that the first person to pay the security deposit and first month's rent gets it.  We don't write up the lease or stop marketing the property until security deposit and first month's rent is in hand, in certified funds.  Those that do not meet our criteria receive a prompt denial letter via email and US mail.

Set expectations upfront. I looked my new 60+ year old tenant in the eye and told her rent is due by the 5th, and if i don't have it I WILL start the eviction process on the 6th.  The look on her face was priceless.  Mission accomplished.

@Jason Mak I agree.  I couldn't find an eviction, just the collections, so I'm wondering if it was for damages, or maybe they moved prior to the formal eviction.  There was also a civil judgement award to someone that appeared to be a property manager when I Google'd him.  I'm sure there's so much more to the story, but the only story I got was 'I was young and stupid'.  We actually signed the lease with someone else on Saturday.

@Matt Sicignano I actually told the applicant past performance is an indicator of future performance. I didn't expect them to bite on paying the former landlord, but if they did, I would have been happy for the landlord.  I use a scoring system but it boils down to having a reasonable expectation that I'll collect the rent.  That's my gauge when screening.

@Marcia Maynard  Great list of factors. I read recently that you should deny more applicants than you approve.  That's certainly been my track record over the past week.

@Matthew Paul Hadn't thought of that.  And they were barely meeting our minimum 3x rent requirement for income!

@Kimberly T. I got an applicant's credit report back yesterday and the score was over 550.  I did a two-step in the middle of the living room floor.  My family thought I was nuts!  Unfortunately I don't think she's going to take the unit.  And with the other one leased on Saturday, this is our last vacancy.

@Antonio Esquivel Our first loan was 5%, 20 year amortization, 5 year balloon. It was for a single property, purchased cash in personal name and we refinanced it with NFCU, who had us deed it to the LLC at closing. Because they used the appraised value (80%), we are only into that property for the amount of the closing costs - basically 100% financing.

Our second loan will cover two properties. 7%, 20 year amortization, 7 year balloon,75% LTV.

@Chaz Reid Not sure there is a requirement.  We incorporated in January, purchased the property in March and refinanced in September.

Hi Antonio, we use Navy Federal Credit Union. They do commercial loans in the name of the LLC. It does require a personal guaranty, but the mortgage does not show up on our credit report. I don't know if they have a minimum loan amount...our first was ~$31k with them.

We switched from a PO Box to a UPS Store box because UPS will take mail and packages over the counter without the item having been delivered through the mail system.  For instance, I've had two tenants in the last week drop off their rent checks at the UPS store.  The envelopes were labeled and the clerk left it in our box.  To my knowledge, USPS will not do that with a PO Box.

Happy Presidents Day! Just looking for a gut check from other landlords/property managers.

I denied an application last week because the applicant owed ~$4K to a former apartment complex. It was an active collections account and occurred within the past 5 years.  The applicant seemed practically offended that I would think they couldn't pay the rent just because they owed money to a former landlord.  So I replied that I had no reasonable expectation that they would pay me when they owned quite a bit of money to a former landlord.  I offered to reconsider the application if they paid off their prior landlord...and the conversation went silent.

So now I'm wondering what everyone else does.  Do you just look at overall credit (like score, grade, etc) or do you look at and make decision on the details?

I've been doing this long enough to know better than to ignore the red flags, but this interesting encounter just has me wondering what everyone else looks at.

Ursula

After.  Otherwise you are marketing a property that you don't own, which can require a real estate license in some states.

@Michael Miller I'm sure someone from MI will chime in, but most states require you to be licensed to become a property manager.  In NC you are required to be licensed to manage property for others and/or to open a brokerage firm.  Our rules do allow, however, for us to hire unlicensed employees that can perform a variety of management-related duties, such as showing properties, lease signings, etc.  What the employee cannot do is negotiate terms, post rental ads, etc., things that our rules specifically state require a license.

Good luck to you.

@Jerry Robinson There were several ways to qualify, including being active duty, a Veteran, government worker, contractor or a family member of anyone in those categories.  I think we all have someone in our families that would meet one of these categories.

I like the area of NC that I'm in because there are multiple universities and hospitals which is favorable to any rental market.  I tend to prefer condos over SFRs and usually have no trouble renting out my properties to decent tenants.  Like any market, competitive advantage is important, and I take the time to make my properties stand out from others.

Good luck in your search for a refi. Let us know what you find.